At Annecy Film Festival in France, Netflix revealed more of its new lineup of diverse films and series. Five years after releasing its first animated feature Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio and Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget. Filmmakers and creators took audiences behind the scenes with world-exclusive clips and sneak peeks from their highly anticipated new projects during the “Next On Netflix Animation: From Wallace & Gromit To Twilight Of The Gods” panel.
Hosted by the multi-talented, producer Anna Higgs, the panel got underway, welcoming Alain Chabat and Fabrice Joubert directors of the French series Asterix & Obelix: The Big Fight, produced by French studio TAT and based on the beloved comic strips created by René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo. The directors showcased a world-exclusive clip from the show. Chabat said: “After the extraordinary experience of making the film “Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra” and the audience’s reception, it is an immense pleasure to dive back into the universe and characters created by René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo! Animation brings us back to the very essence of the work and offers new creative spaces to have fun in different ways. Revealing the first images (even WIP) at Annecy is a privilege and a great joy shared with the team!”
Up next, esteemed industry experts and Annecy veterans, Nick Park and Merlin Crossingham, from Aardman, took to the stage to discuss the much-buzzed-about Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl and treated audiences to a clip. They shared the sentiment: “Annecy has welcomed Wallace and Gromit warmly and generously for many years, and so there couldn’t be a more perfect festival for us to share a special sneak peek of our latest upcoming Wallace and Gromit extravaganza, ‘Vengeance Most Fowl’. It’s so exciting to return to Annecy again, stepping away from production for a couple of days, to share a special taster of the latest madcap adventure we’ve been cooking up for the duo over the last couple of years and to reveal the return of our most infamous villain, Feathers McGraw!”
Fan favorites and the new animated drama series Twilight of the Gods showrunners, Zack and Deborah Snyder, alongside the art director Slimane Aniss also participated in a Q&A. The Synder’s said of their first experience of Annecy: “We are so excited to make our first voyage to Annecy, such a remarkable showcase for groundbreaking animation, with our series, Twilight Of The Gods, a monumental tale, steeped in the rich lore of Norse Mythology, of mortals and gods facing off in a pitched battle, where the lines between honor and revenge are blurred. It has been an amazing journey creating this epic series in partnership with both Netflix and Xilam. We’re thrilled for audiences to finally see it – on a big screen.”
Other highlights from the presentation included director, Vicky Jenson, talking about Skydance Animation’s Spellbound. She shared a sneak peek from the film on stage and her thoughts in the lead-up to the festival: “I am so looking forward to bringing a preview of Spellbound to Annecy. The audiences there are some of the most enthusiastic in the world and are filled with not only animation fans but also students, professionals and old colleagues! Spellbound is a truly special film, and I could not be more proud of it and every artist who helped to make it happen. It is a new fairytale that, while feeling rooted in classic storytelling, has a twist that is both unexpected and universal at the same time.”
Anna also introduced a clip from The Twits, Netflix’s new animated Roald Dahl project, led by writer/director/producer Phil Johnston.
