According to a report printed in Variety and confirmed by the streamer, an unknown number of people will be positioned off from Netflix Animation in the coming weeks.
The layoffs are part of a reorganization process resulting in less in-house animation. Netflix intends to get additional projects from third-party producers through output deals, a cost-effective alternative to producing its content. The banner has beforehand signed output deals with Sony Pictures Animation, Nickelodeon, Illumination, and Dreamworks Animation, among others. Now, it relies more heavily on such deals by slamming down its animation division.
The report in Variety also recognized two original vigorous films that have been put in turnaround. The first is Escape after Beverly Hills, which hadn’t been announced beforehand, and the second is Tunga, an African mythology film founded on the Bantu-speaking Shona people of Zimbabwe. The latter film will persist at Netflix, where it will be sent backbone to development.
Netflix’s Animation Unit Job Cuts Coming
After a heady launch in which the streamer lavishly expanded its animation division, reality set in with many projects that didn’t meet the streamer’s private performance expectations. These disappointments led to multiple rounds of layoffs in 2022, counting 70 people in May 2022 and 30 in September 2022.
Netflix has shut down pre-production of two animated films: “Escape From Beverly Hills,” which will now go back on the open market, and “Tunga,” a film won by Netflix at auction in 2019 from Zimbabwe-born creator Godwin Jabangwe. https://t.co/lWKa2Z4Jgw
— Variety (@Variety) October 11, 2023
It is perhaps ironic that as Netflix’s animation separation endures to contract, it is also beginning to find its creative footing. Netflix won its primary Academy Award for eye animation earlier this year with Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, and fresh animated films it has produced or backed, such as Nimona and The Monkey King, have stored substantial viewership numbers. The company has at least two more audience-friendly features set to release before the finish of this year: the Adam Sandler-headlined Leo besides Aardman’s Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget.
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