News

It’s been six years since the release of “Missing Link,” the fifth stop-motion animated film from the Portland-based animation house Laika. If you don’t remember it, that’s because the $100 million film — though well reviewed with an 88 percent Rotten Tomatoes score — was a financial bomb, bringing in only $26.5 million globally. Prior Laika films were all budgeted in the $60 million range and were almost all consistent performers at the box office with around $100 million globally, but reports at the time estimated “Missing Link” could have lost over $100 million after expenses.

The onset of Covid-19 in early 2020 didn’t help Laika bounce back. The pandemic severely hampered the company’s ability to work by hand in their tactile animation facility in the Oregon woodlands, such that production on the company’s next ambitious stop-motion epic, “Wildwood,” did not formally begin until September 2021. The company’s founder, Travis Knight, in the...

Plot: A new adult-animated anthology series featuring original stories set within the worlds of some of the world’s most beloved video games. From the creative minds behind Love, Death + Robots, each of the 15 episodes is a celebration of games and gamers.

Review: Deadpool director Tim Miller is a major animation supporter and spent a decade trying to bring a new feature film anthology based on the cult classic film Heavy Metal, based on the long-running magazine of the same name, to the big screen. When that project failed to come together, Miller helped develop Love, Death + Robots at Netflix, a concept similar to Heavy Metal but with a focus on contemporary animation styles. The three-volume animated anthology was popular with genre fans and had some cross-over appeal with mainstream audiences. Miller aims to reach a different subculture with animated shorts collected in the new Prime Video series Secret Level.

The Copeland Brothers have found a new home.

Chris and Justin Copeland, who have worked on “Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts,” “Batman: The Killing Joke” and Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy” cartoon, have joined stop-motion studio Laika to develop animated feature projects. Travis Knight, president and CEO of Laika, made the announcement.

The Copeland Brothers, as they are collectively known, have been working for the past five years on feature and series projects for DreamWorks Animation. The feature they were working on for DreamWorks is not going forward; hence their pivot to Laika, TheWrap has learned. However, a short film that they were working on for the studio is coming soon.

The Copelands join a growing list of filmmakers who are working on projects for the Portland, Oregon-based animation studio, including Pete Candeland, who has directed a number of Gorillaz music videos; Víctor Maldonado and Alfredo Torres, who...

The seventh season of “Pov Shorts” will include Rashida Jones and Will McCormack’s “A Swim Lesson.” About swim coach Bill Marsh, the 20-minute doc, which recently debuted at the Telluride Film Festival, follows Marsh as he helps children manage their fears and instills confidence and safety in their lives

“Pov Shorts” will co-release “A Swim Lesson” with L.A. Times Studios and Documentary+ on Nov. 26. It makes the first year that the strand will co-release a doc with L.A. Times Studios and Documentary+.

“Seeing a child learn how to swim is like witnessing a great opera and in this case, the maestro of this emotional orchestra is the inspiring swim instructor Bill Marsh,” says Jones. “His dedication to these children is the parable we need, as these lessons uncover profound universal truths for all involved.”

According to “Pov Shorts” executive producer. Opal H. Bennett, co-releasing “A Swim Lesson” as...

Gkids has announced the acquisition of the North American rights for the upcoming French sci-fi animation film “Mars Express,” directed by Jérémie Perin in his feature debut.

The film’s synopsis reads: “In 2200, private detective Aline Ruby and her android partner Carlos Rivera are hired by a wealthy businessman to track down a notorious hacker. On Mars, they descend deep into the underbelly of the planet’s capital city where they uncover a darker story of brain farms, corruption, and a missing girl who holds a secret about the robots that threatens to change the face of the universe.”

Perin’s debut was part of the official selection at the Cannes and Annecy film festivals this year.

“Mars Express’ is a film we have been excited about for years, since we saw the very first footage,” said Gkids president David Jesteadt. “This is a timely and provocative story set in...

Laika, the groundbreaking Portland, Oregon-based animation studio, has brought in new filmmakers in the form of director Pete Candeland and Victor Maldonado and Alfredo Torres, the duo known as Headless, TheWrap has confirmed.

Candeland and Headless will be developing new animated features, although details on those features have yet to be revealed.

