Netflix and DreamWorks Animation team up for Charlie Kaufman’s ORION AND THE DARK

DreamWorks Animation and Netflix are collaborating on a CG-animated family adventure film titled Orion and the darknesswhich was written by Charlie Kaufmann. The film is based on Emma Yarlett’s 2014 book and is described as a “darkly whimsical tale about a boy who faces his greatest terror.”

The story centers on a boy named Orion (Jacopo Tremblay), “an elementary school student and full-time frail cat unnerved by heights, scared of pets, and rendered nearly catatonic by the worst situation of all: darkness. Only one night the Dark (Paul Walter Hauser) has almost had enough, so he takes Orion on a nocturnal adventure to show the boy that there is nothing to fear but fear itself.

The film is directed by the animator Sean Charmatz, which is making its film debut. We also have three images to share with you from the film.

DreamWorks Animation announced the title at the Annecy Animation Festival where they revealed that it will be released in 2024. They also shared some clips from the film. Variety offered details about the clips that were shared:

The first clip finds the neurotic boy going about his day, repeating his voluminous list of fears like it’s a mantra. “Rejection, humiliation, murderous bloodthirsty clowns,” sings Orion. And as the film’s 3D rounded edges turn into rough 2D squiggles found on the back of a notebook, the harried boy continues, “Cellphone waves give me cancer, saying good morning, bees, dogs, the ocean! “

But of all Orion’s fears, none compare to the nocturnal visitor who greets him when the lights go out. Only our Dark is the talkative and good-humoured type, so he takes the rejection calmly. “I’ll make you overcome your fears if it kills me,” scolds the boy. “And I’m immortal, by the way, so I have all the time in the world.”

Subsequent clips channel Kaufman’s mischievous sense of humor, inserting a cameo from (or perfect impression of) Werner Herzog and hinting at a larger universe filled with literal, embodied nocturnal phenomena. Other characters that roam this world include Insomnia, Unexpected Noises, and Sleep, who takes her targets to the dream world by smothering them with a pillow or dousing them with chloroform.

Presented in various stages of completion, the excerpts promise an elegant animation style, especially when depicting the central, non-human character. The Dark is a cloak of black mist, casting a pall of shadow beneath him as he soars through the night sky and flickers around the beam of a torch with astonishing agility when Orion tries to drive him off.

I can’t wait to see this movie. With Kaufman penning the script, we know the story will be solid, fun, and whimsical.