First of all, I've added a "Spoilers" section, which will contain all the key information about the movie.
So don't go into the "Spoilers" section if you don't want to know much about it before watching it!
And don't say that I hadn't warned you!

In development for two years, the adventures of Balto will see another sequel in 2004/2005!
And even if we still haven't got pictures from the film, everything we've heard about it is much more promising and more accurate to the original than Balto 2 was!

-> Summary of the available information
-> Movie cover!
-> Italian contest
-> Artworks (concept art)
-> Interview of the writers
-> Game on the DVD
-> Rating of the DVD by MPAA
-> Other information

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Summary of the available information

This is a few things we know, please note that these are mostly rumours and may turn out to be wrong :

* The complete title should be : Balto 3, Wings of Change.
* The story takes place in winter, and sled dogs will return.
* This time, the story is centered on a son of Balto.
* Adam Berry, composer of Balto 2 soundtrack, should compose new orchestral music for this sequel.
* There are songs in the same tone as Balto 2's ones. Besides, there will be the same songwriters (Amanda McBroom, Michele Brourman)
* Scriptwriters of the first Balto have taken part in the writing of the scenario. (Cliff Ruby & Elana Lesser)
* Computer-made 3D will be used a lot, in the same way as Balto 2, and the characters' animations should be much improved compared to Balto 2.
* This sequel was planned before the release of Balto 2, so the development has begun immediatly after Balto 2's release.
* The casting counts several famous voices.
* There's a game on the DVD, like the Flash game found on the DVD of Balto 2.
* It has been rated G by the MPAA, so the movie is now finished.
* This movie is scheduled to be released in Europe (or overseas) first.

Release Dates :
* According to this list of sites, it will be released in Netherlands on September 30, 2004 (Balto 3 - Avontuur met Vleugels) - .
* According to this store, it will be released on September 30, 2004 too in Russia, and it would come out on 2 discs (error ?).
* According to this site, or this store, it should be released on October 7, 2004 in Germany (Balto - Sein größtes Abenteuer).
* According to this article, as well as this store, it should be released on October 13, 2004 in Italy (Balto 3 - Sulle Ali dell'Avventura).
* According to this page, it should be released on October 13, 2004 in Spain (Balto : Rescate del Avión Perdido).
* According to the official Universal Pictures Japan site, it will be released on October 22, 2004 in Japan.
* According to this site, as well as this store, it should be released on October 27, 2004 in Australia.
* According to this site, it should come out on November 8, 2004 in Czeich Republic.
* According to this store, it will come out on November 23, 2004 in France (Balto 3 - Sur l'Aile du Vent).
* According to this site, it should come out on November 22, 2004 in Poland.
* According to this site, it should come out on December 1, 2004 in Denmark, and maybe also Norway.
* As for the USA, the Universal.com website gives the official date : 1st February 2005!

But the only thing we know for sure, is that Balto 3 is a reality!
We can only hope that all of this information is true, and that we will not see a sequel every year as the Land Before Time movies, from the same studios...Quality is the most important!

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Balto III cover (July 2004)


This was found on the same site as the italian article, here is what will look the european version of the film cover :



This looks MUCH better than I hoped! (well, better than previous Balto dvd covers) I suppose the character next to Balto is his son (I didn't imagine him yellow! surprising...), I think there is Boris in the foreground, and a bird or something like that in the sky. (after reflexions, several people think it is a plane from this period! This could be very interesting...) Is it just me or is his son really smaller than Balto?


UPDATE : Three better and different covers were discovered on the catalog of an italian, a german, and a netherland store, click on the pics :


UPDATE 2 : This is a complete scan of the spain version of the entire cover :





We are know sure that Balto's son is reddish and from the same litter seen in Wolf Quest, and that this is really Muk & Luk in the background.

