VFX and animation studio Cinesite — whose recent credits include VFX on No Time to Die and animation on Addams Family 2 — has confirmed that it is working on Andy Serkis’ adaptation of George Orwell’s 1945 allegorical novel Animal Farm.
Actor and director Serkis told The Hollywood Reporter back in 2012 that he intended to helm Animal Farm, which will involve performance-capture-based CG characters.
Animation production company Aniventure and Cinesite (which have collaborated on projects including Riverdance: The Animated Adventure) will be working on Animal Farm through Serkis’ London-headquartered Imaginarium.
“The challenging journey to bring this extraordinary story to the screen has been finally rewarded by the opportunity to partner with the brilliant team at Aniventure and Cinesite,” said Serkis in a statement. “Together we hope to make our version of Orwell’s ever relevant masterpiece, emotionally powerful, humorous, and relatable for all ages. A tale not only for our times, but for generations to come.“
Serkis is directing from a script by Nick Stoller (Storks). Adam Nagle, Dave Rosenbaum, Imaginarium partner Jonathan Cavendish and Serkis are producing. In 2018, Netflix picked up the long-gestating project, although THR understands the streamer is no longer attached.
At Cinesite, Animal Farm’s work is led by producer Connie Thompson.
