Acclaimed animator and director Genndy Tartakovsky spent the last 17 years ensuring that his passion project, Fixed, would eventually become a reality. Having finally realized that dream with Netflix’s launch of the film this summer, Tartakovsky is now shifting his attention to another long-gestating project, The Black Night.
Over the weekend, the filmmaker posted an animation test for the unproduced project, which had fans of his work buzzing across every imaginable social media platform.
The Black Knight was first announced in 2018, when Sony revealed that Tartakovsky would direct two original features following the success of the Hotel Transylvania trilogy. One was the aforementioned Fixed, and the other was The Black Knight. At the time, Sony Pictures Animation president Kristine Belson called Tartakovsky “one of the most singular voices in animation today,” promising bold new directions beyond family-friendly fare. However, like several of Tartakovsky’s earlier Sony projects — including his shelved Popeye adaptation, which looked like a lot of fun in a later leaked animatic — the film never moved forward.
“Well, this might get me in trouble … But gotta try a new strategy,” Tartakovsky wrote in his Instagram post this weekend, linked below.
By releasing the test now, the filmmaker hopes to leverage fan demand into a studio second look, aiming to prove there’s an eager audience ready and willing to pay for ambitious, mature animated adventures. Early reactions online suggest he may be right; fans are clamoring for a greenlight.
Well, this might get me in trouble … But gotta try a new strategy.
About six years ago we started development on a more adult animated action movie, The Black Knight. We developed it for a few years, the studio liked what we were doing but they were unsure if there is an audience that would go see it theatrically. We made a down and dirty test, and still no go. So to try something different I thought I would share the test to see if it can get a groundswell of excitement that would change the studio’s mind.
I won’t share the details of the story except for one element, our Knight Armor is 20 feet high and controlled by a knight inside using ropes, pulleys and levers. The setting is around the 14th century.
Anyways, I’ve already said too much.