With the coronavirus still making it difficult to release films in theaters, Sony has opted to sell the worldwide rights to Phil Lord and Christopher Miller's animated feature The Mitchells vs. the Machines to Netflix. Previously known as Connected, the film was slated for an October 23, 2020 release before Sony took it off the calendar. After pulling it from the list, Sony studied the release of Christopher Nolan's Tenet to see how feasible it was to release a film in theaters during the pandemic. When Tenet failed to meet expectations, Sony began looking into other options for Lord and Miller's family-focused joyride through an animated world. Before long, Netflix stepped up to the plate and purchased the global rights to the film for an estimated $110M. The deal did not include distribution in China.
The film, directed and written by Michael Rianda (Gravity Falls) and Jeff Rowe (Disenchantment, Gravity Falls) centers around an everyday family’s struggle to relate while technology rises up around the world. When Katie Mitchell (Abbi Jacobson), a creative outsider, is accepted into the film school of her dreams, her plans to meet “her people” at college are upended when her nature-loving dad Rick (Danny McBride) determines the whole family should drive Katie to school together and bond as a family one last time. (via Deadline)
Joining Jacobson and McBride for the animated film are Maya Rudolph as Linda Mitchell, Michael Rianda as Aaron Mitchell, Eric André as Mark Bowman, and Olivia Colman as Pal, among several others.
The film has yet to receive an official release day, though we suspect that Netflix will announce its 2021 arrival on the streaming service before long.