Toei Wants ‘Monkey Quest’ To Be Its Next Global Franchise, And Lionsgate Is On Board

Lionsgate and Toei Animation have launched a strategic partnership that will commence with the North American theatrical release of Monkey Quest, a spectacle-filled CG-anime feature that got an early sneak peek at this year’s Annecy Festival.

Lionsgate will handle theatrical distribution and marketing for the film’s wide release in 2027. The agreement extends beyond Monkey Quest, with Lionsgate set to serve as Toei’s U.S. distribution partner on new projects produced by the Japanese animation studio. Lionsgate will also be Toei’s first stop for potential future co-productions.

In a release, Atsushi Suzuki, senior executive officer and head of sales and planning at Toei Animation, explained:

We are excited to begin this relationship with Lionsgate and thrilled to bring Monkey Quest to North American audiences. This film represents a new chapter for us as we expand our fanbase globally. We could not ask for a better partner to help us introduce our films to new audiences.

Inspired by the Chinese literary classic Journey to the West, Monkey Quest unfolds in a near-future world populated by aliens and extradimensional beings. The story follows 12-year-old Elle and her baby brother Adam as they search for their missing parents and awaken Okon, a powerful monkey and legendary protector of Earth who has been imprisoned for eons.

The Japanese-U.S. co-production is directed by Shrek 2 screenwriter David N. Weiss, who also co-wrote the screenplay with J. David Stem. Stephanie Ma Stine (Kung Fu Panda 4) and veteran character designer Takao Noguchi (How to Train Your Dragon, The Croods) serve as co-directors. Ikezawa, Chou, and Chuck Williams are producers.

Auli’i Cravalho (Moana), Skylar Astin (Pitch Perfect), and Anna Chlumsky (Veep) have joined a voice cast that includes Adam Devine, J.K. Simmons, Sam Richardson, and Jonathan Kite. Cravalho voices Elle, Devine plays Okon, and Simmons voices the film’s alien antagonist, Vex.

The project was conceived as more than a standalone feature and represents something far more ambitious for Toei, and now Lionsgate. During the film’s Annecy Work in Progress presentation, which we attended in June, producer Yoshi Ikezawa said Toei hoped to create something comparable in scale to enduring company franchises such as Knights of the Zodiac and Mazinger Z, but designed from the outset to reach a broad international audience.

To that end, Toei approached Naoto Oshima, the original character designer of Sonic the Hedgehog, who developed the film’s initial concept and co-created its story with Joseph Chou.

The filmmakers also enlisted Jujutsu Kaisen season-one director Sunghoo Park to help develop the action. Ma Stine told the Annecy audience that translating Park’s dynamic hand-drawn storyboards into CG proved challenging, but described the resulting sequences as some of the film’s strongest material. According to the new announcement, the story builds toward a finale that transforms into a full anime battle sequence.

In today’s release, Lionsgate Motion Picture Group executive vice president of business strategy Geobert Abboud added:

We’re delighted to be Toei Animation’s new partner as they bring their feature films to U.S. audiences, and Monkey Quest is just the beginning. Their impact in the anime space with One Piece, Digimon, and so many other projects is undeniable, and we look forward to seeing how we can build on this momentum.

Charades is handling international sales outside the U.S.