Cal Brunker | |
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Born | Callan Stuart Brunker November 16, 1978 |
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Years active | 2002–present |
Callan Stuart "Cal" Brunker (born November 16, 1978) is a Canadian animator, storyboard artist, screenwriter, and film director. He is best known for directing The Weinstein Company's animated film Escape from Planet Earth (2013), The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature (2017), Nickelodeon's PAW Patrol: The Movie (2021) and PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie (2023), all of which he co-wrote with his business partner Bob Barlen.
Cal Brunker has frequently collaborated with his partner Bob Barlen since 2009's Ollie & the Baked Halibut, who has later written films alongside since. Before his directorial debut in Ninjamaica and then 2013's Escape from Planet Earth , Brunker has worked as a storyboard artist and an animator on films such as Looney Tunes: Back in Action , Horton Hears a Who! , and Despicable Me . [1] He directed films such as Escape from Planet Earth and The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature . Brunker and Barlen have written screenplays for Arctic Dogs , Cranston Academy: Monster Zone , and The Son of Bigfoot in which they co-executive produced. [1]
He also directed the film PAW Patrol: The Movie , a feature film adaptation of the Nick Jr. Channel's PAW Patrol animated series. Serving as the director and co-writer and once more collaborating with Barlen alongside Billy Frolick, it was produced by Spin Master and Nickelodeon Movies, and released by Paramount Pictures in August 2021. [2] [3]
Year | Title | Role |
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2003 | Looney Tunes: Back in Action | Clean-up in-between artist |
2005 | Kronk's New Groove | Animator Direct-to-video |
2008 | Horton Hears a Who! | Storyboard artist |
2009 | Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs | |
9 | ||
Ollie and the Baked Halibut | Animator Short film | |
2010 | Jonah Hex | Pre-visualization |
Despicable Me | Storyboard artist | |
2012 | Ice Age: Continental Drift | Additional storyboard artist |
2013 | Escape from Planet Earth | Director Writer (with Bob Barlen) |
2015 | Minions | Additional storyboard artist |
2016 | Ratchet & Clank | Storyboard artist Designer |
The Secret Life of Pets | Storyboard artist | |
2017 | The Son of Bigfoot | Writer & co-executive producers (with Bob Barlen) |
The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature | Director Writer (with Bob Barlen and Scott Bindley) Voice of Charming Chipmunk | |
2019 | The Puppet Master | Director Writer (with Bob Barlen) Short film |
Arctic Dogs | Writer (with Bob Barlen, Matt Lyon, Aaron Woodley, and Bryan Thompson) | |
2020 | Cranston Academy: Monster Zone | Writer (with Bob Barlen) |
Bigfoot Family | Writer (with Bob Barlen) Executive producers | |
2021 | PAW Patrol: The Movie | Director Writer (with Bob Barlen and Billy Frolick) |
2023 | PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie | Director Writer (with Bob Barlen) |
Year | Title | Role |
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2005 | Cyberchase | Designer |
2009 | Ninjamaica | Director Storyboard artist Television film Directional debut |
2009–2010 | Spliced | Storyboard artist |
Conrad Vernon is an American voice actor, director, producer, writer, and storyboard artist best known for his work on the DreamWorks animated film series Shrek as well as other films such as Monsters vs. Aliens, Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted, and Penguins of Madagascar. He also co-directed non-DreamWorks animated films such as Sony Pictures' Sausage Party and MGM’s The Addams Family.
Nickelodeon Movies Inc. is an American film production company based in Los Angeles, California and owned by Paramount Global. Originally founded in 1995, it serves as both the film production arm of the American children's network Nickelodeon and the family film distribution label of Paramount Pictures, operating under its Paramount Players division.
Brian Robbins is an American businessman, producer, director, actor, and the current co-CEO of Paramount Global. He has been the president of Nickelodeon and president and CEO of Paramount Pictures since 2018 and 2021, respectively. He was named the co-CEO of Paramount Global in April 2024.
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Escape from Planet Earth is a 2013 animated comedy-adventure science fiction film produced by Rainmaker Entertainment and distributed by The Weinstein Company in the United States and Entertainment One in Canada, directed by Cal Brunker, with a screenplay which he co-wrote with Bob Barlen, and features an ensemble voice cast that includes Rob Corddry, Brendan Fraser, Sarah Jessica Parker, William Shatner, Jessica Alba, Jane Lynch, Craig Robinson, George Lopez, Sofía Vergara, Steve Zahn, Chris Parnell, Jonathan Morgan Heit, and Ricky Gervais. The film was released on February 15, 2013, to mostly negative reviews from critics and grossed $74.6 million on a budget of $40 million.
