On the heels of Netflix trimming its own animation division in favor of bringing in third-party content—as reported by Variety on October 11—we now know one of the new sources joining the fold: Skydance Animation, which was previously partnered with Apple TV+ and released Luck on the streamer in 2022.
As the Hollywood Reporter notes, this new alliance with Netflix is “multiyear” and covers both the development and production of animated films; it makes Netflix the new release home for 2024’s Spellbound—starring the voices of Rachel Zegler, Nicole Kidman, and Javier Bardem with music by Disney veteran Alan Menkin—which was originally supposed to be an Apple TV+ release. Other titles making the leap to Netflix are Pookoo, coming in 2025 from director Nathan Greno (Tangled), as well as Brad Bird’s Ray Gunn and “an untitled Jack and the Beanstalk project from Zootopia director Rich Moore.” The trade also notes Skydance’s live-action deal with Apple is still intact, and the animated series The Search for WondLa, based on the children’s sci-fi book series, will also remain at Apple.
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Skydance Animation has been led by John Lasseter, the former Walt Disney Animation Studios executive and Pixar Animations Studios co-founder, since 2019; he was ousted from his previous gig following misconduct allegations made in 2017.
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