{"id":623230,"date":"2026-05-04T16:46:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T16:46:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/623230\/"},"modified":"2026-05-04T16:46:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T16:46:08","slug":"open-ai-backed-animated-film-critterz-heads-to-cannes-market","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/623230\/","title":{"rendered":"Open AI-Backed Animated Film ‘Critterz’ Heads To Cannes Market"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tEXCLUSIVE: Stuart Ford\u2019s AGC Studios<\/a> is launching world sales ahead of the Cannes<\/a> market on the AI-produced family animation Critterz<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tWritten by duo James Lamont and Jon Foster (Paddington in Peru) and screenwriter Tom Butterworth (Birthday Girl), the \u201chuman-led but AI-assisted\u201d project is being positioned as one of the first mainstream commercial family movies to use AI throughout its production pipeline. <\/p>\n

\n\tThe script is written by Lamont, Foster and Butterworth and directed and produced by Nik Kleverov, co-founder of AI outfit Native Foreign. Chad Nelson, creative strategist at OpenAI, is serving as a producer with Allan Niblo and James Richardson of UK production and distribution outfit Vertigo Films (Britannia). Pascal Breton, Lionel Uzan, Jane Moore, Stuart Ford and Aghi Koh are executive producers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tPer the logline, the movie follows an anxious but brave little woodland creature who unites with a group of eccentric outcasts \u2014 each with their own peculiar quirks and hidden strengths \u2014 on a high-stakes quest to find her long-lost brother. Above is a first look at the characters. AGC will show first footage in Cannes. Voice cast, which we understand will be human, has yet to be set.<\/p>\n

\n\tWe understand the budget is in the $30 million range but would have been significantly higher had it been made in a traditional manner. The animated feature is a full-length adaptation of the 2023 viral short of the same name created by Nelson. The short was one of the first film to use OpenAI\u2019s creative tools.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen production of\u00a0Critterz\u00a0was announced in September 2025, the Los Angeles Times asked whether it heralded \u201cAI\u2019s Toy Story moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tKleverov claimed: \u201cCritterz will be a timeless film \u2014 a world that feels truly its own. It will carry the wonder of the \u201880s fantasy movies I grew up on \u2014 the scrappy, adventurous spirit of\u00a0The Goonies\u00a0and the mythic, emotional scope of\u00a0The NeverEnding Story \u2026 combined with the scale of early\u00a0Star Wars. It\u2019s grounded in something deeply human: a fractured world finding its way back together. At the center is a character whose greatest power isn\u2019t force \u2014 it\u2019s believing in herself, and her family.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAGC\u2019s CEO Ford added: \u201cWe are thrilled to join Vertigo and Native Foreign in bringing the much-anticipated Critterz to the industry. This ground-breaking feature demonstrates for the first time how AI can integrate into production without replacing artistry, becoming a tool for exploration rather than substitution. Filmmakers shape the story, characters, and emotions and AI provides the brushstrokes that we believe can bring a new franchise to life for families around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tVertigo\u2019s Richardson stated: \u201cWe\u2019re delighted to be partnering with AGC to show the world how great artists and storytellers can utilize this incredible technology to do the only thing that really matters \u2013 make a great movie.\u00a0Critterz is a beautiful, heartwarming and thrilling tale and Nik, Chad, the writers and the creative team have created truly unique with scale and ambition to wow, warm the hearts and put smiles on the faces of family audiences worldwide.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EXCLUSIVE: Stuart Ford\u2019s AGC Studios is launching world sales ahead of the Cannes market on the AI-produced family…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":623231,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[70965,18451,261839,269952,88,206],"class_list":["post-623230","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-agc-studios","tag-cannes","tag-cannes-market","tag-critterz","tag-entertainment","tag-movies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623230","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=623230"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623230\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/623231"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=623230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=623230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=623230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}