A sequel to Netflix’s acclaimed swashbuckling animated adventure feature “The Sea Beast” is in the works with Chris Williams set to return as director says THR.
Boasting a 94% critics/84% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, the first film has become Netflix’s most-viewed animated movie in history. It also was the film with the second-longest tenure in Netflix’s Top 10 list for 2022 – there for seven weeks, behind only the Ryan Reynolds-led “The Adam Project” with eight.
Six months after its July 8th release, it remains a top performer for the service. Thus it’s no surprise that Williams, who was a Disney veteran for 25 years where he directed “Big Hero 6” and co-directed “Moana,” signed an overall deal with Netflix very late last year.
That deal will include “The Sea Beast” sequel and an original fantasy feature. The ‘Beast’ sequel will bring back monster hunter Jacob Holland and his now adopted daughter, Maisie Brumble, with the film to explore the “challenges of this new family”. As for the fantasy film he says:
“It would be similar to Sea Beast in that I would create a completely cohesive world. Tonally, it would be between Lord of the Rings and Princess Bride.
It’s like Game of Thrones and Lord of the Rings, where you have a history that leads up to the point where the story begins, and it’s a huge world with multiple events going on outside the story being told.
But at the same time, I want to have fun with some of the conventions that Princess Bride did. It’s not a parody, and it’s not making fun of it, but it has a perspective that is light and refreshing.”
He says he’s actively developing both projects simultaneously, which “wasn’t what I intended, it just kinda happened”. The executives at Netflix will let him decide which one he wants to make first. He’s currently writing outlines, pitching ideas and so forth, and while the intention is to make them both, he’s expects one of them to “take the commanding lead” shortly.