Maldonado and Torres won an Annie for an episode of the Guillermo del Toro DreamWorks Animation series “Trollhunters” and have also directed three episodes of Netflix’s adult animated series “Love, Death & Robots.” Maldonado also directed and co-wrote “Nocturna,” a 2007 animated feature. Torres also worked on “Nocturna” as production designer, which won the Best Animated Feature at the Goya Awards. They also worked on the animated sequences from J.A. Bayona’s “A Monster Calls” and were in development at Skydance Animation, which recently moved its feature output from Apple TV+ to Netflix.

Candeland is best known for directing music videos for Gorillaz,...

Exclusive: Oregon studio Laika has brought in new talent, hiring director Pete Candeland, along with Victor Maldonado & Alfredo Torres, the Annie Award-winning duo together known as Headless, to develop new animated features.

The appointments are effective immediately, though there’s no word yet on what the projects are.

Maldonado and Torres are an L.A.-based team that landed their Annie for the helming of “Win, Lose or Draal,” an episode of the Guillermo del Toro series Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia, produced by DreamWorks Animation and Double Dare You Productions. The duo also directed three episodes of the Emmy-winning Netflix animated series Love, Death & Robots, additionally partnering on the 2007 fantasy Nocturna which won Best Animated Feature at the Goya Awards, Spain’s equivalent of the Oscars. Maldonado directed that title alongside Adrià García, with Torres serving as production designer and tackling numerous other creative responsibilities.

Maldonado and Torres also...

“Super Giant Robot Brothers” is a new 3D animated action-comedy coming to Netflix in days, and TheWrap has an exclusive sneak peek at a scene from the series.

In the clip, which you can watch below, Shiny (the red one) accuses Thunder (the silver one) of stealing his, well, “thunder.”

Also Read:

Here’s What’s Leaving Netflix in August 2022

The series will find the robot siblings working together to defend Earth when space monsters attack.

Marisa Davila, Chris Diamantopoulos and Delbert Hunt voice the main characters in the series.

“Super Giant Robot Brothers” hails from creators Victor Maldonado and Alfredo Torres.

All episodes of the new animated series drop Aug. 4 on Netflix.

Read original story ‘Super Giant Robot Brothers’ Exclusive Sneak Peek Features Epic Sibling Rivalry (Video) At TheWrap...

Netflix will expand its children’s animation programming slate with the addition of A Tale Dark & Grimm, Dogs In Space and Super Giant Robot Brothers.

The first in the trio of animated series is A Tale Dark & Grimm, based on the best-selling book by Adam Gidwitz. The series follows Hansel and Gretel as they

run away from home to find better parents…or at least ones who won’t chop off their heads! As Hansel and Gretel leave their own story and venture through other classic Grimm fairy tales, unexpected narrators’ guide us through their encounters with witches, warlocks, dragons and even the devil himself.

The series, which features Raini Rodriguez, Andre Robinson, Nicole Byer and Adam Lambert, is produced in partnership with Boat Rocker Studios in association with Novo Media Group and Astro-Nomical Entertainment. Animation services by Boat Rocker’s Jam Filled Entertainment.

Executive producers are David Henrie, James Henrie,...

Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Jamie Ward, Kobna Holdbrook-Smith, Simon Harrison, Chipo Chung and Amber Fitzgerald-Woolfe have joined the third and final season of “His Dark Materials,” directed by Amit Gupta, Charles Martin and Weronika Tofilska.

The eight-episode season, which is currently in production, is based on “The Amber Spyglass,” the final novel in Philip Pullman’s bestselling trilogy.

Season 3 of “His Dark Materials” follows Lyra (Dafne Keen) and Will (Amir Wilson), the bearer of The Subtle Knife, as they travel through multiple worlds to find and protect each other.

Also starring Ruth Wilson, Simone Kirby, Will Keen, Jade Anouka, Ruta Gedminstas and James McAvoy, “His Dark Materials” is produced by Bad Wolf in association with New Line Cinema for BBC One and HBO. Executive producers include Jane Tranter, Dan McCulloch, Joel Collins and Julie Gardner for Bad Wolf; Philip Pullman, Jack Thorne, Tom Hooper; Deborah Forte, Toby Emmerich and Carolyn Blackwood for...

