Annecy Festival attendees today were treated to an Alps-sized helping of Netflix Animation today during a special showcase session as well Work in Progress updates and Making Of deep dives. Here are some of the major reveals from the event (following Animation Magazine‘s early first-look here):
Having unveiled gorgeous first-look imagery, footage and the stellar cast list during Geeked Week, Netflix announced today that Scott “Kid Cudi” Mescudi & Kenya Barris’ N.Y.C. love story Entergalactic will make its exclusive streaming premiere on Friday, September 30.
Entergalactic is an original, animated story about a young artist named Jabari (Mescudi) as he attempts to balance love and success. Finding the latter brings Jabari a step closer to the former, when moving into his dream apartment introduces him to his new neighbor, photographer it-girl, Meadow (Jessica Williams). An explosion of art, music and fashion, Entergalactic takes place in the only city that can handle all three: New York.
The all-star cast also includes Timothée Chalamet, Ty Dolla $ign, Laura Harrier, Vanessa Hudgens, Christopher Abbott, 070 Shake, Jaden Smith, Keith David, Teyana Taylor, Arturo Castro and Macaulay Culkin.
Animated by DNEG, the series is exec produced by Kenya Barris (Khalabo Ink Society), Mescudi, Karina Manashil and Dennis Cummings (Mad Solar Productions), Fletcher Moules, Ian Edelman (Edelgang) and Maurice Williams.
Here is the stunning announcement trailer
For spooky stop-motion fantasy fans, Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio (Fall 2022) is coming alive with several beautiful new images. For this feature, Oscar winner del Toro reinvents Carlo Collodi’s classic tale of the wooden marionette who is magically brought to life in order to mend the heart of a grieving woodcarver named Geppetto. This whimsical, stop-motion musical directed by Guillermo del Toro and Mark Gustafson follows the mischievous and disobedient adventures of Pinocchio in his pursuit of a place in the world.
Pinocchio features the voices of Gregory Mann, Ewan McGregor, David Bradley, Tilda Swinton, Christoph Waltz, Finn Wolfhard, Cate Blanchett, John Turturro, Ron Perlman, Tim Blake Nelson and Burn Gorman.
The film is directed by del Toro and Mark Gustafson (Mr. Resistor, The PJs), written by del Toro and Patrick McHale (Over the Garden Wall). Producers are del Toro, Lisa Henson (Jim Henson Company), Alex Bulkley, Corey Campodonico (ShadowMachine) and Gary Ungar, with Jason Lust as exec producer.
During a swashbuckling Making Of for The Sea Beast (premiering on Netflix on July 8 following its debut at Annecy), a monstrous new still from the seafaring family adventure was revealed!
Directed by Chris Williams (Bolt, Big Hero 6, Moana) — who also wrote the movie with Nell Benjamin and produced with Jed Schlanger — The Sea Beast brings audiences into an era when terrifying beasts roamed the seas, monster hunters were celebrated heroes — and none were more beloved than the great Jacob Holland. But when young Maisie Brumble stows away on his fabled ship, he’s saddled with an unexpected ally. Together they embark on an epic journey into uncharted waters and make history.
The voice cast features Karl Urban, Zaris-Angel Hator, Jared Harris, And Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Dan Stevens and Kathy Burke. The movie’s key creative team also includes production designer Matthias Lechner (Zootopia, Ralph Breaks the Internaet, Encanto) and editor Joyce Arrastia (Hotel Transylvania 3, Monsters vs. Aliens).
Be sure to pick up the 35th Anniversary Issue of Animation Magazine to read all about the movie!
Fans of Netflix’s multi-Emmy and Annie-winning anthology series Love, Death + Robots were also treated to a very cool “making of” video about this season’s thrilling “Bad Traveling” episode, based on a story by Neil Asher and directed by acclaimed director David Fincher (Se7en, Zodiak, Social Network, Mank). We have the video right here for you!
