Legacy Classics And Shout! Factory Announce Cast For New Animated Feature The Boxcar Children: Surprise Island

Legacy Classics and Shout! Factory, a multi-platform media company, today announced the casting of Golden Globe®-winning actor Martin Sheen (The West Wing) and Oscar®-winner J.K. Simmons (Whiplash, La La Land) in the upcoming animated feature THE BOXCAR CHILDREN: SURPRISE ISLAND, which is currently in production.  Sheen is set to voice the role of James Alden, and Simmons will voice the role of Dr. Moore.  The movie’s confirmed voice cast includes Joey King (Independence Day: Resurgence) as Jesse Alden, Carter Sand (Frozen) as Benny Alden, Gil Birmingham (Twilight) as Lonan Browning, Griffin Gluck (Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life) as Henry Alden, Stephen Stanton (Star Wars Rebels) as Capt. Daniel and Talitha Bateman (The 5^th Wave) as Violet.  Additional cast members will be announced at a later date.

Dan Chuba and Mark Dippé are directing the film from a screenplay written by Chuba. THE BOXCAR CHILDREN: SURPRISE ISLAND, the highly-anticipated movie adaption of the popular children’s book of the same name, is produced by Legacy Classics and co-produced by Shout! Factory, Albert Whitman & Company and Blueberry Pictures. The exciting animated movie adventure of SURPISE ISLAND is being brought to life at Legacy Classics’ animation and visual effects studios.

As part of a long-term, multifaceted co-production and film distribution partnership between Shout! Factory and Legacy Classics for a slate of new family movies, THE BOXCAR CHILDREN: SURPRISE ISLAND is the first of three new animated features adapted from several best-selling titles in “The Boxcar Children” book series. Timed to the 75th Anniversary of “The Boxcar Children” festivities, Shout! Factory and Legacy Classics are working closely with book publisher Albert Whitman & Company, with an eye toward launching the first movie in fall 2017.

“The Boxcar Children” by Gertrude Chandler Warner is one of the best-selling children’s book series of all time. Over 70 million books have sold world-wide.  There are 150 books in the series. Over 1 million kids read the books in schools across North America every year.

Headquartered in Los Angeles, Legacy Classics has animation and visual effects studios in Seoul, Jakarta and Bali. Founded by Dan Chuba and Mark Dippé, the company is dedicated to creating family entertainment and educational tools based on classic and award-winning children’s literature. Legacy Classics has teamed with publisher Albert Whitman & Company to develop films, series and educational apps based on their library of intellectual property including the best-selling “Boxcar Children” book series.

Prior to founding Legacy Classics, Dan Chuba was the Executive Producer and a partner at Hammerhead Productions and the Executive Producer of PDI. He has produced 9 independently financed animated feature films and visual effects on over 100 major motion pictures.  Mark Dippé has directed and/or produced several independent features, and has directed movies for New Line Cinema, Columbia TriStar, and Disney Channel, as well as numerous commercials. He previously served as a VFX supervisor at Industrial Light & Magic and supervised work on some of the most groundbreaking films in history, creating the dinosaurs in JURASSIC PARK, water pseudo-pod in THE ABYSS and the liquid metal man in TERMINATOR 2.