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Spellbound (2024 film)

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Spellbound
Promotional poster
Directed byVicky Jenson
Screenplay by
  • Lauren Hynek
  • Elizabeth Martin
  • Julia Miranda
Produced by
Starring
Music byAlan Menken[1]
Production
company
Distributed byNetflix
Release date
  • November 22, 2024 (2024-11-22)
Running time
109 minutes[2]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Spellbound is a 2024 American animated musical adventure fantasy comedy film directed by Vicky Jenson from a screenplay by Julia Miranda and the writing team of Lauren Hynek and Elizabeth Martin. It features music composed by Alan Menken, who also wrote the songs with longtime collaborator and lyricist Glenn Slater.[1] Produced by Skydance Animation, the film features the voices of Rachel Zegler, John Lithgow, Jenifer Lewis, Tituss Burgess, Nathan Lane, Javier Bardem, and Nicole Kidman. Set in the world of magic known as Lumbria, the story follows Princess Ellian (Zegler) who must break the spell that has turned her parents into monsters and split her kingdom in two.

The project, initially titled Split, was announced in July 2017, shortly after Skydance Animation was formed in March 2017, with Paramount Pictures scheduling distribution for 2019. The film subsequently underwent changes, such as release dates, with Jenson later announced as the director, and the film's title changed to The Unbreakable Spell,[3] before eventually getting to its current title. The film was acquired by Apple TV+ in December 2020, before Netflix took over the rights in October 2023. Much of the main voice cast signed on in June 2022, following Zegler's casting in April 2022. Production was done remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Spellbound was released on November 22, 2024 on Netflix.

Plot

Ellian is the heiress to the throne in the Kingdom of Lumbria who for one whole year has been hiding the fact that her parents, Queen Ellsmere and King Solon, have been transformed into feral beasts after a journey in the Dark Forest. Her advisors, Ministers Bolinar and Nazara Prone, feel as though that her parents should be released in the wild and that Ellian should become the new Queen and restore the kingdom to its former glory since it’s her birthday. Lumbria is visited by two deities, Sunny and Ludo, the Oracles of the Sun and Moon respectively, to assist in reversing the curse, but the monster king and queen scare them off, leaving behind a magic device they possessed

Just as Ellian is about to lose all hope, she accidentally releases the king and queen from their cages and they rampage across the kingdom, making the subjects alongside the bed-nosed captain of the guard aware of the situation. Ellian uses the magic device to make her mad her parents escape to the dark forest, and in the process, accidentally switches the minds of Bolinar with her pet creature Flink with Nazara and the guard in hot pursuit of them. Ellian visits the Oracles, who explain that they can’t remove the curse but Ellian must lead her parents to a pond full of light that could reverse the curse and follow a bunch of glowing will-o-wisps to find it.

The group goes through many misadventures throughout the forest, like getting stuck in a dark hollowed tree and trudging through quicksand, both of which lead to the parents fighting about how to handle the situation, but they manage to survive and the king and queen slowly regain their humanity and Bolinar, who was trying to lead the soldiers to them, befriends creatures of Flink’s species. When they make it to the pond up top a moipuntian, the light recedes when Ellsmere and Solon try to get in it, showing a vision of how their constant fighting is what led to their transformation. They tell Ellian that, although they want their humanity back, they fear that doing so would lead to more arguing and consider separating.

An upset Ellian is about to get consumed by the darkness while her parents get taken by the soldiers. Bolinar intervenes and the soldiers see that the king and queen have gotten their senses back and have to save Ellian. They use the light from the pond to save her from the darkness and Ellian understands that she can’t make things they way they were, but can embrace a change in the status quo. She hugs them, making Solon and Essmere finally become human again.

