Netflix and Skydance Ink Multiyear Development Deal

The animated feature ‘Spellbound,’ coming to Netflix in 2024.

Netflix and Skydance Animation announced a multiyear deal that will see the studio developing and producing animated movies for release directly on the streamer. The agreement will bring Skydance’s animated feature slate to Netflix, expanding on the existing relationship between the two companies that included features like The Adam Project, Heart of Stone, The Old Guard, Spy Kids: Armageddon and series FUBAR, Altered Carbon, and Grace and Frankie.

Netflix will debut the first two films produced under the new agreement, Spellbound, in 2024, followed by Pookoo in 2025.

Spellbound follows the adventures of Ellian, the tenacious princess who must go on a daring quest to save her family and kingdom after a mysterious spell transforms her parents, the King and Queen of Lumbria, into monsters. Vicky Jenson (Shrek, Shark Tale) directs with original score from EGOT-winning composer Alan Menken and lyrics by Glenn Slater. Leading the all-star voice are Rachel Zegler; Nicole Kidman; Javier Bardem; John Lithgow; Jenifer Lewis; Nathan Lane; and Tituss Burgess. Written by Lauren Hynek & Elizabeth Martin, and Linda Woolverton, John Lasseter, David Ellison, Dana Goldberg, and Bruce Anderson produce for Skydance Animation.

Pookoo is a buddy comedy about a small woodland creature and a majestic bird, two natural sworn enemies of The Valley, that magically trade places and set off on an adventure of a lifetime. Nathan Greno (Tangled, Tangled Ever After) directs with original music composed by Siddhartha Khosla. The film is produced by Lasseter, Ellison, Goldberg, and Mary Ellen Bauder Andrews for Skydance Animation.

Future films include Ray Gunn, directed by Brad Bird (The Incredibles, Ratatouille, The Iron Giant), and an untitled Jack and the Beanstalk project directed by Rich Moore (Zootopia, Wreck-It Ralph).

Source: Netflix

Debbie Diamond Sarto is news editor at Animation World Network.