A first look has been revealed of the new DreamWorks Animation movie Orion and the Dark. Coming to Netflix in 2024, the film was announced on Tuesday at the Annecy Animation Festival. Three first look images of the animated film have also been unveiled, with one seen above and the other two below.
Orion and the Dark is based on the book by Emma Yarlett. The film is written by Charlie Kaufman (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Being John Malkovich) and directed by Sean Charmatz. Peter McCown is producing, while Walt Dohrn and Bonnie Arnold are executive producing. DreamWorks Animation is the studio behind the project.
An official synopsis has also been released for Orion and the Dark, and that is as follows:
Orion seems a lot like your average elementary school kid – shy, unassuming, harboring a secret crush. But underneath his seemingly normal exterior, Orion is a ball of adolescent anxiety, completely consumed by irrational fears of bees, dogs, the ocean, cell phone waves, murderous gutter clowns, and even falling off of a cliff. But of all his fears, the thing he’s the most afraid of is what he confronts on a nightly basis: the dark. So when the literal embodiment of his worst fear pays a visit, Dark whisks Orion away on a roller coaster ride around the world to prove there is nothing to be afraid of in the night. As the unlikely pair grows closer, Orion must decide if he can learn to accept the unknown – to stop letting fear control his life and finally embrace the joy of living.
Orion and the Dark Stars Jacob Tremblay and Paul Walter Hauser
Orion and the Dark will feature the voice of Jacob Tremblay, who voices Flounder in Disney’s live-action remake of The Little Mermaid, as the voice of Orion. Paul Walter Hauser (Cobra Kai, Richard Jewell) co-stars as the voice of Dark. No other cast members for the movie have yet been announced.
“I definitely do have a thing about night time don’t I? My dad is a keen astronomer, and I remember as a child being shown through various weird and wonderful telescopes the beauty of the night sky, the stars, the moon and the planets,” original author Emma Yarlett said of the inspiration behind Orion and the Dark. “It’s strange to realize how much this has subconsciously impacted me. Every time I look up to the night sky, without hesitation I always spot as many constellations as I can, always starting with Orion of course!”
The author added, “I’ve never really been afraid of darkness, I’ve always been more afraid of the way nice things can become terrifying when it gets dark. When I was a kid for some unknown reason, my parents had two life sized teddy bears that sat on a sofa in the spare room of our house (weird!). In the daytime I didn’t mind them so much, but when it was nighttime and I had to walk past them to go to the bathroom… it was terrifying!”
Orion and the Dark will be released on Netflix in 2024.
