‘Transformers’ star is new ‘Dora the Explorer’

GOLD COAST, Australia — Paramount Players announced in August 10 that the motion picture adaptation of Nickelodeon’s Peabody Award-winning children’s animated series, “Dora the Explorer,” began principal photography on location in Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, on Monday, August 6.

The production, being directed by 11-time Emmy and four-time BAFTA nominee James Bobin (“The Muppets,” “Muppets Most Wanted,” “Flight of the Conchords”) marks the lovable Latina character’s big screen debut (and first live-action adaptation on any platform) after 14 seasons (2000-2014) and 172 episodes on Viacom’s enduring children’s cable network.

The film is a Paramount Players and Nickelodeon production in association with Walden Media. The film is being supported by the Queensland Government via Screenland Queensland. Paramount will release the film on August 2, 2019.

“Dora the Explorer” stars Isabela Moner (“Transformers: The Last Knight”) in the film’s title role.

Having spent most of her life exploring the jungle with her parents, nothing could prepare Dora for the most dangerous adventure ever – high school. Always the explorer, Dora quickly finds herself leading Boots (her best friend, a monkey), Diego, and a rag tag group of teens on a live-action adventure to save her parents and solve the impossible mystery behind a lost Inca civilization.

 Seventeen-year-old actress Moner is joined in the film by one of Mexico’s biggest stars, Eugenio Derbez (“Geostorm,” “Miracles from Heaven”), who plays Alejandro, a mysterious jungle inhabitant who tries to protect the teenagers from the marauders. The film also features big screen newcomer Micke Moreno (“Escobar: Paradise Lost”), in the role of cousin Diego; Nicholas Coombe (“Spy Kids: Mission Control,” “Midnight Sun”) as Randy, a fellow high school student who develops an immediate crush on Dora; Madeleine Madden (“Picnic at Hanging Rock”) as the school’s snooty class president, Sammy; and Academy Award nominee Adriana Barraza (“Babel,” “Amores Perros,” “Thor”) as Dora’s grandma, Abuelita Valerie. Temuera Morrison (“Green Lantern,” “Moana”) will play the role of Powell. Additional key casting announcements are forthcoming.

 The film is produced by “Christopher Robin” producer Kristin Burr, who is joined by longtime Bobin associate, executive producer John G. Scotti (“The Muppets,” “Muppets Most Wanted,” “Alice Through the Looking Glass”) as well as executive producers Julia Pistor (“The Spiderwick Chronicles,” “A Series of Unfortunate Events”) and Eugenio Derbez.

 Bobin has assembled a talented team behind the camera that also includes reunions with Oscar-winning production designer Dan Hennah (Peter Jackson’s “The Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit” trilogies, “Alice Through the Looking Glass”) and costume designer Rahel Afiley (“The Muppets,” “Muppets Most Wanted,” “Flight of the Conchords”).

The pair will be joined by six-time Goya Award winning (and BAFTA nominated) cinematographer Javier Aguirresarobe, A.S.C. (“Secretos del corazón,” “The Others,” “Blue Jasmine,” “Thor: Ragnarok”), film editor Mark Everson (“Paddington,” “Paddington 2”) and BAFTA-nominated VFX supervisor Andy Brown (“Black Panther,” “House of Flying Daggers,” “Moulin Rouge!”). 

“Dora the Explorer” will film entirely in Australia’s Gold Coast, in the state of Queensland on the continent’s east coast south of Brisbane. Village Roadshow Studios, where the production will headquarter, has been host to several major Hollywood movies in the last few years, including “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader,” “The Shallows,” “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales,” “Marvel’s Thor: Ragnarok” and, most recently, “DC’s Aquaman.” In addition to designer Hennah’s stage builds, the production will utilize Queensland’s diverse landscape, notably tropical forests near Tamborine Mountain and Tallebudgera, to portray Dora’s jungle habitat.

Paramount Pictures is a subsidiary of Viacom. Nickelodeon is part of the Viacom Media Network, also a division of Viacom.

 In Philippine cinemas August 2019, Dora the Explorer will be distributed by United International Pictures through Columbia Pictures.