Pioneering New Zealand-China animated feature co-pro Mosley has been picked up for North American distribution by Grindstone Entertainment, which plans to release the CG-animated family adventure later this year. A labor of love project written and directed by Kirby Atkins, the film had its official world premiere at Annecy 2020.
“This film’s journey has been a labor of love over two decades and I’m thrilled to share this with a wider audience,” said Atkins. “I’m immensely grateful to Lotus Entertainment and Grindstone for believing in it enough to bring it to the U.S. market.”
Mosley follows a family of four-legged creatures known as “thoriphants,” who work as beasts of burden for a bitter farmer named Simon on an isolated plot of land. One night, Mosley and his young son, Rue, discover a cave with ancient drawings of creatures just like themselves — except these have hands and walk upright. The discovery sets Mosley on a dangerous quest to find out what happened to his ancestors, and perhaps realize his own true nature.
The voice cast features Lucy Lawless (Xena, Ash vs. Evil Dead, Minions: Rise of Gru), John Rhys-Davies (The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Wizards: Tales of Arcadia), Temuera Morrison (The Mandalorian, Moana) and Rhys Darby (Flight of the Conchords, Voltron: Legendary Defender), as well as Atkins and his daughter, Leah, Curt Cloninger (Polycarp) and country singer John Phillips.
The deal was brokered by Stan Wertlieb and Ryan Black for Grindstone with Huhu Studios, Jack Sheehan, and Jeremie Guiraud at Lotus Entertainment. The film has sold to a multitude of international territories, including Australia, Bulgaria, Ex-Yugoslavia, China, C.I.S., Czech Republic, Slovakia, Italy, Middle East, New Zealand, Portugal, Romania and South Africa.
Atkins is represented by Aaron Kaplan at Kaplan/Perrone Entertainment.
