Gore Verbinski Animated Pic Cattywumpus To Be Shopped After Being In The Works At Netflix

EXCLUSIVE: We are hearing from sources that the Gore Verbinski directed animated movie about outer space felines, Cattywumpus, will be getting shopped around town to other studios.

The $3.76 billion grossing and Oscar winning filmmaker of the Paramount animated movie Rango had been working on the film at Netflix.

Such is the complex nature of animated film production: Quite often halfway through, stories and plans can pivot and there’s a history of that from animated movies such as Pixar’s Soul and Dinosaur to DreamWorks Animation’s How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World. Cattywumpus repped Verbinski’s second animated movie after the Johnny Depp voiced western Rango which won Best Animated Feature at the 2012 Oscars and grossed $246M at the worldwide box office. The streamer, I understand, gave the creative team the option to go shop the movie elsewhere.

Netflix saw promotions and changeovers in its Animation executive suite over the summer. Karen Toliver was promoted to lead the Animation Film team after serving as VP Animation Film. Melissa Cobb moved from her role as VP Animation Film and stayed aboard on the streamer as a producer along with VP Gregg Taylor also becoming a producer. Bruce Daitch, who had been VP Animation Production Operations exited, while Traci Balthazor (VP Animation Film Production) and Mike Karafilis (Director Animation Series Production) continued to lead their respective teams. In May, Netflix cut 150 jobs, close to half of those in animation. Netflix said in a statement at the time re the 150 job cuts stemmed from  “slowing revenue growth means we are also having to slow our cost growth as a company.”

Netflix has in a quick time made a mark in feature animation with movies such as The Sea Beast, The Mitchells vs. the Machines, Back to the Outback and Robin, Robin and series Kung Fu Panda: The Dragon Knight, Battle Kitty and Samurai Rabbit: The Usagi Chronicles. Upcoming films include Henry Selick’s Wendell & Wild, My Father’s Dragon and Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, Thelma the Unicorn, Nimona, Ultraman, I, Chihuahua, and Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget.

In less than five years, the streamer has had seven projects nominated for Academy Awards and one winner for If Anything Happens, I Love You in the 2021 Best Animated Short category. Earlier this year, Netflix saw Oscar nominations for Robin Robin in Best Animated Short and The Mitchells vs. The Machines in the Best Animated Feature category. Other Oscar nominations include 2021’s Over the Moon and A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon in Best Animated Feature, and 2020’s I Lost My Body and Klaus in Best Animated Feature.

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