Netflix Announces ‘Klaus’ and ‘The Willoughbys’ Sneak Peeks at Annecy Festival

Directors Sergio Pablos and Kris Pearn will share inside looks at their upcoming films, Netflix’s first two original animated features.

Netflix has just announced it will provide audiences with behind the scenes sneak peeks of Sergio Pablos’ Klaus, and Kris Pearn’s The Willoughbys at the upcoming Annecy International Animated Film Festival, being held June 10-15 in Annecy, France.

Planned Netflix highlights at the festival include:

• Klaus Work in Progress (Wednesday, June 12th @ 9:30AM in Salle Pierre Lamy) will provide a detailed look at director Pablos’ new animated feature film, produced at his studio in Spain. Pablos will be joined by art directors Marcin Jakubowski and Szymon Biernacki to share the ten-year journey of bringing his passion project to life, which will also be Netflix’s first original animated feature. There will also be a Klaus Signing Session (Wednesday, June 12th @ 11:30AM inside Bonlieu) with Pablos, Jakubowski, Biernacki and James Baxter.
• “Netflix Animation: A Studio Without Borders” Studio Focus (Wednesday, June 12th @ 4:00PM at the Salle de l’Europe in the Imperial) will give an insider’s look at some of the key projects on Netflix’s original animation slate. Expected speakers include Pearn, director of Netflix’s second original animated feature The Willoughbys, as well as anime creator Hitoshi Mogi, African writer showrunner Malenga Mulendema, and Hollywood studio-based Elizabeth Ito.

• Netflix will also be present at the festival via portfolio reviews, series in competition (the all-new preschool title Dino Girl Gauko and the adult animation title Big Mouth) and its anime presence (WIP session for the upcoming series Eden and Studio Focus on Tuesday, June 11th @ 6:00PM), among others.

Klaus, set for a 2019 holiday release, is a 2D animated family feature film written and directed by Pablos, the co-creator of Despicable Me. When a selfish young postman is assigned to a remote Scandinavian town, his unlikely friendship with a reclusive toymaker leads to the origin story of Santa Claus. This timeless story is visualized through a unique combination of classical hand-drawn animation and cutting-edge digital technology. The world features volumetric lighting and texturing typically seen in CG animated films. Voice actors include Jason Schwartzman, Rashida Jones, JK Simmons and Joan Cusack. Written by Pablos, Zach Lewis and Jim Mahoney, the screenplay is based on an original story by Pablos. Matthew Teevan, Gustavo Ferrada and Marisa Roman are producers, and Jinko Gotoh (The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part, The Little Prince) is executive producer. Pablos’ SPA Studios is producing the film in Madrid, Spain, with Atresmedia Cine, with Toon Boom as a technological partner.

The Willoughbys, being released in 2020, is a highly stylized CG-animated feature film currently in production with BRON Animation in Vancouver from writer/director Pearn (Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs 2). When the four Willoughby children are abandoned by their selfish parents, they must learn how to adapt their old-fashioned values to the contemporary world in order to create a new and modern family. Based on the book by Newbery Award-winning author, Lois Lowry. Starring Ricky Gervais, Maya Rudolph, Will Forte, Martin Short, Alessia Cara and Jane Krakowski.

Visit the Annecy Animation Festival website to find out more about the entire slate of festival programming and events.

Source: Netflix