Nimona To Be Released by Newly Established Annapurna Animation

Nimona, set to be launched on Netflix in 2023, is now formally the flagship film for Annapurna Animation. Robert Baird and Andrew Millstein—each former Disney animation execs—are main the newly-established animation division at Annapurna Inc., which is finest identified for its video video games, together with the 2022 feline-follow-along hit, Stray.

“We instantly felt at home at Annapurna,” mentioned Robert Baird. “Their vision is extremely compelling and is a deep match with our values and the types of impactful stories we want to help bring to life.” Both Baird and Millstein come ready with bona fides for days. They beforehand headed Fox/Disney’s Blue Sky Studios, the place the duo led over 500 filmmakers and have been liable for the event and manufacturing of Blue Sky’s function animation slate. This is fairly attention-grabbing as a result of Nimona was being developed at Blue Sky studios—and was about “75%” full, based on sources—when it was unceremoniously canceled and the studio later shuttered.

Nimona is an adaptation of a webcomic by the identical identify written by Nathan Stevenson. It might be directed by Nick Bruno and Troy Quane. The official synopsis on Netflix at present reads:

A Knight (Riz Ahmed) is framed for a criminal offense he didn’t commit and the one one who will help him show his innocence is Nimona (Chloë Grace Moretz), a shape-shifting teen who may additionally be a monster he’s sworn to kill. Set in a techno-medieval world not like something animation has tackled earlier than, it is a story in regards to the labels we assign to folks and the shapeshifter who refuses to be outlined by anybody.

In the months following the announcement, numerous reviews got here out about how Disney executives needed the animators to tone executed the central queer romance between Lord Ballister Blackheart (who might be voiced by Riz Ahmed) and Sir Ambrosious Goldenloin (Eugene Lee Yang). io9 additionally obtained, through an nameless animator, take a look at footage from the scrapped movie, which is included above.

Want extra io9 information? Check out when to count on the newest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s subsequent for the DC Universe on movie and TV, and all the things you might want to learn about James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water.