''Spellbound'' is an upcoming animated

musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film and television, a genre of film and television that incorporates into the narr ...

fantasy film Fantasy films are films that belong to the fantasy genre with fantastic themes, usually magic, supernatural events, mythology, folklore, or exotic fantasy worlds. The genre is considered a form of speculative fiction alongside science fiction f ...

directed by Vicky Jenson from a screenplay by Linda Woolverton, the writing team of Lauren Hynek and Elizabeth Martin, and Julia Miranda. It features music composed by

Alan Menken Alan Irwin Menken (born July 22, 1949) is an American composer, best known for his scores and songs for films produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios. His scores and songs for ''The Little Mermaid'' (1989), ''Beauty and the Beast'' (1991), ''A ...

, who also wrote the songs with longtime collaborator and lyricist

Glenn Slater Glenn Slater (born January 28, 1968) is an American lyricist for musical theatre. He has collaborated with Alan Menken, Christopher Lennertz, Andrew Lloyd Webber, among other composers. He was nominated for three Tony Awards for Best Original ...

. Produced by

Skydance Animation Skydance Animation, LLC is an American animation studio that is a division of Skydance Media, founded on March 16, 2017. The studio is located in Los Angeles with offices in Connecticut and Madrid, Spain; the Madrid branch was originally Ilion A ...

, the film features the voices of

Rachel Zegler Rachel Anne Zegler (; born May 3, 2001) is an American actress and singer. She made her film debut playing Maria Vasquez in the 2021 musical drama ''West Side Story'', for which she won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Pictu ...

, Nicole Kidman, Javier Bardem,

John Lithgow John Arthur Lithgow ( ; born , 1945) is an American actor. Lithgow studied at Harvard University and the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art before becoming known for his work on the stage and screen. He has been the recipient of numerous ...

Jenifer Lewis Jenifer Jeanette Lewis (born January 25, 1957) is an American actress. She began her career appearing in Broadway musicals and worked as a back-up singer for Bette Midler before appearing in films ''Beaches'' (1988) and ''Sister Act'' (1992). Le ...

, and Nathan Lane. Set in the world of magic known as Lumbria, the story follows Princess Ellian (Zegler), a young girl who must break the spell that has split her kingdom in two. The project, entitled ''Split'', was announced in July 2017, shortly after Skydance Animation was formed in March 2017, with

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...

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'', before eventually getting to its current title. The film was acquired by

Apple TV+ Apple TV is a digital media player and microconsole developed and marketed by Apple Inc. It is a small network appliance hardware that plays received media data such as video and audio to a television set or external display. Since its secon ...

in December 2020, before

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

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 The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. ''Spellbound'' is scheduled for release in 2024 on Netflix.

Premise

The story is set in a world of magic known as Lumbria where a young girl, Ellian, must break the spell that has split her kingdom in two.

Voice cast

as Princess Ellian * Nicole Kidman as Queen Ellsmere * Javier Bardem as King Solon *

as Minister Bolinar *

as Minister Nazara Prone * Nathan Lane as The Oracle of the Sun * André De Shields as The Oracle of the Moon * Jordan Fisher as Callan Additionally,

Tituss Burgess Tituss Burgess (born February 21, 1979) is an American actor and singer. He has appeared in numerous Broadway theatre, Broadway musical theatre, musicals and is known for his high tenor voice. He is best known for starring as Titus Andromedon on ...

has been cast in an undisclosed role.

Production

Development

In March 2017,

Skydance Media Skydance Media, LLC (formerly known as Skydance Productions) is an American production company based in Santa Monica, California. Founded by David Ellison in 2006, the company entered a five-year partnership to co-produce and co-finance films with ...

formed a multi-year partnership with

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

-based animation studio

Ilion Animation Studios Skydance Animation Madrid (formerly known as Ilion Animation Studios) is a Spanish animation studio based in Madrid, Spain. It is a subsidiary of Skydance Media via Skydance Animation to create computer-animated films for theatrical release. Af ...

, forming an animation division called

. In July, it announced ''Split'', and it was revealed by Skydance Media CEO David Ellison that Linda Woolverton was writing the film. It would be distributed by

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. In April 2020, composer

announced that he was working alongside John Lasseter on a project for the studio, which was renamed to ''The Unbreakable Spell'' before it became ''Spellbound''. The film will be directed by Vicky Jenson, from a screenplay by Lauren Hynek, Elizabeth Martin and Woolverton, with songs by Menken and longtime collaborator

. In July 2020, it was announced that ''Spellbound'' was still going to be released by Paramount Pictures without Paramount Animation until

acquired the distribution rights to it in December 2020 as part of a larger pact with Skydance Animation.

Apple Original Films Apple TV+ is a global on-demand Internet streaming media provider, owned and operated by Apple Inc., that features a number of original programs that includes original series, specials, miniseries, documentaries, and films distributed under A ...

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

, which would take over distribution of the studio's future films in production, including ''Spellbound''.

Casting

In April 2022,

was cast as the lead character. In June, Nicole Kidman, Javier Bardem,

, Nathan Lane,

, André De Shields, and Jordan Fisher were added to the cast. In June 2023,

joined the cast.

Animation

Animation has been provided by Skydance Animation Madrid with portions of

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...

done remotely during the

Release

In March 2017, it was reported that the original release was intended to be in 2019. On July 20, 2020,

dated the film for November 11, 2022. On December 16, 2020, Apple TV+ entered talks to take over the distribution rights to the film, retaining its November 11 date. In June 2023, after missing the planned release date, the film was announced for a 2024 release. 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. 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 Brian Pimental is an American veteran storyboard artist, director and screenwriter of animated films. He is best known for directing ''Bambi II''. Having started his career at Walt Disney Feature animation as a trainee on ''Oliver & Company'', h ...

Marketing

In March 2022, it was reported that Skydance Animation made a multi-year deal with

Spin Master Entertainment Spin Master is a Canadian multinational corporation, multinational toy and entertainment company that markets consumer products for children. Its brands include ''Bakugan'', Gund, Etch A Sketch, Meccano/ Erector, Air Hogs, ''PAW Patrol'', Aqu ...

to make toys based on the film.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Spellbound 2020s English-language films 2024 computer-animated films Animated films about magic Films directed by Vicky Jenson Films impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic Films produced by John Lasseter Films scored by Alan Menken Films with screenplays by Linda Woolverton Skydance Media films Skydance Animation films American animated musical films Upcoming English-language films Upcoming Netflix original films