"William's Bell Overture" is Now Releasing January 9! Explore the Journey to a New (Late) THAC Entry!

 By: Andrew Bermudez

Mustache Maniacs Film Co. Headquarters, January 6, 2026)

    While it was officially announced back on Saturday, we wanted to dive into the fact that William Bell's Overture: The Symphony of the Realities has been delayed to January 9. That and a look at this project's history is below!

William's Bell Overture: The Symphony of the Realities is Now Releasing on January 9!

    When this film officially entered production back on Saturday as a part of THAC 2026, there were some concerns that the film was too ambitious for a THAC entry, as well as the fact that some of the scenes didn't seem to work. When the decision was made to rewrite the climax of the film just five hours before the deadline, the writing was already on the wall that these fears would come true. Now, as you may already be aware, this film is now releasing on January 9, almost a week after the contest's end. We're going to use this time to polish the film in ways that wouldn't have been possible otherwise, but we hope that the wait will be worth it!

Where Did the Idea for this Film Come From?

    But what is William's Bell Overture, really? Yes, it's a play on the William Tell Overture, but this film is actually loosely based on an anthology story series by PeabodySam that goes by the same name. The series is intended to be a companion to the critically praised RPG Dino Attack RPG that explores the RPG's events as they could have played out, and how they played out elsewhere in the multiverse. Initially, the stories weren't going to receive any kind of adaptation, but the fall of 2024 changed things entirely.

From Musical World to THAC 2026: How these Competitions Shaped the Final Film

    In August 2024, Bricks in Motion launched their annual major animation competition. For that year, the contest was titled Musical World and challenged filmmakers to create an animated film that emphasized music. The problem was that Mustache Maniacs Film Co.'s planned summer contest entry for that year was going to be Greed and Grit, a gritty western that had something in spades that Musical World forbade: dialogue.

    Quickly pivoting, Andrew Bermudez wanted to see if he could come up with an idea that put music front and center. He wanted to create a film set to classical music (unlike the lyrical rock or pop songs that other entries used), but what should the film be? The pun in the name William's Bell Overture became the answer: here was an opportunity to create a unique film about the multiverse that is wrapped around a fictional theorem about multiversal energies harmonizing music, with the title itself being a pun on a famous piece of classical music. With that, William's Bell Overture: The Symphony of the Realities was born.

    The problem was that The Fourth Mustache Maniacs Film Co. Fan Choice Awards needed to be completed, so the film was shelved since it still showed promise. In 2025, an attempt to write the film with dialogue ended in failure, simply because the dialogue ruined the intent of the film.

Set-Backs and Rewrites: The Decision to Delay the Film to January 9

    That brings us to now, with THAC 2026 officially marking the end of this film's stalled development. The theme of "Revelation" was the backbone that made the film work, with the story following this idea through. While it was once again delayed due to an unrealistic scope of ambition, this time, the delay is only marginal, with an official release this Friday!

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