Robert George Barlen is a Canadian screenwriter and producer. He is best known for having co-written The Weinstein Company's animated film Escape from Planet Earth (2013), The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature (2017), and Nickelodeon's PAW Patrol: The Movie (2021) and PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie (2023), all are in collaboration with his business partner Cal Brunker, who served as the director for these films.
Peter Lepeniotis is a Canadian animator, film director, screenwriter and producer. He is best known for his 2005 animated short Surly Squirrel. He adapted the short into the full-length feature film, The Nut Job, which Lepeniotis co-wrote and directed. It was released in 2014 by Open Road Films and The Weinstein Company. Due to the film's success at the box office, Lepeniotis and the team at ToonBox Entertainment greenlit a sequel, The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature, which was released in 2017.
The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature is a 2017 animated comedy film directed by Cal Brunker and written by Brunker, Bob Barlen, and Scott Bindley. The sequel to The Nut Job (2014) and based on the characters created by Peter Lepeniotis, it stars the voices of Will Arnett, Maya Rudolph, Jackie Chan, Katherine Heigl, Bobby Moynihan, Bobby Cannavale, Isabela Moner, Jeff Dunham, and Gabriel Iglesias. The film is an American-Canadian-South Korean co-production, produced by Gulfstream Pictures, Redrover International and ToonBox Entertainment, and distributed by Open Road Films in the United States and The Weinstein Company in international. The story follows Surly Squirrel and his animal friends as they find out that Percival J. Muldoon, the unscrupulous Mayor of Oakton City, plans to bulldoze Liberty Park to make way for an amusement park named Libertyland. They must join forces with Mr. Feng and his mice to save Liberty Park and defeat the mayor.
Paw Patrol is a Canadian animated television series created by Keith Chapman and produced by Spin Master Entertainment, with animation provided by Guru Studio. In Canada, the series is primarily broadcast on TVOntario as part of the TVOKids programing block. TVO first ran previews of the show in August 2013. The series premiered on Nickelodeon's Nick Jr. in the United States on August 12, 2013.
The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run is a 2020 American animated adventure comedy film based on the television series SpongeBob SquarePants. Written and directed by series co-developer and former writer Tim Hill, who co-wrote the story with Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger, it stars the series' regular voice cast and includes new characters performed by Awkwafina, Snoop Dogg, Tiffany Haddish, Keanu Reeves, Danny Trejo, and Reggie Watts. The film follows SpongeBob on his quest to rescue his pet snail, Gary, after he is kidnapped. The film is dedicated to creator Stephen Hillenburg, who died in 2018, and also served as an executive producer on the project. It is the third theatrical film based on the series, following the first in 2004 and second in 2015.
William Osborne "Tuck" Tucker III was an American writer, storyboard artist, animator, songwriter, and director who worked on Hey Arnold! and SpongeBob SquarePants. He directed Hey Arnold!: The Movie in 2002.
Mikros Animation is a French production company specializing in the creation of digital visual effects, post-production and animation.
PAW Patrol: The Movie is a 2021 Canadian animated action-adventure comedy film based on the television series PAW Patrol created by Keith Chapman. It was directed by Cal Brunker, who co-wrote the screenplay with Billy Frolick and Bob Barlen from a story by Frolick. Several cast members from the main series reprised their roles, including Kingsley Marshall, Keegan Hedley, Shayle Simons, Lilly Bartlam, and Ron Pardo. They are joined by Iain Armitage, Marsai Martin, Yara Shahidi, Kim Kardashian, Randall Park, Dax Shepard, Jimmy Kimmel, Tyler Perry, and introducing Will Brisbin in his film debut as Ryder. In the film, Ryder and the Paw Patrol pups are called to Adventure City in order to stop the recently-elected Mayor Humdinger from wreaking havoc.
Cranston Academy: Monster Zone is an animated horror-comedy film directed by Leopoldo Aguilar. Produced by Ánima and Prime Focus World, the film is directed by Leopoldo Aguilar and features the voices of Jamie Bell and Ruby Rose.
PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie is a 2023 Canadian animated superhero comedy film based on the television series PAW Patrol created by Keith Chapman. The sequel to PAW Patrol: The Movie (2021), it was directed by Cal Brunker, who co-wrote the screenplay with Bob Barlen from a story by Brunker, Barlen, and Shane Morris. Several cast members from the main series reprised their roles, including Christian Corrao, Luxton Handspiker, Callum Shoniker, and Ron Pardo. They are joined by an ensemble voice cast including Mckenna Grace, Taraji P. Henson, Marsai Martin, Christian Convery, Kim Kardashian, Chris Rock, Lil Rel Howery, Serena Williams, North West, Saint West, James Marsden, Kristen Bell, and introducing Finn Lee-Epp in his film debut as Ryder. In the film, the PAW Patrol pups gain superpowers from crystals inside a meteor and must stop Mayor Humdinger and his new accomplice Victoria Vance from wreaking havoc in Adventure City.