An audience saw film stills and heard story details for Klaus, Netflix’s first animated film. This event took place at a Works in Progress (WIP) session in Annecy, France hosted by the streaming giant, which sold out its tickets shortly after the sale went live. This new direction for Netflix took shape after Sergio Pablos, co-creator of Despicable Me, began working on an informal exercise for himself.

The main character of the film, Jesper, is sent by his postmaster father faraway in northern Scandinavia. His father gives him an ultimatum that involves integrating the postal service in that location. If he fails to complete this task, he will cut ties with his son. In the meantime, Jesper discovers a man name Klaus who owns a secluded workshop full of toys.

At WIP, Pablos explained one of the most unique aspects of his film: the type of animation he used to present this story. He had decided to make the movie in traditional 2D animation. This choice appeared to many, especially the WIP audience, as unconventional given that most current animated movies have embraced different forms of animation such as CGI and stop-motion animation. Polish animator Marcin Jakubowski, however, approached this decision in a novel way by incorporating different lighting techniques into the film’s scenes. This method allows for scenes and characters movement to appear more dynamic. “The goal was not to bring traditional 2d animation back, but to bring it forward,” Pablos said. The design elements of the scenes also take inspiration from the film Apocalypse Now and the series “Breaking Bad.” A look at how this animation can be found here. 

This film will feature a star-studded cast of voice actors, including Rashida Jones, Jason Schwartzman, J.K. Simmons, Joan Cusack and Teddy Blum. Klaus will be available on Netflix this Christmas.

This news was reported by Variety.