Disney Animation Wants Jordan Peele to Make a Movie “Immediately”

Jordan Peele first rose to fame thanks to his comedically genius work with Keegan-Michael Key through years of Key & Peele skits, but he’s since carved out a name for himself as one of the best directors in all of Hollywood. It’s now been over four years since he last directed a movie, though, and there is a new generation of movie fans preparing to experience their first Jordan Peele-directed project once he gets his next movie across the finish line. Peele most recently teamed up with Daniel Kaluuya and Keke Palmer for Nope, an epic sci-fi/horror thriller that’s currently streaming on Netflix. The film grossed over $170 million at the box office against a $68 million budget, and it won over 45 awards and was nominated for nearly 200 on the awards circuit in late 2022 and early 2023.

Between his work on Nope and other movies such as Get Out (2017) and Us (2019), Peele has stuck mostly to horror since he began directing films. All of his movies have also been live-action, and there have been no reports that his next film will shift to animation, though it’s too early to know any specifics about the currently untitled movie. However, just because he hasn’t directed an animated film doesn’t mean big studios like Disney aren’t eager to work with him. During a recent interview with Disney Head of Animation Jared Bush at SCAD Savannah Film Festival, Collider’s Steve Weintraub asked the Disney boss if there was a dream filmmaker they’d love to work with that isn’t traditionally thought of as an animated/Disney filmmaker. He told Collider:

“Oh my gosh. I need — immediately — for Jordan Peele to come to Disney Animation. That’s what I need. Because one: Brilliant filmmaker. He takes very, very big chances. Bold storytelling. I’d love to see what he would do with a Disney Animated film.”

“Oh my gosh. I need — immediately — for Jordan Peele to come to Disney Animation. That’s what I need. Because one: Brilliant filmmaker. He takes very, very big chances. Bold storytelling. I’d love to see what he would do with a Disney Animated film.”

Four franchises, four completely different ways of getting underneath
your skin. This is the one built out of your particular fear, why it works so well on you, and what
it would leave behind.

Your nightmare does not wait outside the door. It waits for you
to close your eyes, which you are going to have to do eventually, because nobody has ever
won that particular argument.

• Freddy is horror’s cruellest idea: a threat that lives in the one place you cannot
  guard, cannot lock, and cannot avoid forever.
• You are the one who is fine during the film and wide awake at two in the morning. Your
  own head is where this does its damage.
• These films understood exhaustion as a horror engine. The kids on Elm Street do not lose
  because they are weak. They lose because they are tired.
• You can lock every door in the house. You still have to sleep.

Your nightmare is not really the doll. It is the face of the
person you tell, and the way they decide, very kindly, that you have imagined all of it.

• Chucky works precisely because he is absurd. That is the trap: the more accurately you
  describe him, the less anybody is going to believe you.
• You are the one shouting at the screen because the characters are not listening. You
  know that feeling from real life too.
• The franchise is at its best when the adults in the room are the real obstacle, and you
  have met those adults.
• By the time somebody finally believes you, you will have handled most of it on your own.

Your nightmare has your number, knows your name, and has almost
certainly been inside your house before. The worst part is that you already know them.

• Scream is the only one of these where the killer takes the mask off and turns out to be
  somebody who was at the party.
• You are the person who calls the twist out loud before it lands. You watch people the
  same way you watch films.
• The franchise made the rules of horror part of the plot, which means the survivors are
  the ones paying attention. You would be paying attention.
• Everybody is a suspect, including the person who just offered to walk you home.

Your nightmare is not really about you. It is about the people
asleep down the hall, and the feeling that whatever is here is not interested in leaving.

• The Conjuring films are domestic horror. The house, the family, the perfectly ordinary
  room that quietly stops feeling ordinary.
• Your instinct is to get everybody into one room. Your fear is protective rather than
  personal, which is rarer than it sounds.
• This is the one franchise where belief is the weapon. The people who come through it are
  the ones who are not alone and refuse to be.
• Whatever is here did not come for you. It came for the household, and you are the one
  standing in the hallway.

What Is Jordan Peele’s Highest-Grossing Movie?

Jordan Peele has only directed three movies — Get Out, Us, and Nope — but his first directorial feature is also the most successful of his career, by far. Peele made Get Out for only $4.5 million, making it one of the cheaper features to release that year, but the film grossed $259 million at the global box office, making it a smash-hit for Universal Pictures. This success allowed Peele to spend $20 million on the making of his next film, Us, and it still turned a massive profit by grossing $256 million.

Stay tuned to Collider for more updates and coverage of Jordan Peele’s future projects and more from our exclusive interview with Disney Animation’s Jared Bush.