Netflix Developing a Sequel To Its Hit Animated Film THE SEA BEAST

Netflix’s animated feature film The Sea Beast has become the most-viewed animated movie in Netflix’s history. It was a huge hit and I can’t say I’m surprised because it’s actually a great animated film! If you haven’t watched it yet, you should, it might surprise you.

The movie was helmed by former Disney animated director Chris Williams, who previously worked on films such as Bolt, Big Hero 6, and Moana. Due to the success of The Sea Beast, Nextflix has signed an overall deal with the streaming company and is now working on two feature projects.

One of those projects is The Sea Beast sequel. That movie “will bring back monster hunter Jacob Holland and his now adopted daughter, Maisie Brumble.”

The other project is an original fantasy “where Williams hopes to use his world-building chops to tell a story both big and small, in the tradition of The Lord of the Rings but with the attitude of The Princess Bride.”

When talking about how these two film projects came about, Williams said:

“We had just wrapped up on the Sea Beast and we were in the post-production phase when we started talking about me continuing at Netflix and working on something else. They were cool about letting me know they wanted me to stay.

“I felt so supported throughout the making of Sea Beast, even though it was a massively ambitious movie. That represents a financial investment and risk, and they were always cool letting me making the movie I wanted to make. I always value people’s opinions and I will always listen to what anyone has to say. But they never forced my hand and they never made me do anything other than let me do the movie I wanted to make. And I really appreciated that. And so I wanted to do it again.”

He then talked about his fantasy film project, saying:

“I pitched an original fantasy story. And 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 parody and it’s not making fun of it, but it has a perspective that is light and refreshing.”

When discussing The Sea Beast sequel, Williams said:

“I never thought beyond the first movie. We were not planning for a series. And that was for the good. I just wanted to make this a fun experience and not compromise (the movie) by trying to set up future anythings.

“A priority in the first one was making it feel plausible and truthful. And when I thought about the truth about where the Sea Beast ended, it looks like everything is nicely wrapped. You have the father and daughter sitting on the dock, the world has changed and given up monster hunting and, isn’t that terrific? But the more I thought about the truth of it, the more I realized the story wasn’t really over.

“And primarily, I was thinking about this brand new family of Jacob and Masie that have been thrown together. Suddenly Jacob is a parent, a parent to an especially willful kid, right? And so when you see them on the dock, you know that’s not what parenting looks like. It’s far messier, far more complicated and more trying at times than that. So the idea of the challenges of this new family became interesting to me.

“And I also wondered about whether every single hunter in the world would just give up their source of income and identity, and I thought there’s a lot more story here.

It sounds like Williams is developing a couple of exciting animated projects! I’m looking forward to seeing how they turn out!