Netflix Acquires Ron Howard’s First Animated Feature ‘The Shrinking Of Treehorn’

Ron Howard’s debut animated feature The Shrinking of Treehorn has been picked up by Netflix, according to a report by Deadline.

Details are scant, but here’s what we know so far about the animation directorial debut of the 68-year-old director:

• Australian outfit Animal Logic (The Lego Movie, Happy Feet) will handle animation, co-producing with Howard’s Imagine Entertainment.
• The Shrinking of Treehorn is adapted from the 1971 children’s book of the same name, written by Florence Parry Heide and illustrated by Edward Gorey.
• In the book, Treehorn is a young boy who slowly shrinks over time. Seemingly unsurprised, but entirely perturbed, the adults in his life accuse him of shrinking on purpose.
• Rob Lieber (Peter Rabbit) adapted the script for the film.
• The project was first set up at Paramount in 2019.
• There is no news yet as to whether or not the film will get a theatrical release, although just yesterday it was reported that the streamer may be putting more of its films into theaters in the near future.
• Netflix Animation has been operating under a spotlight since it was confirmed that several high-profile projects had been dropped by the streamer. This acquisition is indicative of what many believe to be its new strategy of acquiring prestige animation projects produced by third parties.