This year Netflix will return to Annecy with a line-up of films and series. The streaming giant will provide sneak peeks of its upcoming animated content at the international animation film festival.
Here is a full rundown of Netflix’s Annecy activity:
- A session named “Next on Netflix Animation: From Twilight of the Gods to Wallace & Gromit,” taking place on 12 June will feature the award-winning Aardman team, directors Nick Park and Merlin Crossingham, offering a sneak peek at the untitled Wallace & Gromit film. Apart from that, director Zack Snyder, executive producer Deborah Snyder along with Xilam Animation director Slimane Aniss will unveil clips from the adult animated series Twilight of the Gods. Audiences will also witness glimpses from The Twits and Skydance Animation’s Spellbound.
- Ultraman: Rising, will have its world premiere on 12 June.
- Work-in-progress sessions exploring the various stages of production will feature award-winning writer Richard Curtis (Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill, Love Actually, Yesterday), animation veteran and director Simon Otto (Love, Death & Robots and How to Train Your Dragon), Nicole Hearon (producer) and Justin Hutchinson-Chatburn (production designer) discussing That Christmas on 11 June.
- On 13 June, “Making Of Sessions” will go behind the scenes of the final creative processes of Ultraman: Rising, with, Shannon Tindle (director), John Aoshima (co-director), Sunmin Inn (art director), Hayden Jones (VFX supervisor), Scot Stafford (composer), and comedy series Big Mouth with Nick Kroll (co-creator, EP, voice cast), Andrew Goldberg (co-creator, EP), Jennifer Flackett (co-creator, EP) and Mark Levin (co-creator, EP). Arcane’s session will be on 12 June and will feature showrunner Christian Linke (Riot), scriptwriter Amanda Overton (Riot), senior concept artist Arnaud Baudry (Riot), director Bart Maunoury (Fortiche), and producer Christine Ponzevera (Fortiche).
- A Wallace & Gromit exhibition featuring some of the puppets from Aardman’s new film will take center stage and celebrate these stop-motion characters.
- In addition, Blue Eye Samurai and Pokemon Concierge will be in official competition.
Below are the details of the upcoming titles:
1. Ultraman: Rising (release: 14 June 2024): With Tokyo under siege from rising monster attacks, baseball star Ken Sato reluctantly returns home to take on the mantle of Ultraman. But the titanic superhero meets his match when he reluctantly adopts a 35-foot-tall, fire-breathing baby kaiju. Sato must rise above his ego to balance work and parenthood while protecting the baby from forces bent on exploiting her for their own dark plans.
In partnership with Netflix, Tsuburaya Productions, and Industrial Light & Magic, Ultraman: Rising cast includes Christopher Sean (You, Hawaii Five-O), Gedde Watanabe (Sixteen Candles), Tamlyn Tomita (Avatar: The Last Airbender) Keone Young (Men in Black 3, Star Wars Rebels) and Julia Harriman (Camp Rock).
2. Spellbound (Release: 2024): Follows the adventures of Ellian, the tenacious young daughter of the rulers of Lumbria who must go on a daring quest to save her family and kingdom after a mysterious spell transforms her parents into monsters.
Spellbound is directed by Vicky Jenson (Shrek) with original score from EGOT-winning composer Alan Menken (Beauty and the Beast) and lyrics by Glenn Slater (Tangled). The voice cast includes Rachel Zegler, Nicole Kidman, Javier Bardem, John Lithgow, Jenifer Lewis, Nathan Lane, and Tituss Burgess. Spellbound is written by Lauren Hynek & Elizabeth Martin and Julia Miranda and produced by John Lasseter, David Ellison, Dana Goldberg and Bruce Anderson for Skydance Animation.
3. That Christmas (release: 2024): Based on the charming trilogy of children’s books by award-winning writer/director Richard Curtis (Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill, Love Actually, Yesterday), That Christmas follows a series of entwined tales about family and friends, love and loneliness, and Santa Claus making a big mistake, not to mention an enormous number of turkeys!
4. An untitled Wallace & Gromit film will premiere on Netflix around the world except in the UK, where it will debut on the BBC before coming to Netflix.
Gromit’s concern that Wallace has become over-dependant on his inventions proves justified, when Wallace invents a ‘smart gnome’ that seems to develop a mind of its own…As events spiral out of control, it falls to Gromit to put aside his qualms and battle sinister forces – or Wallace may never be able to invent again!
Wallace & Gromit creator Nick Park directs the upcoming title along with Merlin Crossingham. Mark Burton is looking after the screenplay while Richard Beek is on board as the producer.
5. The Twits is coming in 2025. Phil Johnston serves as the director, Katie Shanahan & Todd Demong as co-directors, Johnston (Zootopia, Wreck-It Ralph) & Meg Favreau as writers and Johnston, Maggie Malone and Daisy West are the producers.
The synopsis reads: Mr. and Mrs. Twit are the meanest, smelliest, nastiest people in the world who also happen to own and operate the most disgusting, most dangerous, most idiotic amusement park in the world, Twitlandia. But when the Twits rise to power in their town, two brave orphans and a family of magical animals are forced to become as tricky as the Twits in order to save the city. A hysterically funny, wild ride of a film (chock-full of the Twits’ beloved tricks–from the Wormy Spaghetti to the Dreaded Shrinks), The Twits is also a story for our times, about the never-ending battle between cruelty and empathy.
6. The Twilight of the Gods will be coming this fall. Xilam Animation serves as the animation studio while Stone Quarry Animation is the production company.
7. Riot Games’ Arcane will be coming in November. Fortiche Productions is looking after the animation. Arcane is being created by Christian Linke and Alex Yee. It is executive produced by Linke, Marc Merrill and Brandon Beck. The announced voice cast includes Hailee Steinfeld (Vi), Ella Purnell (Jinx) and Katie Leung (Caitlyn Kiramman), among others to be announced.
8. Big Mouth S8 is coming in 2025. The show is executive produced by Nick Kroll, Andrew Goldberg, Jennifer Flackett and Mark Levin. Big Mouth is a half-hour edgy adult animated comedy from real-life best friends Nick Kroll and Andrew Goldberg about the glorious nightmare that is teenage puberty. The cast includes Nick Kroll, John Mulaney, Jessi Klein, Jason Mantzoukas, Ayo Edebiri, Maya Rudolph, Fred Armisen, Andrew Rannells, and Jordan Peele.
