Animation’s resilience in lockdown has been one of the enduring narratives of the entertainment industry in recent months. Now Kristine Belson, president of Sony Pictures Animation (SPA), has put a spin on that idea: she believes that the pandemic has created an opportunity for L.A. studios to take chances with animation for older audiences in particular.
Speaking at the virtual tech conference Collision from Home, Belson said:
I don’t think you’re going to see more family animated movies because that’s very saturated. There will be more R-rated animated movies. There are a couple we’re working on and we’re really excited about releasing our first one. I think you’re going to see PG-13 animated movies, which is something you haven’t seen before. Harder action-adventure sort of stuff.
Belson didn’t provide specifics on the films in their pipeline. However, Genndy Tartakovsky, director of SPA’s Hotel Transylvania trilogy, is known to be developing two new features for the studio, one of which is the R-rated comedy Fixed. Sony also released the R-rated comedy Sausage Party in 2016, although Sony Pictures Animation was not involved in that film.