A year later, Solon and Essmere have separated but still love their daughter as they throw her a big birthday for her. [4]

Voice cast

Production

Development

In March 2017, Skydance Media formed a multi-year partnership with Madrid-based animation studio Ilion Animation Studios, forming an animation division called Skydance Animation.[6] In July, it announced Split, and it was revealed by Skydance Media CEO David Ellison that Linda Woolverton was writing the film.[7][8] It would be distributed by Paramount Pictures as part of their deal with Skydance Media and was given a release date for sometime in 2019. Following John Lasseter's hiring as CCO of Skydance Animation, then-chief of Paramount Animation Mireille Soria announced that Paramount Animation would end its informal work with Skydance.[9]

In April 2020, composer Alan Menken announced that he was working on the project with Lasseter,[10] which was renamed to The Unbreakable Spell before it became Spellbound.[1] The film would be directed by Vicky Jenson, from a screenplay by Woolverton and the writing team of Lauren Hynek and Elizabeth Martin, with songs by Menken and longtime collaborator Glenn Slater.[4] In July 2020, it was announced that Spellbound was still going to be released by Paramount Pictures without Paramount Animation[11] until Apple TV+ acquired the distribution rights in December 2020 as part of a larger pact with Skydance Animation.[12] Apple Studios would replace Paramount as a production company. However, in October 2023, Skydance Animation ended its deal with Apple, and later signed a multi-year deal with Netflix, which would take over distribution of the studio's future films in production, including Spellbound.[13] In February 2024, Julia Miranda was revealed to have joined the writing staff. In June 2024, Woolverton was confirmed to be a producer on the film.[14]

Casting

In April 2022, Rachel Zegler was cast as the lead character.[15] In June, Nicole Kidman, Javier Bardem, John Lithgow, Nathan Lane, Jenifer Lewis, André De Shields, and Jordan Fisher were added to the cast.[16] In June 2023, Tituss Burgess joined the cast, replacing De Shields.[17][18]

Animation

Animation has been provided by Skydance Animation Madrid with portions of production done remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic.[19]

Marketing

In March 2022, it was reported that Skydance Animation made a multi-year deal with Spin Master Entertainment to make toys based on the film.[20]

Release

In March 2017, it was reported that the original release was intended to be in 2019.[7] On July 20, 2020, Paramount Pictures dated the film for November 11, 2022.[11] On December 16, 2020, Apple TV+ entered talks to take over the distribution rights to the film, retaining its November 11 date. However, the film ended up missing its release date for unknown reasons.[21][22]

A work-in-progress presentation of the film was shown at the 2023 Annecy International Animation Film Festival in June by Jenson and head of story Brian Pimental.[23] Shortly after, the film was announced for a 2024 release.[17][18] That October, Netflix took over the film's distribution rights from Apple, as part of a new multi-year deal with Skydance Animation, while retaining its 2024 release.[13] In June 2024, Netflix announced that the film would premiere on November 22, 2024.[14][24]

Reception

Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 54 out of 100, based on 10 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.[25]

