Apple Cedes ‘Spellbound’ to Netflix as it Parts Ways with Skydance Animation

It appears Apple could be shifting its focus away from animated feature films. As its deal with Skydance Animation comes to an end, the two companies have agreed to shake hands and go their own way, with Apple focusing on more narrative feature films.

This latest news comes in an exclusive report from Deadline, which notes that Apple will continue working with Skydance Media for “tent pole live action film and TV fare,” including hit series such as Foundation and The Big Door Prize, and several upcoming Apple Original Films.

However, the two companies reportedly came to a mutual agreement that the animated feature that Skydance Animation was working on, Spellbound was “not the best fit for Apple.” The animation arm of the studio has thus far produced only a single film, Luck, which received a relatively lukewarm reception compared to Apple’s other film projects.

Deadline added that Apple will give Skydance Animation the right to shop Spellbound around elsewhere and expected it to “land in a new deal quickly.” Only an hour later, The Hollywood Reporter revealed that Skydance Animation quickly landed on its feet at Netflix, where it’s “bringing its full existing animation slate,” including Spellbound plus Pookoo, which had also previously been on the table to be produced under the Apple banner. Spellbound will arrive on Netflix in 2024, with Pookoo arriving sometime in 2025.

Skydance Animation was headed up by John Lasseter, the former Disney animator who was one of the driving creative forces behind Toy Story and ultimately helped Steve Jobs build Pixar into the animation studio he eventually sold to Disney for $7.4 billion.

After Lasseter was ousted from Disney’s Pixar in 2017 amidst allegations of inappropriate workplace behavior, he joined Skydance Media in 2019 to head up its new animation arm and seemingly rose from the ashes when he signed a deal to bring Luck to Apple. The new animated feature was expected to be such a big deal that Tim Cook promoted it in the lede to Apple’s March 2022 event, and Lasseter’s brand recognition became a big part of its marketing campaign, with the tagline that it was “from the creative visionary behind Toy Story and Cars.”

Nevertheless, while Luck received good viewership, at least by Apple TV+ standards, it received mixed reviews and wasn’t the hit that Apple had seemingly been hoping for — especially considering its $140 million price tag.

While the parting of ways with Skydance Animation may be more “mutual” on Apple’s side, the quick move to Netflix is also a win for Lasseter’s team. As Variety reported earlier this month, Netflix has been struggling with its own in-house animation efforts and has been looking for outside deals to fill the gaps.

However, Apple clearly hasn’t abandoned its animation ambitions entirely, but it’s likely taking a more narrow focus on the content it produces in that area and perhaps shying away from more traditional Disney-style fare like Luck.

Its independent animated film, Wolfwalkers, received an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature, one of the streaming service’s first big Academy Award nominations, the year before CODA made history by taking the Oscar for Best Picture. Earlier this year, Apple won an Oscar for Best Animated Short Film for The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Apple still plans to debut Skydance’s The Search for WondLa; however, that’s an animated series rather than a feature film. Deadline also adds that it’s still working on Jane from Dr. Jane Goodall and an animated adaptation of the Oliver Jeffers book Here We Are: Notes for Living on Planet Earth. There’s also the entire Peanuts franchise, which is still going strong, although, as with the others, these are smaller productions that likely cost a fraction of what the budget for Spellbound probably would have worked out to.