High in the Clouds book cover – Picture: Faber and Faber
High in the Clouds, a highly anticipated Netflix Original animated title, is no longer attached and moving forward at Netflix but will be instead an independent title, What’s on Netflix has learned.
Based on the Paul McCartney and Geoff Dunbar book of the same name released in 2005, a movie has been in development for the title in some form since at least 2009. After various stages of development and being attached to numerous partners, it was then attached to Netflix officially in 2019, with Gaumont set to co-produce the title for the streamer.
At the time, Paul McCartney (who has developed original music for the feature film) said, “We are thrilled to be partnering with Netflix. They complement what is already an amazing team with Gaumont and we can think of no-one better to be working with to bring our film to a global audience.”
Timothy Reckart was attached to direct the movie based on a screenplay by Jon Croker that centers on a squirrel embarking on a journey to find an animal sanctuary.
Picture: Faber and Faber
Late last year (2022), we heard the movie was eying to be part of Netflix’s summer 2023 schedule. Specifically, we heard the title at one point eying to be released on July 3rd, 2023.
Since then, the movie has moved back to undated and although a page for the movie remains on Netflix, there’s been no reference to the movie throughout the year. It was also notably absent from Netflix’s preview of the 2023-24 animated slate.
Now we’ve learned that officially, the movie is no longer moving forward with Netflix but remains in development with it now set to be released by Gaumont Animation independently.
As you may know, Netflix Animation has had a major shake-up in recent years following what has been dubbed the Great Netflix Correction. The Wrap wrote in April 2022 about a slew of canceled animated projects at the streamer.
Despite this blow to Netflix’s upcoming animation lineup, the streamer is still has an impressive slate of upcoming animated titles. Still to release in 2023 include titles like Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget, Leo, and The Monkey King. Titles for 2024 include Orion and the Dark and Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie.
Are you disappointed Netflix won’t be releasing High in the Clouds? Let us know in the comments.
