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Green Street Pictures has landed two adult animated series — “Scavangers Reign” and “Common Side Effects” — on major platforms in after barely five years in business. And while “Scavengers Reign” wasn’t picked up for a second season by Max, that hasn’t deterred Green Street co-founders Sean Buckelew, Joe Bennett, James Merrill and Benjy Brooke from planning out the entire season.

But when it comes to “Common Side Effects,” the news that Adult Swim has renewed it for Season 2 means that Green Street Pictures no longer has to let their storyboards do the dreaming. They’re in the hot seat, making the kind of idiosyncratic animated shows for adults they’ve always wanted to.

“We came together almost more as a filmmaking sensibility rather than an animation-first sensibility,” Buckelew tells Variety. “When we say independent and scrappy, part of that is that you’re making films just end-to-end on your own with a small team,...

Updated with latest: San Diego Comic-Con released the full schedule for its 2024 edition, which kicks off Thursday and runs July 25-28. The annual confab is officially centered at the San Diego Convention Center, but in reality it invades the city with its army of comics, genre, movie and TV fans and cosplayers looking for the latest news.

Following a sleepy Comic-Con last year thanks to the Hollywood strikes, this year is expected to return to its usual crazy, especially with Marvel Studios back in Hall H for a pair of events: a Thursday panel devoted to Deadpool & Wolverine on the same day it opens in theaters, and a Saturday evening showcase breaking down what’s going on the the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Other marquee film and TV series that have now set panels for Comic-Con include everything from Transformers One and The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power...

Adult Swim, the global leader in adult animation, unveiled plans for San Diego Comic-Con which includes an ongoing Pirate-themed fan “parrrty” featuring a series of special evening events, exclusive panels diving into key Adult Swim programs, and the kick-off of a cross-country mobile tour to celebrate “Rick and Morty: The Anime.” “For reasons too long to get into, we at Adult Swim have always used a pirate ship as a metaphor for how we operate,” said Michael Ouweleen, president, Adult Swim. “We thought, since we like to think of us, fans and network, as all one thing, that we should bring the pirate ship to the harbor of San Diego this year and let everyone join us on the – erm – poop deck.” Adult Swim Pirate Parrrty Adult Swim will crash onto the shores of San Diego with a shipwreck adventure on the network’s Adult Swim on the Green space...

Adult Swim is making a big return to San Diego Comic-Con this year, with a huge pirate-themed fan event lasting the whole week that, among other things, features the premiere of “Rick and Morty: The Anime” and “Common Side Effects,” Aew wrestlers and plenty more.

The “Adult Swim Pirate Parrrty” takes place 1:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. From Thursday, July 25 through Saturday July 27 on the green space at 5th Avenue Landing and Convention Way, right across the street from the convention center. And it’s fully open to the public, no Sdcc badge required.

Attendees will be able to take part in special giveaways, play custom games based on Adult Swim properties, DJ sets as well as special nighttime events:

Aew x Adult Swim “Battle for the Booty” Wrestling Tournament.

Happening Thursday, July 25 at 7:30 p.m., the event features a tag team tournament between Aew wrestlers versus...

"I would do literally anything for them... I'll clean their dirtiest corners." There's nothing humanity could use more right now than a few good laughs at technology. Don't worry, all this tech doesn't really have any feelings anyway. Especially A.I. - all this dumb, idiotic, worthless Artificial Intelligence. This fun animated short film called I Am A Robot will keep you chuckling during its 7 minute runtime. It first debuted a few months ago, but I just caught it now. "I was just trying to sign up for an account, not be confronted with the fact that our fear of technology is actually based on a reflection of our own cruel, morally compromised, and violent behavior," explains writer & director Sean Buckelew. I Am A Robot is about a roomba with a foot fetish, a violent self-driving car, and a supercomputer that wants to kill us all (ha ha..?). Voices including Kevin Gregory Krieger,...

Netflix saves the day once again by picking up canceled series Scavengers Reign from Max, pleasing fans and sparking hopes for Season 2. Co-creators express excitement for show's switch to Netflix, thanking fans and the platform for the opportunity to reach a wider audience. With critical acclaim and growing fan base, Scavengers Reign on Netflix has reignited calls for Season 2 renewal, leaving fans eagerly waiting.

Netflix has once again been picking up the canceled shows of other streaming platforms, this time taking on the animated series Scavengers Reign. The series debuted on Max in October 2023, but despite holding a perfect 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes from critics, with an equally impressive 94% audience score, the show was canceled by Max last month. However, Netflix have wasted no time in swooping to pick up the distribution rights to the story of the crew of an interstellar freighter ship stranded on a dangerous planet.

After...

