David Harbour Among Voice Cast Attached For Animation ‘Night Of The Zoopocalypse’; Anton & Charades Launch For AFM

Andreas Wiseman
·3 min read
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EXCLUSIVE: David Harbour (Stranger Things), Paul Sun-Hyung Lee (The Mandalorian, Kim’s Convenience), Scott Thompson (The Kids In The Hall), and Gabbi Kosmidis (Unicorn Academy) are among voice cast attached for international animation Night Of The Zoopocalypse, which Anton and Charades are launching for the AFM.

The Canadian-French-Belgian family-comedy will follow a group of animals who transform into zombies after their zoo is hit by a meteor. Above is a first look image from the film.

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Anton and Charades, who will co-rep world sales, will unveil first footage at the AFM later this month. It marks the first joint sales collaboration for the London and Paris-based companies.

The film is co-directed by veteran animators and story artists Ricardo Curtis (The Incredibles) and Rodrigo Perez-Castro (Ferdinand) whose combined credits, in various roles, include hits such as the Ice Age films, Rio, and The Angry Birds Movie through animation pre-production studio House of Cool (Paw Patrol), where they serve, respectively, as Creative Director and VP of Creative.

The production is being made at stalwart European animation studios Mac Guff (Despicable Me) and L’Atelier Animation (Leap!). The film is currently in production, due to release in Q4, 2024, and will be distributed by Elevation Pictures in Canada and Apollo Films in France.

Pic is produced by Steven Hoban and Mark Smith at Oscar-winning Canadian production company Copperheart Entertainment, and co-produced by Charades Productions, U Media and Mipa.

The official synopsis reads: “One night, a meteor crashes into Colepepper Zoo unleashing a virus that transforms the animals into strange and hilarious slobbering zombie mutants. Gracie, a young quirky wolf, teams up with a gruff and fearsome mountain lion to find a way back to her pack. As the zoo is overrun, they must come up with a plan to get all the animals back to normal. Together with the help of a motley crew of survivors – Xavier the movie-obsessed lemur, Frida the fiery capybara, Ash the sarcastic, fabulous ostrich and Felix the treacherous monkey – they embark on a perilous mission to rescue the zoo and defeat Bunny Zero, the deranged mutant-king, determined to spread the virus beyond the zoo walls. Welcome to… the zoopocalypse!”

Curtis and Perez-Castro said: “We believe Night of the Zoopocalypse to be a genre defining film for the whole family. It is an ode to the monster movies that inspired us growing up that feature jump scares, astonishing creatures, and an unforgettable cast of hilarious, lovable characters. We hope that our movie will expand the possibilities of animation as a storytelling medium in ways audiences have never imagined was possible.”

Charades’ co-founder Yohann Comte commented: “Night of the Zoopocalypse is our most ambitious CGI family animation to this date, both artistically and budget-wise. We are very proud Copperheart and House of Cool trusted us as international distributor and coproducer. Our partnership with Anton is also a first, and the combination of Charades’ expertise in animation and Anton’s expertise in blockbusters is a perfect fit.”

Anton’s EVP, International Distribution & Acquisitions Louis Balsan commented: “We are thrilled to team up with Charades, Copperheart and House of Cool on such an ambitious project: Night of the Zoopocalypse together the highest quality animation studios, great storytelling and a scary cool concept that will for sure generate loads of fun and laughs for kids and their families when they’ll discover Gracie and her friends.”

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