Warner Bros. is developing a new animated movie based on a fantasy novel series, and the latest update reveals the studio’s bold plans for the future.
Over the years, Warner Bros. has released numerous animated flicks like The Looney Tunes, The Iron Giant, and Teen Titans Go! To the Movies. In recent years, there’s been the Lord of the Rings movie The War of the Rohirrim and The Day the Earth Blew Up, along with direct-to-video releases for Scooby-Doo, Tom and Jerry, and DC Comics.
Now Warner Bros. Pictures Animation is working on an adaptation of Melissa Meyer’s fantasy/sci-fi book series The Lunar Chronicles. The project was first announced three years ago, and The Wrap now has a majorupdate.
Apparently, the studio has grand plans for the future of The Lunar Chronicles, to the point where executives are reportedly planning for the film to be the first installment in a franchise. This shows that Skydance has faith in the property, even after Paramount acquired Warner Bros.
Noëlle Raffaele, who has worked as a storyboard artist on The Lego Ninjago Movie, Scoob!, Ms. Marvel and The Marvels, is directing The Lunar Chronicles adaptation. Industrial Light & Magic is creating the animation.
The Lunar Chronicles reimagines classic fairytale characters with a futuristic twist. The first book, Cinder, came out in 2012 and tells a Cinderella-like story, but the protagonist is a cyborg. Meyer followed that up with Scarlet (inspired by Little Red Riding Hood), Cress (a new take on Rapunzel), Fairest (about Snow White‘s Evil Queen), Winter (Snow White), the short story collection Stars Above and the Wires, and the Nerve graphic novels.
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Meyer has also written several other series, including Renegades, Fortuna Beach and Gilded, and co-wrote the novels Let It Glow, The Escape Game and The Traitor Game.
Multiple animated films have performed really well this year, with Toy Story 5 currently the third-highest-grossing movie of 2026 at $1.15 billion. The Super Mario Galaxy Movie ranks fifth with $1.01 billion, while Minions & Monsters is ninth with $529 million.
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Ice Age: Boiling Point, The Bluey Movie, Pixar’s Gatto, Shrek 5, Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse, The New Simpsons Movie, The Haunting of Hotel Transylvania, and Frozen 3 are all animated movies coming out in 2027. Then 2028 will see the arrivals of Shrek spinoff Donkey and Incredibles 3.
Many of these are based on existing properties, and some, like Shrek and Frozen, lean into the fairy-tale genre, so The Lunar Chronicles is in good company when Warner Bros. releases it in a couple of years from now.
The Lunar Chronicles will be released in theaters on Friday, November 3, 2028.
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