References

  1. ^ a b c Giranda, Carolyn (May 20, 2020). "Alan Menken to Compose Original Songs and Score for Skydance Animation's 'Spellbound'". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on May 20, 2020. Retrieved May 21, 2020.
  2. ^ "Spellbound (PG)". British Board of Film Classification. August 21, 2024. Archived from the original on August 21, 2024. Retrieved August 21, 2024.
  3. ^ Keegan, Rebecca; Giardina, Carolyn (July 27, 2022). "John Lasseter's Second Act". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on July 27, 2022. Retrieved July 27, 2022.
  4. ^ a b McNary, Dave (July 20, 2020). "Skydance Animation's 'Luck,' 'Spellbound' Scheduled for 2022 Release". Variety. Penske Media Corporation. Archived from the original on July 20, 2020. Retrieved July 20, 2020.
  5. ^ Alexa, Laurén (October 30, 2024). "Netflix Drops 'Spellbound' Official Trailer, Key Art, New Images". Animation World Network. Retrieved October 31, 2024.
  6. ^ McNary, Dave (March 16, 2017). "David Ellison's Skydance Launching Animation Division With Spain's Ilion". Variety. Archived from the original on March 16, 2017. Retrieved October 21, 2022.
  7. ^ a b Fleming, Mike Jr. (March 16, 2017). "Skydance Launches Animation Studio With Spain-Based Ilion". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on March 16, 2017. Retrieved July 20, 2021.
  8. ^ Busch, Anita (July 31, 2017). "Skydance's Steps Big Into Animation: 'Split' And 'Luck' Coming From Top Notch Ani Filmmakers". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on July 31, 2017. Retrieved October 21, 2022.
  9. ^ Giardina, Carolyn (January 14, 2019). "Paramount Animation Chief Says Her Team Won't Be Working With John Lasseter at Skydance". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on July 31, 2021. Retrieved May 13, 2022.
  10. ^ Young Artists of America (April 2, 2020). Talk Back with Alan Menken. Archived from the original on April 2, 2020. Retrieved July 21, 2020 – via YouTube.
  11. ^ a b McNary, Dave (July 20, 2020). "Skydance Animation's 'Luck,' 'Spellbound' Scheduled for 2022 Release". Variety. Archived from the original on July 20, 2020. Retrieved July 13, 2022.
  12. ^ "Apple Makes Big Animation Commitment with New Skydance Animation Deal". Collider. February 17, 2021. Archived from the original on February 17, 2021. Retrieved July 13, 2022.
  13. ^ a b Fleming, Mike Jr. (October 18, 2023). "Netflix Sets Skydance Animation In Multi-Year Deal, First Up Is Alan Menken Musical 'Spellbound'; Rachel Zegler, Nicole Kidman, Javier Bardem Star". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on October 18, 2023. Retrieved October 18, 2023.
  14. ^ a b Milligan, Mercedes (June 6, 2024). "Next on Netflix Animation Presentation Sneak-Peeks 'K-Pop: Demon Hunters', 'Plankton' Movie, 'Motel Transylvania' and Much, Much More!". Animation Magazine. Archived from the original on June 6, 2024. Retrieved June 6, 2024.
  15. ^ Kroll, Justin (April 1, 2022). "Rachel Zegler to Voice Lead of Apple Original Films and Skydance Animation's 'Spellbound'". Deadline Hollywood. Penske Media Corporation. Archived from the original on April 1, 2022. Retrieved April 1, 2022.
  16. ^ Grobar, Matt (June 21, 2022). "Nicole Kidman, Javier Bardem, John Lithgow, Nathan Lane, Jenifer Lewis & More Board Animated Pic Spellbound From Apple & Skydance Animation". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on June 21, 2022. Retrieved June 21, 2022.
  17. ^ a b Giardina, Carolyn (June 12, 2023). "Tituss Burgess Joins Voice Cast of Apple and Skydance Animation's 'Spellbound'; New Image Revealed (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on June 12, 2023. Retrieved June 12, 2023.
  18. ^ a b "Tituss Burgess Joins Voice Cast of Apple and Skydance Animation's 'Spellbound'; New Image Released (Exclusive)". GVS-Entertainment. June 12, 2023. Archived from the original on June 12, 2023. Retrieved June 13, 2023.
  19. ^ D'Alessandro, Anthony (May 8, 2020). "How Animated Pics Like 'Tom & Jerry', 'SpongeBob Movie', 'Sing 2', Skydance's 'Luck' & More Are Working Through The COVID-19 Crisis". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on May 8, 2020. Retrieved June 25, 2020.
  20. ^ Hayes, Dade (March 22, 2022). "Skydance Animation Sets Licensing Pact with 'PAW Patrol' Creator Spin Master, Kicking off with Apple Original Film 'Spellbound'". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on March 22, 2022. Retrieved March 22, 2022.
  21. ^ Donnelly, Matt; Lang, Brent (December 16, 2020). "Skydance Animation in Talks to Move 'Luck,' 'Spellbound' to Apple (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Archived from the original on December 16, 2020. Retrieved December 16, 2020.
  22. ^ Donnelly, Matt (February 17, 2021). "Apple and Skydance Animation Formally Announce Multi-Year Partnership". Variety. Archived from the original on February 17, 2021. Retrieved January 23, 2022.
  23. ^ Goodfellow, Melanie (June 13, 2023). "Vicky Jenson Teases 'Spellbound' Songs Reuniting 'I See The Light' Duo Alan Menken & Glen Slater – Annecy". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on June 13, 2023. Retrieved June 19, 2023.
  24. ^ Giardina, Carolyn; Moreau, Jordan (June 6, 2024). "Timothy Olyphant to Star in Netflix's 'Terminator Zero'; Plus 'Plankton' Movie and 'Motel Transylvania' Among Animation Slate". Variety. Archived from the original on June 6, 2024. Retrieved June 7, 2024.
  25. ^ "Spellbound". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. Retrieved November 22, 2024.
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