Netflix Geeked Week is back! Running Nov. 6-12, the celebration dropped lots of new tidbits about its original and acquired kids & family titles on Thursday. Here’s a quick, updating rundown of what’s new:
Childhood anxiety is given an animated spin in Orion and the Dark, a comedic fantasy-adventure feature based on the children’s book by Emma Yarlett. The movie is written by surrealist master Charlie Kaufman (Anomalisa, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) and helmed by veteran story artist and director of Trolls Holiday in Harmony, Sean Charmatz.
Netflix announced today the CG film produced by DreamWorks Animation will premiere on February 2, 2024. We also got a teaser trailer, poster and new stills to ponder!
Adam Sandler’s freedom-loving lizard is embroiled in a slapstick battle with modern conveniences in his quest to escape from a suburban Florida home in a new clip from Leo, the original animated feature coming November 21.
Directed by Robert Marianetti, Robert Smigel and David Wachtenheim, the coming-of-age animated musical comedy centers on 74-year-old lizard Leo (Sandler), who has been stuck in the same Florida classroom for decades with his terrarium-mate turtle (Bill Burr). When he learns he only has one year left to live, he plans to escape to experience life on the outside — but instead gets caught up in the problems of his anxious students.
Also featuring the voices of Cecily Strong, Jason Alexander, Sadie Sandler, Sunny Sandler, Rob Schneider, Jo Koy, Jackie Sandler, Heidi Gardner, Robert Smigel, Nick Swardson, Stephanie Hsu and Nicholas Turturro, read all about the making of Leo in our feature story here.
The next chapter in Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment’s dino saga gets its official title, teaser and new images, showcasing the DreamWorks Animation-produced CG visuals. Jurassic World: Chaos Theory is due to debut on Netflix some time in 2024. The story goes, per the streamer, “After the park has closed, after the kingdom has fallen, a new era of chaos begins…”
Camp Cretaceous leads Scott Kreamer and Aaron Hammersley return as executive producers & showrunners. Steven Spielberg, Colin Trevorrow and Frank Marshall are also executive producers.
Logline: When baseball superstar Ken Sato returns home to Japan to pick up the mantle of Earth-defending superhero Ultraman, he quickly finds more than he bargained for as he’s forced to raise the offspring of his greatest foe.
The newly announced voice cast features Christopher Sean (You, Hawaii Five-O), Gedde Watanabe (Sixteen Candles, Parental Guidance), Tamlyn Tomita (The Good Doctor, Cobra Kai, upcoming Avatar: The Last Airbender), Keone Young (Crank, Men in Black 3, Star Wars Rebels) and Julia Harriman.
The series is directed by Shannon Tindle (writer, Kubo and the Two Strings, Lost Ollie), co-directed by John Aoshima (DuckTales, Gravity Falls) and written by Tindle and Kubo colleague Marc Haime. Producers are Tom Knott and Lisa M. Poole. Produced by Tsuburaya Productions and Industrial Light & Magic.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie will be available to stream for U.S. subscribers starting December 3. Produced by Illumination and Nintendo and based on the beloved video game franchise, the movie was directed by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic, and boasts an all-star cast led by Chris Pratt, Charlie Day, Anya Taylor-Joy and Jack Black. Released in April, Mario grossed over $1.36 billion worldwide (the third highest-grossing animated film ever) and is also streaming on Peacock. [H/T Deadline]
Netflix also released a look at the 2024 live-action adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender. This “live-action reimagining of the beloved animated series is eight hours long and includes Gordon Cormier as Aang, Ian Ousley as Sokka, Kiawentiio as Katara, and Dallas Liu as Prince Zuko. The popular Nickelodeon series was created by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko and ran for three seasons on Nickelodeon from February 2005 to July 2008. Konietizko and DiMartino were originally atteched to the show but they departed the project three years ago. The new show-runner is Albert Kim (Sleepy Hollow).
Here’s the trailer:
