WBPA Boss Bill Damaschke Promises Creator-Led ‘New Chapter’ At The Studio, Headlined By Vivienne Medrano’s ‘Prehistoria’

During a panel meant to introduce what the studio is calling “A New Chapter,” Warner Bros. Pictures Animation president Bill Damaschke revealed to an enthusiastic 2026 Annecy International Animation Film Festival audience that Vivienne Medrano (Hazbin Hotel, Helluva Boss) will make her first theatrical feature for Warner Bros.

Titled Prehistoria, the film is an original feature set outside of the “Hellaverse.” Though no footage was shown, the sight of a punk dinosaur is sure to thrill fans of Hazbin Hotel (and animated movies about dinosaurs).

This is part of what Damaschke described as “the beginning of a new chapter for animation at Warner Bros.,” announcing the studio’s intention of building an “artist-first studio” with a creative philosophy driven by storytellers. The studio aims to make movies that follow what Damaschke called the three Hs, “Heart, Humor, Hope,” all without establishing a house style.

Instead, every filmmaker will be encouraged to make something unique. This was evident in the slate of films presented at Annecy, which are slated for release between 2026 and 2028 and included a Christmas movie best described as Liam Neeson’s Taken but with cookies, reindeer, and Christmas biker gangs, an adaptation of Dr. Seuss’ Oh, the Places You’ll Go! from Jill Culton and Jon M. Chu, and even a Hello Kitty movie.

Without a doubt, the film that elicited the biggest reaction from Annecy audiences was Swaybox’s Dynamic Duo (coming in 2028), a brand-new take on Batman’s ward, Robin. The initial clips shown during a big studio sizzle reel already looked stunning, with a handheld camera approach and a gritty, grounded look that feels more naturalistic than what we see in live-action superhero movies. Except, the characters are not drawn. As the studio’s founders, Arthur Mintz and Theresa Anderson, told a roaring crowd, the film mostly uses large-scale puppets for the characters, as well as real sets and props to tell its story. Instantly, the crowd erupted in thunderous applause.

The film focuses on Dick Grayson and Jason Todd, here reimagined as friends before either of them met the Caped Crusader. The two fall on hard times after being recruited by the Red Hood criminal gang, forcing Dick Grayson to team up with Batman to save his best friend.

The panel highlighted the importance of partnerships with different animation studios offering unique looks and styles. Locksmith Animation presented two of its projects, Bad Fairies (2027) and The Lunar Chronicles (2028). Megan Nicole Dong and co-director Olivier Staphylas introduced Bad Fairies, their animated musical with an attitude. Set in modern-day London and a magical underground city called Donlon, the film features original songs from Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss (Six: The Musical), with Isabella “Machine” Summers (Florence + The Machine) composing the score and contributing to the songs. Several work-in-progress clips were shown, showcasing a unique blend of 3D animation that retains the cartoony elasticity of 2D animation. Think Dong’s Centaurworld, with its everything-goes approach to creature and character design, but blown up to huge proportions.

WBPA’s presentation was perhaps surprising in how much it focused on showing behind-the-scenes and very early work-in-progress material for the projects being presented. Whether it was a musical number from Bad Fairies featuring a demo version of a song and very rough animation, or early animatics from Locksmith’s The Lunar Chronicles, the presentation wasn’t just about building confidence in Warner Bros. Pictures Animation. It was also about inviting audiences in to see the process through the eyes of the artists themselves. It helped sell the idea of this being a studio whose creative philosophy is “driven by our storytellers,” as Damaschke said at the start of the presentation.

Though The Lunar Chronicles didn’t have much to show given how early it is in production, audiences were teased with a few clips showcasing the film’s unique blend of sci-fi and fantasy and its reinvention of fairy-tale characters. Director Noëlle Raffaele presented the film, an adaptation of Marissa Meyer’s book series of the same name, which is basically Cinderella in space, with cyborgs. Even in rough animatic form, the film teases a vast and fleshed-out world that is unlike our own while still being recognizable. The sight of this film’s version of Cinderella leaving behind not a glass slipper, but her entire cyborg foot, elicited a strong reaction from the Annecy crowd.

The first film to be released under this new chapter for Warner Bros. Pictures Animation is The Cat in the Hat, the first 15 minutes of which were shown to the audience, highlighting the different art styles and wacky humor of the adaptation of the Dr. Seuss book. Even the most skeptical audiences might be won over by the sheer chaotic energy emanating from the film, along with its commitment to color and humor. The film features four different worlds, ranging from our gray and dull reality to fantastical places where logic is nonexistent.

Accompanying the film is a brand-new Looney Tunes short, which, despite what the studio seems eager to make audiences believe, is not the grand return of Daffy Duck to the big screen, considering that just two years ago Annecy hosted the world premiere of the feature film The Day the Earth Blew Up, which prominently featured Daffy alongside Porky Pig. The short feels tailor-made for World Cup fever, with Daffy discovering that Elmer Fudd and the rest of the Looney Tunes have grown obsessed with watching European football, and Fudd doesn’t even care about hunting ducks anymore. Inspired by the work of Maurice Noble, the short evokes the physical comedy and emphasis on character acting of Chuck Jones cartoons. It’s lively, it’s timely, and it is quite looney.

It remains to be seen how these films perform, or even whether they are released by Warner Bros. Discovery under its new proposed Paramount owners, but it is clear that it is a new day for the animation studio.