London 2012 mascot hits the big screen

London 2012 mascot hits the big screen

MUMBAI: As London 2012 prepares to mark one year to go to the Paralympic Games, the London 2012 Paralympic mascot Mandeville graced the silver screen alongside Olympic mascot Wenlock, as ‘Wenlock and Mandeville‘s Out of a Rainbow‘ comes to the cinemas.

The film was shown at Odeon Cinemas. The short animation, cut especially for the big screen, showed how Mandeville and Wenlock are created from the last two drops of steel from the Olympic Stadium and then follows their journey as they continue on their sporting adventure across the UK, inspiring young people to take up sport.

The story for the film was written by British author Michael Morpurgo and also features narration by English theatre, film, and television actor Jim Broadbent. Animated versions of British Paralympic and Olympic athletes Ellie Simmonds, Mandip Sehmi, Tom Daley and Phillips Idowu, also make an appearance and the sound track to the film is composed by British award-winning composer Thomas Hewitt Jones.

The film was shown on 373 screens in more than 100 Odeon Cinemas in the UK before selected family movies including Harry Potter 7.2, Cars 2, Kung Fu Panda 2, Spy Kids 4D, The Smurfs, Mr Popper‘s Penguins, Arrietty, Zookeeper and Horrid Henry.

‘Wenlock and Mandeville‘s Out of a Rainbow‘ was one of three films exclusively shown at Odeon Cinemas during the lead up to the Games. The two new films will be released in November 2011 and May 2012.

Locog chair, Seb Coe said, "Our mascots were created to engage and excite young people in sport. These films will bring the mascots‘ experiences of meeting new people and trying new sports to thousands of young people visiting cinemas across the UK. Through their journey Wenlock and Mandeville will help inspire kids to strive to be the best they can be."

Wenlock and Mandeville are proving to be a hit with young people. The dynamic duo appear on learning resources available to teachers through the London 2012 Education programme ‘Get Set‘ and the costume characters have together made over 200 appearances across the UK.

People have ‘customised‘ their own version of the mascots as just one of the interactive mascot games on the mascot website and 23,700 people follow Wenlock and Mandeville on Twitter and Facebook. The mascots feature on over 25 per cent of official London 2012 products.