With “Black Mirror: Bandersnatch” and its new Bear Grylls series “You vs. Wild,” Netflix is experimenting with letting audiences pick the story direction of the series they watch. But a different unconventional approach to surfacing shows to subscribers has garnered some recent attention. “Love, Death, and Robots,” which premiered on the streaming platform last Friday, is an animated anthology aimed at an adult audience. From executive producers David Fincher and Tim Miller, the 18-episode collection spans different styles of animation and centers mainly on the three thematic groups in the title.

Some viewers are noticing that these installments are being presented in different orders, depending on the user. The official Netflix Twitter account responded Tuesday to a thread claiming that this difference was tailored to the viewer’s identity or background.

We've never had a show like Love, Death & Robots before so we're trying something completely new: presenting four different episode orders.

David Ellison’s Skydance Media is developing Jennifer L. Holm’s best-selling children’s book “The Fourteenth Goldfish” as an animated comedy movie.

Skydance announced on Friday that it had bought movie rights to “Goldfish,” and signed Ted Melfi and Kimberly Quinn to write and produce. Victor Maldonado and Alfredo Torres from Headless Productions will direct the film with Alessandro Carloni serving as executive producer.

“The Fourteenth Goldfish” centers on a 12-year-old girl whose middle-school life is made even more complicated when her estranged grandfather shows up at her door, having reversed his age to 14. Together, they must go on an adventure to stop the technology from falling into the wrong hands.

“We fell in love with ‘The Fourteenth Goldfish’ immediately and were passionate about telling this story featuring characters of all ages and the unique comedic circumstances that connects a young girl with her grandfather at an important time in both their lives,...

Skydance Media has acquired rights to The Fourteenth Goldfish, Jennifer L. Holm’s bestselling 2014 children’s book, and has attached husband-wife producing partners Ted Melfi and Kimberly Quinn to write and produce an animated film. Victor Maldonado and Alfredo Torres will direct, and Alessandro Carloni will be executive producer. The plot centers on a 12-year-old girl whose middle school life is made even more complicated when her estranged grandfather shows up at her door having reversed his age to 14 years old. Together, they must go on an adventure to stop the technology from falling into the wrong hands. This is the fourth recent deal for Skydance’s Animation and Family Entertainment division, joining Luck, directed by Carloni and written by Jonathan Aibel & Glenn Berger; Split (working title), directed by Vicky Jenson and written by Linda Woolverton; and Powerless (working title), directed by Nathan Greno.

James Marsden and American Housewife kid...

Coming on top in a bidding war, Skydance Media has picked up the rights to children’s book The Fourteenth Goldfish with the goal of adapting it as a big-screen animated feature.

Ted Melfi, the Oscar-nominated writer-director behind Hidden Figures and St. Vincent, and his wife, actress Kimberly Quinn, are on board to write the adaptation as well as produce.

Victor Maldonado and Alfredo Torres, who worked on the Spanish animated movie Nocturna as well as Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia via their Headless Productions, are attached to co-direct.

Goldfish centers on a 12-year-old girl whose confusing middle-school life gets more complicated when her estranged grandfather,...

Coming on top in a bidding war, Skydance Media has picked up the rights to children’s book The Fourteenth Goldfish with the goal of adapting it as a big-screen animated feature.

Ted Melfi, the Oscar-nominated writer-director behind Hidden Figures and St. Vincent, and his wife, actress Kimberly Quinn, are on board to write the adaptation as well as produce.

Victor Maldonado and Alfredo Torres, who worked on the Spanish animated movie Nocturna as well as Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia via their Headless Productions, are attached to co-direct.

Goldfish centers on a 12-year-old girl whose confusing middle-school life gets more complicated when her estranged grandfather,...

Barcelona-based Headless Productions, the studio behind Nocturna, has release the teaser trailer to the beautifully hand-drawn animated film My Family And The Wolf. The project is directed by Adrian Garcia, Alfredo Torres and Victor Maldonado and produce by Nectarious Films.  I hope this gets picked up because the animation looks promising. My family and the wolf" aims to be a love letter to childhood summers trying to evoke certain lights and smells and above all that, claim memories as the most valuable treasure.You'll find the teaser embedded below....