French graphic artist/novelist Jean "Moebius" Giraud and director Frank Foster, who was also a founding senior VP at Sony Pictures Imageworks, announced the launch of the official Website (www.moebius-strip.com) for their film THRU THE MOEBIUS STRIP. The full-length animated 3D feature will be completed over the next two years and is scheduled to premiere in Paris in the summer of 2003. Part science-fiction, part fairy tale, THRU THE MOEBIUS STRIP is a story of physicist Simon Weir, who disappears mysteriously after he perfects a transportation portal. His family -- all space traveling pioneers -- pursues him to a strange planet in another galaxy, which is inhabited by giant aliens. Moebius is known for his designs and illustrations for such films as THE FIFTH ELEMENT, THE ABYSS, ALIEN and TRON. His cartoons and illustrations span more than 40 years and 50 books. They continue to be distributed worldwide. "Moebius has a tremendous worldwide fan following. Therefore, we realized bringing a creative Website designer on board was important in generating ongoing visibility for the film because we're more than two years away from our debut," said director Foster. The Website was designed by ad2. ad2, which created the online presence for CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON, welcomed the challenge to work with Moebius' ideas. "One film is based on legends, the other is futuristic; however, both emphasize artistic quality with epic proportions," commented ad2 president Brad Mooberry. "Although the movie will be animated in China, we are aiming at an international audience and have approached the project's development very much like an American movie," Foster said. Giraud and Foster are currently supervising a team of nearly 150 French, Chinese and American animators in Shenzhen, China, located across the border from Hong Kong.