Acclaimed Max show Scavengers Reign moves to Netflix after a 100% Rotten Tomatoes rating. It's a non-exclusive Netflix deal, which means the show will still be available on Max. Netflix could renew Scavengers Reign for season 2.

Scavengers Reign, the acclaimed Max show with a 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes, is coming to Netflix. Created by Joseph Bennett and Charles Huettner, Scavengers Reign is an adult-animated sci-fi series that debuted on Max in October 2023. The story unfolds on an alien planet where a damaged interstellar freighter ship gets stranded. From there, the remaining crew works to locate their ship and missing crewmates while they navigate a hostile world that has thrived without human interference.

After first being reported by What's On Netflix, it's been confirmed by Variety that Scavengers Reign will begin streaming on Netflix in the U.S. as of May 31, after Max cancelled the show. It's a non-exclusive deal, which means...

Scavengers Reign will not continue on Max any longer.

The animated sci-fi series has been canceled by the streamer after one season. The first season will remain on Max, though it will also begin streaming on Netflix beginning May 31.

Scavengers Reign is about the surviving crew of a damaged deep space freighter who are stranded on a beautiful yet unforgiving planet. They begin to learn the true nature of this planet as they try to survive long enough to escape or be rescued.

Season 1 debuted on Max in October. The series is co-created and executive produced by animators, writers, and directors Joe Bennett and Charles Huettner. 

Benjy Brooke serves as supervising director; executive produced by Chris Prynoski, Antonio Canobbio, Shannon Prynoski, and Ben Kalina for Titmouse. Co-executive produced by Sean Buckelew and James Merrill for Green Street Pictures.

“Scavengers Reign” has been canceled at Max, but all hope is not yet lost for the show.

Beginning on May 31, Season 1 of the animated sci-fi drama will begin streaming on Netflix in the U.S., the U.K., Ireland and New Zealand. The Netflix deal is non-exclusive, meaning the episodes will remain available on Max. Sources tell Variety that Netflix is considering picking up “Scavengers Reign” for a second season, but a decision won’t be made until after Season 1’s debut on the streamer.

The series is set on an alien planet where a damaged interstellar freighter ship gets stranded and follows the remaining crew as they struggle to locate their ship and missing crewmates while navigating a hostile world that has thrived without human interference.

Variety named “Scavengers Reign” one of the top 19 shows of 2023, with critic Alison Herman writing that it “pairs the engrossing ambience of a...

The following contains spoilers for Scavengers Reign, streaming now on Max.

One of the biggest animated surprises of the year is the Max original series Scavengers Reign, a science fiction survivalist series that concluded its 12-episode season this November. After a spaceship crashes on a remote planet filled with its own distinct wildlife, the survivors attempt to traverse the harsh landscape to return to the wreckage in the hopes that they can escape. However, with plenty of deadly alien species, including a telepathic entity known simply as Hollow, this country will prove more dangerous than they anticipated.

In an exclusive postgame interview with Cbr, Scavengers Reign writer and executive producer Sean Buckelew and supervising director Benjy Brooke talked about the twists and turns the animated series took across the first season, explained the deeper themes and character arcs behind the story, and teased the creative possibilities of a second season.

Fans of science fiction have simultaneously seen something similar to Max’s new adult animated series Scavengers Reign and absolutely nothing like it before.

It’s a dichotomy that the show’s creative team leaned into when trying to create a world that houses a group of surviving crewmembers from the Demeter, a deep-space freighter ship damaged by a solar flare and stranded on a beautiful but terrifying planet. Separated and unaware the others have survived, each group — and in some cases a single individual — attempts to navigate and survive the hostile planet in hopes of eventual rescue.

Co-created by Joe Bennett and Charles Huettner, the series, based on their 2016 short Scavengers, has been adapted into a 12-episode series by Green Street Pictures. It’s one of the latest examples of how networks and platforms are not only increasingly interested in animated titles that expand genre representation, but ones that have clear live-action impulses,...

Having to quickly abandon their humongous space freighter named the Demeter because of someone rerouting the ship onto a disastrous path, five beings now become stranded on a beautiful but dangerous new world. Creatures interact with plants in symbiotic relationships that are mesmerizing, crew members learn to wield new materials in ways that are synonymous with an organic Rube Goldberg machine and most importantly, different types of strange predators roam these lands which both fascinate but terrify.

All of this coming to life through color patterns and artistic complexions that will absolutely mesmerize viewers, co-creator Joe Bennett and co-executive producer Sean Buckelew met up with MovieWeb recently to discuss the creative endeavors needed to transform the original 2016 Scavengers short into a full-fledged episodic science fiction drama called Scavengers Reign.

Being that the series will revolve around characters who can talk and convey what they’re feeling and thinking (as opposed...

