Andy Serkis’ long-gestating animated adaptation of George Orwell’s seminal “Animal Farm” will finally see the light of day in 2026 thanks to Angel. The studio, formerly known as Angel Studios, has acquired U.S. rights for the film after it premiered at the Annecy International Film Festival this summer.
Angel will release “Animal Farm” on May 1, 2026.
The voice cast includes Seth Rogen, Gaten Matarazzo, Kieran Culkin, Glenn Close, Laverne Cox, Steve Buscemi, Woody Harrelson, Jim Parsons, Kathleen Turner and Iman Vellani.
Serkis told TheWrap last summer that while he initially envisioned “Animal Farm” as a performance capture movie like his “Jungle Book” adaptation “Mowgli,” he second-guessed the approach as he decided he wanted the film to be more accessible.
“By definition, doing it as a live-action movie would have made it bleaker from the outset, darker and the character designs that we were working on in the way that we were doing it was too heavy handed,” Serkis said.
“What the animated world gives you, which I’ve realized, is an innocence and a way of storytelling which allows the audience to connect and fill in the dots in a much more profound way,” he explained. “You can still have characters that are as meaningful and emotionally engaging, but you’re freed of reality to certain extent. And therefore you can retain innocence.”
The adaptation was one of the first films Serkis began working on as a director, but didn’t start production until 2022. He produced the film through his Imaginarium Studios alongside Adam Nagle, Dave Rosenbaum and Jonathan Cavendish.
You can watch the first trailer for the movie below.