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Italian Contest (July, 2004)


According to this article, there will be a contest organized by Universal Pictures and an italian store selling swiss cheese (!) named Tigre.
Here's a translation I've done myself (not a good translation, for sure...I'm french, I don't know a word of italian, and I'm translating it into english! lol) :


A contest for Balto and Tigre

Universal Pictures and Tigre, cheese productor and seller, will promote a co-marketing operation, for the release of the animated movie (in vhs and dvd) "Balto III : On the Wings of Adventure" (= Wings of Change). The third Balto, which has for main character the nice wolf, will come out on october 13, 2004. The first october will begin the contest "Balto & Tigre, brave friends", to end on march 31, 2005. There are 1,000 video tapes of "Balto" and "Balto II - Mistery of the Wolf" (= Wolf Quest) to win, as well as 1,000 mouse pad and the new episode "Balto III". The initiative will be communicated inside the points sale of the GDO and in videostores, by Tigre and Universal stands. Each pack of Tiger products and the vhs and dvd of the movie will contain a leaflet and a voucher for the contest. The complete regulations will be available on the site www.tigreitalia.it . To participate, you must fill the voucher and collect three proofs of purchase (bar codes) of Tiger products and send it in a envelope to the company. To promote this operation, Tiger has dedicated a section in its site www.tigreitalia.it where children can register in the "Balto & Tigre, brave friends" club, to see screenshots of the film, to personnalize and to download the club ticket, and having a proof of purchase for having participated to the competition.

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Artworks (May 2004)


As usual, this was discovered by searching on the web :


This seems official, but it is concept art, so there are good chances that the characters in the final movie doesn't look like that. I was a bit surprised when I discovered this as it doesn't really look like very "balto-ish" in my opinion, and the dogs looks a bit ..."special". But it's at least well drawn, and it would be great if the characters in the movie were so well drawn (but it's very unlikely).
I suggest you to visit the author's website : Jasen Strong art gallery

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Interview of Cliff Ruby & Elana Lesser (March 2003)

The first time we heard about this sequel was in this interview of Cliff Ruby & Elana Lesser, creators of the Balto characters, in which they speak about their part in the project. This is also here that we knew about Balto's son :

Interview

Here are some interesting extracts of the interview:

""[...] we're working with Universal, which should, I don't know if it'll come out 2003 or 2004, another Balto, which will be a DVD premiere. This is Balto 3. There was a Balto 2, which we weren't involved in. They did a great job. It was a really great production."

"Balto 3, which is also in the middle of animation, that's traditional cell animation, which has a wonderful cast. Sean Astin has a role. He plays Balto's son. And Jean Smart has a great role in that. There are songs in it, so she sings a song. And there are several actors who were in Balto 2 and come back. So there's a great cast, a really great cast. Kathy Najimy has a role in Balto 3. We went through a read-through, which was really successful. (interviewer : She must be hilarious.) She is. There was just a great team of people. I know I'm missing some names and I don't want to do that. Especially Maurice LaMarche, because he is very, very good. So, I'm not sure when that one comes out. I'm guessing that's probably 2004. Jodi Benson came back from Balto 2, same as Charles Fleischer, and he plays Boris. And there are a number of other really, really talented people, and I'd love to give you their names, because they're all so great."

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Game on the DVD
(June 2004)

By making some searches on the web, I found a passage written by someone who did the voiceover of the game on the Balto 3 DVD, here's what he says:

"If you happen to purchase the "Balto 3" DVD, play the game on the disk and you can hear me say things like, "Great job!" and "Help Balto get through the woods. Press clear to start over."

After this discovery, several Balto fans (me included) asked for more information, and he answered this on his website :

"Apparently there are quite a few Balto fans out there. I’ve gotten a couple of emails from different parts of the planet asking for more information on Balto 3. I guess if you do a search engine query for the movie, my site pops up because of my writing about having done the voiceover for the DVD. Dear Balto fans: I have no idea what the story is about. I have no idea what the release date is, although I think I picked up that it would be released in Europe first. I’m just the voice on the game that’s included on the DVD. If you play, you’ll hear me giving instructions and cheering you on as you help Balto and his friends do stuff. I know Balto is a dog. That’s about all. Uhhh... he is a dog, right?"

You will find the concerned page HERE.

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Rating of the DVD by MPAA (End of May 2004)

Here's a encouraging information : Balto 3 has been recently rated G (for everyone) in the rating panel of the MPAA (which determines which age bracket is concerned for each movie), here's a link for proof:

http://www.filmjerk.com/nuke/article905.html

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Other information

This time, it comes from a German site, here's what it says :

June 9th 2004
In the Blackbird Studios in Berlin the dubbing for the movie "Balto 3" is taking place. Ille is singing the titelsong for the movie in a duet. The movie will be released on DVD.

(thanks to a german visitor for the translation)