Froy Gutierrez as “Ryan” and Madelaine Petsch as “Maya” in ‘The Strangers’ Trilogy, a Lionsgate release (Photo Credit: John Armour for Lionsgate)

The 2023 New York Comic Con may be moving forward without any big-name actors, but it’s still got plenty of television panels (and a scattering of film panels) planned over the course of the four-day event. Nycc kicks off on October 12th at Javits Center, with the first day’s lineup confirmed to include a preview of The Strangers Trilogy, creatives from Futurama, details on For All Mankind season four, and the season one finale of The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon.

Nycc continues on Friday, October 13th with Apple TV+’s upcoming epic dive into Legendary’s Monsterverse – Monarch: Legacy of Monsters. Friday panels also include Archer, Evil, Goosebumps, Chucky, and a spotlight on horrormeister John Carpenter.

Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, Krapopolis, Ghosts of Ruin, and Matthew Vaughn host panels on Saturday,...

Scavengers Reign is a captivating sci-fi animated series that takes viewers on a thrilling journey across the cosmos, filled with exploration and survival. The crew of the Demeter, originally on a routine voyage, awakens on an unknown planet, facing the challenges of their new environment in hopes of rescue or escape. Scavengers Reign, created by Charles Huettner and Joe Bennett, showcases their distinctive creative style and is accompanied by a lineup of other exciting shows on Max.

A new animated tale is set to bloom in the vast expanse of the universe. This October, embrace the allure and mystery of the cosmos with the latest animated offering from Max, Scavengers Reign. This gripping sci-fi series promises a breathtaking voyage across the cosmic ocean, where the splendors and terrors of the outer worlds unfold in a symphony of exploration and survival. Bearing the burden of sudden tragedy, the crew of the...

A fixture of the independent animation scene in America, Sean Buckelew is a creator already well known to us at Directors Notes, having followed his career closely since we first featured him on the site. With a number of impressive short films to his name and his involvement in the Glas animation festival it’s hard to understand why it took us so long for a follow-up interview, but we’re excited to have him back on Dn to discuss his short film Drone. A 16-minute short centred on the CIA’s attempts to rebrand a Predator drone after installing it with an ethical AI, the film has already impressed audiences at Annecy, Fantoche, Ottawa and more before coming online. Watch the film and then read our interview with its creator, as we discuss the unusual inspiration behind Drone’s premise, the lack of animation funding in the US and the importance of collaboration.

Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.

Atom Egoyan Presents

The great Canadian filmmaker has curated a streaming series for Filmatique—”ten films which have left a strong sense visual impression,” including work by Jafar Panahi, Christian Petzold, and Andrea Arnold.

Where to Stream: Filmatique

Drone (Sean Buckelew)

The latest short by LA-based animator and Guggenheim Fellow Sean Buckelew, Drone follows an artificially intelligent Predator drone named Newton who refuses to participate in military-mandated destruction. Instead, he livestreams his ethical musings as he tours the country spreading a message of peace. Drone deftly navigates the moral complexities of remote warfare, highlighting comedy and compassion along the way.

Where to Stream: Le Cinéma Club

The Integrity of Joseph Chambers (Robert Machoian)

If the apocalypse comes, we’re all screwed.

For a relatively new event, Manchester Animation Festival has cemented its place as a highlight of the UK festival scene. Driven by a passionate team, Maf offers its audience a unique opportunity to celebrate the world of animation through screenings, panels, workshops, masterclasses and more. Returning in-person for the first time in two years, the event runs in various locations throughout the city, from Sunday 13th to Friday 18th November and with over 100 events Festival Director Steve Henderson has declared this their “biggest and most exciting edition yet”. With that in mind, we took a dive into the programme and selected our highlights from all the event has to offer.

The 7 ‘Must Watch’ Short Films of MAF2022

Although we’re intrigued by the complete Maf programme and I could probably spend the whole of this article discussing Alberto Vázquez’s unique feature Unicorn Wars, with an impressive 10 screenings dedicated to shorts – Short Films for Children,...

HBO Max has ordered the adult animated sci-fi drama Scavengers Reign to series. Set to premiere next year, the series is co-created and executive produced by animators, writers, and directors Joe Bennett and Charles Huettner. It’s from Titmouse and will be unveiled at the Annecy Animation Festival.

Scavengers Reign is about the surviving crew of a damaged deep space freighter who are stranded on a beautiful yet unforgiving planet. They begin to learn the true nature of this planet as they try to survive long enough to escape or be rescued.

Benjy Brooke serves as supervising director; executive produced by Chris Prynoski, Antonio Canobbio, Shannon Prynoski, and Ben Kalina for Titmouse. Co-executive produced by Sean Buckelew and James Merrill for Green Street Pictures.