Netflix Lines Up Animated Movie ‘Back To The Outback’ With Isla Fisher, Tim Minchin, Eric Bana, Guy Pearce & Keith Urban

Netflix’s animated comedy film Back To The Outback will feature a voice cast of Isla Fisher, Tim Minchin, Eric Bana, Guy Pearce, Miranda Tapsell, Angus Imrie, Rachel House, Keith Urban, Celeste Barber, Wayne Knight, Aislinn Derbez, Diesel Cash La Torraca, Lachlan Ross Power, and Oscar-nominee Jacki Weaver.

The film is due to launch in fall 2021. The comedy adventure marks the directorial debuts of filmmakers Clare Knight (editor on The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part and the Kung Fu Panda trilogy) and Harry Cripps. Script comes from Cripps (Penguin Bloom).

In the movie, tired of being locked in a reptile house where humans gawk at them like they’re monsters, a ragtag group of Australia’s deadliest creatures plot a daring escape from their zoo to the Outback, a place where they’ll fit in without being judged for their scales and fangs.

Leading the group is Maddie (Isla Fisher), a poisonous snake with a heart of gold, who bands together with a self-assured Thorny Devil lizard Zoe (Miranda Tapsell), a lovelorn hairy spider Frank (Guy Pearce), and a sensitive scorpion Nigel (Angus Imrie). But when their nemesis — Pretty Boy (Tim Minchin), a cute but obnoxious koala — unexpectedly joins their escape, Maddie and the gang have no choice but to take him with them.

Daniela Mazzucato produces, and Weed Road Pictures’ Akiva Goldsman and Greg Lessans, who developed the story with Cripps, are executive producers.

Music will come from Rupert Gregson-Williams (Aquaman) and songs will be by Tim Minchin (Broadway’s Matilda). Animation and imagery will come from ReelFX.

Said director Claire Knight: “I have always been touched by stories of hidden beauty. Maddie is both uniquely beauty and beast, and to get to present that message in comedy is the icing on the cake.”

Added writer-director Harry Cripps: “Growing up in Australia, I spent a lot of time in the Blue Mountains which has many different types of snakes and spiders, and I always preferred them to the cute cuddly animals, so it’s such a treat to make a film where the heroes are these poisonous but beautiful little creatures. This film is a love letter to Australia’s incredibly diverse and unique wildlife.”

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