How do you spot a Wickey in the wild?

They are covered with ink, paint, and peering through a viewfinder at images of Nordic adventurers wrestling wild animals, ghosts, and swinging perilously from ropes over sharp ravines. This is world of Jim and Ben Wickey, and their new feature film, Plümmet to Ädventüre, where this “wild” is built in a studio.

The Adventure is about to begin!

PLÜMMET TO ÄDVENTÜRE follows the saga of the Svïnnïsh adventurer, Yüüle Plümmet, as he shows his family through word and deed his ability to rise above hardships and personal setbacks and use his inner strength to achieve his goals, all the while being confronted by adversaries, animals, ghosts, and mythological creatures through adventures that range from surreal to perilous and always hilariously absurd.

Who are those wild Wickey’s?

Jim, the father, and Ben, the son, have years of experience with animation. When Jim Wickey was 5 years old, his mother took him to see Walt Disney’s The Jungle Book. While other kids saw a man cub, a tiger, and a bear, Jim saw drawings that moved. He knew then that he wanted to be an animator, which eventually lead to deals with Nickelodeon and Fox Family.

Ben Wickey also grew up with animation in his blood. Pursuing his passions to a bachelor’s degree in experimental animation from the California Institute of the Arts lead to making his stop-motion epic The House of the Seven Gables, directing the animation on the Edward Gorey Documentary, illustrating an upcoming book with author Alan Moore, and animating Isabella Rossellini’s Connie in Marcel the Shell with Shoes On. 

Together this father and son team are working on their first feature length comedy film, Plümmet to Ädventüre. Through the adventures of Yüüle Plümmet, Jim and Ben pay loving tribute to their Finnish heritage. SISU is a Finnish word meaning Tenacity of Purpose. Plümmet never gives up, despite setback and hardship, usually brought on by his dear, bumbling self. In the Finnish storytelling tradition, Yüüle Plümmet is brought to life by Jim and Ben using all the tricks of modern digital cinema, while keeping a keen and appreciative eye on Hollywood’s inspirational past.

Jim explains: “Our heroes are Walt Disney, Jacques Tati, Blake Edwards, Michael Powell, David Lean and Billy Wilder. We tell stories with laughter, music, and adventure! Plümmet is a big, colorful film for the whole family, and we have a true passion for making surrealist, absurdist comedy.”

And not just any absurdist comedy! Aside from Yüüle Plümmet and his intrepid family of adventurers, Plümmet to Ädventüre stars legendary actor David Frankham as bigger than life flying hero Squadron Leader Thrilling!

Why go Indie?

Why are Jim and Ben making this lavish film independently? To control quality, protect the story and the narrative, and to create a picture unlike any other picture. To film it where they want to film it and work with whom they want to work with.

In an age of independent motion picture production, digital technology, theatrical and streamed distribution, plus crowd funding, the Wickey’s are utilizing all these modern opportunities for independent filmmaking and positioning Plümmet to Ädventüre to be their first feature length animated-multimedia motion picture.

Join in on funding Plümmet to Ädventüre

Budgeted in three sections, preproduction (prop and build), production (shooting) and postproduction (editing) the overall picture will cost $180,000. The ask for the first crowdfund is $60,000.

This humble first budget covers paying the cast and building the remarkable sets and backgrounds in which Yüüle Plümmet will dangle perilously, assisted by his amazing family and team of Derring Doers.

As Jim says: “It’s expensive to make a movie for under a million dollars. For one thing, you can’t bury tennis balls into the budget. You have to buy them yourself.” Unless of course you are not going to play tennis at all and are instead painting the tennis balls grey and making them look like bouncing boulders chasing Yüüle Plümmet down a mountain. Which is exactly the sort of thing the Wickey’s do with tennis balls!

Plümmet to Ädventüre is a multi-media feast for the eyes, shot in vibrant color, wide screen and in 6K resolution.

Plümmet to Ädventüre is a production of Plummet Productions, LLC and Wickeypix Entertainment.