Ready to take some fresh “Steps?”
Netflix Animation Studios’ fractured fairy tale, its first end-to-end production, arrives on the streaming service in time for Thanksgiving. And we’ve got the brand-new trailer for the film, which stars Ali Wong, Amanda Seyfried, Stephanie Hsu, Bette Midler, Nikki Glaser and Peter Dinklage. Watch it below.
In “Steps,” Cinderella’s supposedly wicked step-sisters take center stage. “Sick of living in Cinderella’s shadow, Lilith (Wong) steals the Fairy Godmother (Midler)’s magic wand and hijacks the Royal Ball with her sister Margot (Hsu), breaking the Cinderella story as we know it and dooming the kingdom to the tyrannical rule of Priscilla (Glaser), a villainous schemer who swoops in and snatches the throne,” reads the official synopsis. “Now, Lilith must team up with Cinderella (Seyfried) to fight biker trolls, outrun evil henchmen and escape the Screaming Woods on an epic quest to save the kingdom, but most importantly, their relationship.”
The movie has an ornate, frosted-cake aesthetic that was previewed earlier this summer at the Annecy International Film Festival, where Netflix did a work-in-progress session that left us very impressed. What makes the project even more exciting is that it’s Netflix’s first end-to-end production with its Animation Studios, which means that it didn’t rely on any partner studios or vendor studios, like Sony Pictures Animation (a frequent Netflix partner) or Skydance Animation (whose deal with the streaming giant will end shortly).
“Steps” is part of Netflix’s robust end-of-year animation slate, which also includes Brad Bird’s sci-fi noir “Ray Gunn” (part of the Skydance Animation partnership) and the beautiful coming-of-age tale “In Waves,” which just played at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Netflix is obviously coming off of the phenomenal success of last year’s animated juggernaut “KPop Demon Hunters” and Skydance’s “Swapped” from earlier this year, which also posted huge numbers.
“Steps” arrives on Netflix on November 20.
