Annapurna Animation Teases Slate

Annapurna Pictures is an acclaimed independent producer and distributor of films. The company has now established an animation division Annapurna Animation. Hot on the heels of the success of Nimona, Annapurna has announced the expansion of its creative leadership team and its growing slate of projects.

Coming on board is Nimona's director Nick Bruno and industry veteran and Nimona producer Julie Zackary. Bruno is already attached to an untitled new original feature and is actively developing several other projects for Annapurna Animation. He made his directorial debut on Spies In Disguise for Blue Sky Studios. Other titles he worked on included Horton Hears A Hoo, Rio and The Peanuts Movie.

Annapurna Animation's development slate will include an adaptation of Annapurna Interactive's video game Stray, developed by BlueTwelve Studios. The game has sold millions of copies and been nominated for numerous awards. Annapurna plans to adapt more games from the Annapurna Interactive library.

Also in development is Foo, the new animated feature from Chris Wedge. Wedge was a director, producer and co-founder of Blue Sky Studios. He directed Blue Sky's first short Bunny, which won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short, as well as the first Ice Age movie.

Julie Zackary is joining Annapurna Animation as Head Of Animation Production. Also joining the team is Erica Pulcini as Creative Executive.

Zackary will oversee all aspects of production at the division. She previously served as VP of Production Management at Sony Pictures Imageworks before joining Blue Sky as Vice President of Production. In her role as Creative Executive, Pulcini will help curate, develop and further define Annapurna's animated slate.

Annapurna announced the launch of its animated division in December 2022, to be led by former Disney animation executives Robert Baird and Andrew Millstein. Annapurna Animation's first release was Nimona, co-produced with Netflix. Its world premiere was at the Annecy International Festival, before launching on Netflix in June.