Greek artist Atonis Fylladitis spearheads a talented team in a new CGI animated short titled Superman Awakens. Per Fylladitis, the short takes inspiration from Mark Waid and Alex Ross' 1996 award-winning 4-issue miniseries, Kingdom Come.
Superman Awakens | Fan-Made CGI Short Film from Antonis Fylladitis on Vimeo.
Though the project is fan-made, Fylladitis is a professional VFX artist with credits on John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017), Underworld: Blood Wars (2016), and Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017).
Over on Vimeo, Fylladitis stated, "Superman Awakens is a passion-made CGI cinematic, inspired by Kingdom Come Superman and the work of the legendary Alex Ross. It's our first film-making attempt in Unreal Engine 5 using the Lumen technology and we are blown away by its speed and capabilities." He continued, "We had a blast working on this film and we hope you enjoyed it too! Behind-the-scene series is coming soon. Superman: Awakens is a non-profit, fan-made film, made out of pure love for the character and free for all to enjoy."
Many years before the box office was dominated by live-action adaptations of animated classics and the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Disney reigned supreme during a period called the Disney Renaissance, which spanned from 1989 to 1999- a commercially successful period in the studio's history that started with 1989's The Little Mermaid and concluded with 1999's Tarzan. Many comic book fans believe that the characters and tone of DC Comics are better suited to animation and this CGI fan film certainly makes a strong argument.
On January 31, 2023, new DC Studios chief James Gunn revealed plans for an ambitious upcoming reimagining of the DC cinematic universe. Said Gunn, " [the goal] is to make sure the DCU is connected in film, television, gaming, and animation [and that] characters are consistent, played by the same actors, and it works in one [larger] story.” Case in point, a seven-episode animated series called Creature Commandos was part of the slate announcement, which will feature characters that crossover into live-action projects. It will certainly be interesting to see what style of animation the project adapts. as a more realistic art style could help audiences make the jump across animation and live-action, while a more 'cartoonish' art style might be confusing.
Story/Director: Antonis Fylladitis
Disign/ Assets/ Cordination: Stavros Fylladitis
Music Composer: Thanos Papadellis
Sound Design: Miltos Pilalitos
Animation/ MoCap Clean up: Constantinos Sophocleous
Cape Simulation: Agustin Schilling
Voice Actor: Daniel Zbel
Voice Over Script: John Finnegan
Vocals: Anna Tarba
Music Editor: George Soulas
Recording and Mixing: The Sound Garden
Let us know what you think in the comment section below. Would you tune in for an upcoming DC Studios pprojectin the style of Superman Awakens?