Annecy crowds were in for a treat as Ramsey Naito, President of Paramount Animation and Nickelodeon Animation, and longtime festival supporter, opened the studios’ 2025 showcase with a preview of the upcoming projects.
“PAW Patrol: The Dino Movie,” “The Legend of Aang: The Last Airbender” and “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem 2” are all in active development. “PAW Patrol” is set to hit theaters July 24, 2026, followed by Aang’s animated return on Oct. 9. Fans of pizza-loving martial artist turtles will need to wait until Sept. 27, 2027, for the next “TMNT” bigscreen appearance — or will they? Read on to find out.
Naito, one of the most prominent animation executives in Hollywood today, expressed her excitement about returning to Annecy. She also unveiled new additions to the cast of “The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants.” Joining the regular cast and Mark Hamill are Regina Hall (“Scary Movie,” “Girls Trip”), Sherry Cola (“Nobody Wants This,” “Shrinking”), Arturo Castro (“Tron: Ares,” “Matchbox”), George Lopez (“Lopez vs Lopez,” “The Underdoggs”), and four-time Grammy-nominated, multi-platinum rapper Isis “Ice Spice” Gaston, who also contributes an original song.
Before diving into SpongeBob, Naito turned attention to a tiny mushroom village in a magical forest, home to the most famous blue characters on Earth (apologies to Pandora).
Director Chris Miller returned to Annecy to present the first 20 minutes of his upcoming summer tentpole “Smurfs,” ahead of its July 18, 2025 release. Last year, he showed early footage at MIFA. Now, with the film nearly complete, Miller spoke about the project’s unique blend of CG and 2D animation.
“I’m delighted to bring the Smurfs back to the big screen with a project blending CG and 2D animation so closely,” said Miller. “For me, animation isn’t all about pixels and keyframes. It’s about moving an audience and infusing every frame with the same heart, color and charm that Peyo put in his original ideas more than 60 years ago.”
Production is already underway on Season 4 of the CG-animated TV series. Nele De Wilde, CCO of Peyo Company, noted how closely the studio collaborated with Paramount, eight years after Sony Pictures Animation’s “Smurfs: The Lost Village.”
“Paramount were very respectful of our input,” said De Wilde. “Friendship, helping each other and respecting nature are timeless values at the core of the Smurfs’ identity. Paramount was committed to bringing these ideas to life in a modern, adventure-packed film.”
These values also spoke to Rihanna, who voices Smurfette. “That’s gangster,” said her partner A$AP Rocky to Variety earlier this year.
The film’s musical energy and visually rich medieval-fantasy setting, powered by Cinesite Montreal’s animation, promise to get kids “Smurfin’ all day long.” The story centers on a Smurf with no name who seeks to discover his unique identity, aided by Smurfette, Hefty and other classic characters. Gags like “Quiet,” “Soundtrack” and “Shark-Taming Smurf” had the Annecy audience in stitches.
A standout moment introduced Razamel, Gargamel’s equally inept brother, as a new villain. By the film’s end, the Smurfs tumble through a multiverse portal into real-world Paris, to Grouchy’s great dismay.
The film will premiere in Brussels on June 28, 2025, painting the city blue ahead of its global rollout.
Next up, director Derek Drymon shared a behind-the-scenes look at “The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants.” A SpongeBob veteran, Drymon returned to the franchise after co-directing “Hotel Transylvania 4” in 2022.
“We wanted to recapture the spirit of the first season,” said Drymon. “I’m so thankful to Paramount for backing a creator-led project. What wins the day is being a kid, and that’s what we infused in this feature.”
Audiences were treated to the first full act, in which SpongeBob finally grows tall enough to ride a rollercoaster but backs out at the last moment, only to be pulled into an even scarier pirate adventure with the Flying Dutchman. He then signs away his fate and plunges into the Underworld.
Blending 3D animation with cutting-edge 2D, this visually dynamic installment follows in the stylistic footsteps of “The Mitchells vs. the Machines” and “Spider-Verse.” It will hit theaters Dec. 19, 2025.
Following a brief Q&A with Miller and Drymon, moderated by Paramount SVP Emily Nordwind, audiences got one last surprise: two never-before-seen shorts.
“Order Up,” a dialogue-free SpongeBob short directed by Sean Charmatz (“Orion and the Dark”), will debut in front of “Smurfs” in July. The slapstick comedy had been sitting in the Nickelodeon/Paramount vault for nearly a decade.
The second short, “Chrome Alone 2: Lost in New Jersey,” is a “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” tale directed by Kent Seki. With a visual style similar to Jeff Rowe’s “Mutant Mayhem,” this installment takes a comedic look at artificial intelligence and will premiere alongside the new SpongeBob film in December.
variety.com
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