Netflix News: Mitchells Vs. The Machines Release Date, BRZRKR, Gobelins and More

 

We have eagerly followed the production of Sony Pictures Animation's feature The Mitchells Vs. The Machines from its first announcement.  The original 2020 cinema release was cancelled for obvious reasons and no new date was announced. After months with no updates, earlier this year it was finally announced that Mike Rianda and Jeff Rowe's debut feature would now be coming to Netflix worldwide. The film was originally retitled Connected but has since reverted to the original title.

Although we now knew where we could watch it, we still didn't know when. The announcement listed a vague 2021 time frame, but we have now finally learned the exact date. The Mitchells Vs. The Machines will be available to subscribers from April 30- so we don't have that much longer to wait.

Writer-Directors Rianda and Rowe (both Gravity Falls alumni) helm this story of a modern family trying to reconnect on a road trip, set against the backdrop of a Maximum Overdrive style Technological uprising. Phil Lord and Chris Miller are on board as producers.

The Mitchells Vs The Machines is made using a technology that is an evolution of that used for the ground-breaking Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse, although with a less comic-booky and more cartoony aesthetic. It also boasts an impressive voice-cast featuring Abbi Jacobson, Danny McBride, Maya Rudolph, Eric Andre and the living legend that is Olvia Colman.

SPA's deal with Netflix follows the streamer also picking up the rights for Sony's co-produced Wish Dragon-  although that film's release date is still yet to be revealed.

 

Netflix has also picked up the rights to BRZRKR, the first comic book series created by Keanu Reeves. Written by Reeves and Matt Kindt, with art by Marvel veteran Ron Garney, the first issue of the 12-issue limited series was first published by BOOM! Studios in March 2021. As part of BOOM's first-look deal with Netflix, BRZRKR will be adapted as a live-action movie, to be followed by an 'anime' series that will expand the universe. When Netflix labels a new property as 'anime' we can never be too sure, it could just be another western produced action series like Castlevania or The Blood Of Zeus. Although with Reeves' a known admirer of Japanese animation, it's entirely possible that could end up produced at a Japanese studio.

 The main character of the comic is modelled on Reeves himself and he will star in the live-action movie and voice the animated series.

BRZRKR is a brutally epic saga about an immortal warrior’s 80,000 year fight through the ages. The man known only as “B" is half-mortal and half-god, , cursed and compelled to violence… even at the sacrifice of his sanity. But after wandering the earth for centuries, B may have finally found a refuge – working for the U.S. government to fight the battles too violent and too dangerous for anyone else. In exchange, B will be granted the one thing he desires – the truth about his endless blood-soaked existence…and how to end it.

Netflix has dropped a trailer for the upcoming interactive special The Last Kids On Earth: Happy Apocalypse To You, streaming from April 6.

Netflix's success in animation means they have a vested interest in the development of the future of the medium. It's this interest that led them to partner with the world-renowned Paris animation school Gobelins on a program designed to offer scholarships and nurture the next generation of animation creators. The program was particularly interested in promoting animation and developing growth in places such as Africa and India, as well as with students of the university itself.

The two recently partnered on a week-long course held at the Amity School Of Film and Drama in India. Sessions on offer included animation principles, storyboarding and storytelling fundamentals, character design and gesture design, and featured guest lectures from noted luminaries of the Indian animation industry.

It's wonderful to see them them use their power for good and help the animation world to open up to more opeople from all backgounds. And long may it continue.

[source; Netflix]