DreamWorks Animation And Netflix Partner For Charlie Kaufman-Penned Pic ‘Orion And The Dark’; First Look Revealed — Annecy

Zac Ntim
·2 min read
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DreamWorks Animation said Tuesday afternoon during a session at the Annecy Animation Festival that it has teamed with Netflix on Orion and the Dark, an animated feature written by Charlie Kaufman. Scroll down for first-look pics.

The pic will drop on the streamer in 2024. Director is Sean Charmatz, with Peter McCown producing. Exec producers are Walt Dohrn and Bonnie Arnold. Voice cast includes Jacob Tremblay as Orion and Paul Walter Hauser as Dark.

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Based on the book by Emma Yarlett, the pic follows Orion, who seems a lot like your average elementary school kid – shy, unassuming, harboring a secret crush. But underneath his seemingly normal exterior, Orion is a ball of adolescent anxiety, completely consumed by irrational fears of bees, dogs, the ocean, cell phone waves, murderous gutter clowns, and even falling off of a cliff. But of all his fears, the thing he’s the most afraid of is what he confronts on a nightly basis: the dark. So when the literal embodiment of his worst fear pays a visit, Dark whisks Orion away on a roller coaster ride around the world to prove there is nothing to be afraid of in the night. As the unlikely pair grows closer, Orion must decide if he can learn to accept the unknown – to stop letting fear control his life and finally embrace the joy of living.

Charmatz led Tuesday’s session in Annecy alongside production designer Tim Lamb and art director Christine Bian. During the session, the trip shared behind-the-scenes, work-in-progress footage from the pic with audiences.

Charmatz, who has story credits on a series of animated features such as Trolls World Tour and The Angry Birds Movie 2, makes his feature debut with Orion. This pic also marks Kaufman’s first feature credit since 2020’s I’m Thinking of Ending Things.

Annecy ends June 18.

Check out the first-look images below.

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