Adding to their extensive slate of previously announced anime projects, Netflix has greenlit two new series, from Legendary Television, based on hugely popular film and game franchises.
Netflix and Legendary Television have just announced two new anime series in development based on Legendary’s Skull Island, part of its Monsterverse franchise, and Square Enix’s hugely popular Tomb Raider global game franchise. Netflix and Legendary Television are also currently in production on the previously announced anime series Pacific Rim: The Black.
The streaming giant has made a huge commitment to anime series and feature development. This past October, during their Anime Festival 2020, they livestreamed announcements of five new projects, bringing their upcoming anime show slate at the time to 16. The five newly announced projects - Rilakkuma’s Theme Park Adventure, Thermae Romae Novae, High-Rise Invasion, Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan and The Way of the Househusband – came on the heels of their announcement of new production line partnerships with Asian anime studios ANIMA & COMPANY, owner of NAZ, Science SARU and MAPPA from Japan, and Studio Mir in Korea, bringing their anime studio partnership number to nine. Today’s reveal adds two more projects to their aggressive anime project list.
The two new series are as follows:
Skull Island
A new chapter in Legendary’s Monsterverse franchise, Skull Island is a thrilling animated adventure series that follows shipwrecked characters desperate to escape the most dangerous place on Earth—a mysterious island home to prehistoric monsters, including the greatest titan of them all, Kong.
Serving as Executive Producers are Brian Duffield (Underwater, The Babysitter), who will write and executive produce, and Jacob Robinson, under his company Tractor Pants. The animation will be produced by Powerhouse Animation (Castlevania, Blood of Zeus).
Legendary’s Monsterverse is an expansive story universe of multi-layered experiences centering around humanity’s battle to survive in a world that is under siege by a catastrophic new reality - the monsters of our myths and legends are real. Beginning in 2014 with Godzilla, continuing with 2017’s Kong: Skull Island and 2019’s Godzilla: King of the Monsters, Monsterverse films have accumulated over one billion dollars at the box office internationally; the next installment, Godzilla vs. Kong, hits theatres and HBO Max simultaneously on March 31, 2021.
Tomb Raider
Lara Croft, one of the video game world’s most iconic adventurers, makes her anime debut in this all-new series. Picking up after the events of the incredibly successful Tomb Raider video-game reboot trilogy, the animated series will chart the globetrotting heroine’s latest, greatest adventure. Twenty-five years after her first game appeared, Lara continues to explore new territory.
Serving as Executive Producers are Tasha Huo (The Witcher: Blood Origin, Red Sonja), who will write and executive produce; dj2 Entertainment Founder and CEO Dmitri M. Johnson (Sonic the Hedgehog); Stephan Bugaj and Howard Bliss; and Jacob Robinson, under his company Tractor Pants.
In the 25 years since its launch, the Tomb Raider video game series has sold over 81 million copies and garnered a treasure chest worth of awards. The game’s success has led to a global franchise encompassing movies, merchandise, comic books and now, a stylish animated series. The most recent game release, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, has received numerous “Best of” nominations and awards. The Tomb Raider video games are developed by Crystal Dynamics and Eidos Montréal, and published by Square Enix.
Source: Netflix
Dan Sarto is Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network.
