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It also scored a BAFTA win over the weekend.
Meanwhile,Klausdidnt get nearly the amount of press coming out of the gate thatToy Story 4did.
2021 will see the arrival of Guillermo del Toros stop-motionPinocchio.
In 2022,well getJacob and the Sea Beast, from Chris Williams, co-director of DisneysMoana.
Were doing a lot more than anywhere else Ive ever been.
I mean, just our in-house original animation division has about 30 different productions going right now.
Whats funny is that none of this infrastructure was around when Pablos first started working with Netflix onKlaus.
Netflix also initially rejected Pabloss pitch.
We went to Netflix three times altogether, he recalls.
The first two times they told us, We just dont do feature animation.
Thats not in our plans.
The exception soon turned into a whole new arm of the company.
While we were working onKlaus, Netlix just transformed, Pablos says.
There were good reasons for Netflixs decision to ramp up production of features.
Thats presumably also why they recently signed a deal to internationally stream classics from Japans Studio Ghibli.
Theatrically, its an uncertain time for the animation industry.
Disney had a record year, but other companies major offerings have largely disappointed.
That Netflix doesnt concern itself too much with theatrical box office works in its favor in this regard.
(Viewed, in this case, means they streamed at least 70 percent of the film.
The number doesnt count repeat viewings, which Netflix says have also been high.)
But Netflix wanted the film so strongly that we thought,Maybe this is a good opportunity for us.
That global streaming audience is a huge selling point.
And these arent just serving as studios.
Theyre developing their own stories rooted in those cultures.
Netflix has beenheavily involved in the Japanese anime marketsince 2018.
Thats something Netflix seems to be particularly good at, finding different voices from all over the world.
As our audience has matured, our platform has matured, says Cobb.
And the taste profile sort of follows that.
Netflix has also appealed to filmmakers by effectively giving them free rein to do whatever they want.
There isnt any sort of house style, Baxter says.
I never experienced something like that.
That sense of freedom and risk-taking is evident inKlaus, too.
And it looks like no other animated film Ive seen.
Its extraordinary, says Baxter.
For his part, Dudok de Wit was stunned.
Really, its been ages.
In that light,Klauss deeply strange sensibility felt like a small miracle.
Will it all last?
Who the hell knows?
Netflix is quite careful about revealing numbers, and not everybody thinks their spending spree will continue indefinitely.
As Disney animation itself once discovered, no renaissance lasts forever.
But if youre lucky, its legacy lingers.
As an animation lover, Ive never seen this, ever, says Dudok de Wit.
Ive never seen a company come in and chuck this amount of money at this variety of projects before.
I dont know that its ever happened in the history of animation.
So its really exciting even if it just lasts for two years before it all collapses.
