Marking Aardman’s first Netflix original project, the SVOD has picked up the British prodco’s upcoming stop-motion animated holiday special, Robin Robin for a 2020 premiere.

The short film is in production at Aardman’s UK studio and will debut during the holiday season next year. The new special is joining a number of the studio’s other films that were previously picked up by the global SVOD, including Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, Flushed Away and Shaun the Sheep Movie.

Robin Robin is a 30-minute musical that follows the adventures of a robin, who as an egg accidentally lands in a dump, and once hatched is raised by mice. To prove to her family that she can be a good mouse, she tries to pull off the heist to end all heists. Created and directed by Dan Ojari (Slow Derek) and Mikey Please (The Eagleman Stag), the special is produced by Helen Argo (Wallace & Gromit’s Musical Marvels), and executive produced by Sarah Cox (The Tate Movie Project). 

A frequent BBC partner (which commissioned the prodco’s animated series Shaun the Sheep and Wallace & Gromit short film The Wrong Trousers, among other projects), Aardman pitched Robin Robin to Netflix because the British broadcaster was not in a position to buy the special and stream it worldwide, Aardman’s managing director Sean Clarke told The Guardian. 

It’s been a busy year for the British content creator, which has been growing its reach with new content, including rebooting its ’70s slapstick comedy series Morph with new 15 x five-minute episodes premiering spring 2020 on British kidsnet Sky Kids. It has also been undergoing a lot of recent staffing changes and upped long-time Aardman vet Sean Clarke to the role of managing director, replacing co-founder David Sproxton.