In a year when the theatrical release calendar is light on big-budget animated features for kids—especially ones that aren’t sequels—DreamWorks Animation could have a breakout hit on its hands this fall with The Wild Robot. Distributor Universal Pictures dropped a trailer for the film Tuesday that has already generated more than three million views online.
This heartwarming CG-animated film revolves around a robot who crashlands in the remote wilderness and becomes close with the animals around her, even parenting an orphaned gosling. It’s based on Peter Brown’s same-name illustrated novel for middle-graders that was published by the Little, Brown Books for Young Readers imprint in 2016. Billed as a mix of Wall-E and YA wilderness survival novel Hatchet, The Wild Robot reached number-one on the New York Times bestseller list that year, and has since spawned two more titles: The Wild Robot Escapes (2017) and The Wild Robot Protects (2022).
There are plenty of opportunities available for consumer product tie-ins and TV/streaming deals, and NBCUniversal Universal Products & Experiences is handling the film’s licensing rights. The Wild Robot is scheduled for a September 20 release, and it won’t have much competition in that window apart from Transformers One, which comes out on September 13.
There’s also has some strong talent behind the project, with Chris Sanders (How To Train Your Dragon, The Croods) as lead writer and director, Jeff Hermann (The Boss Baby 2: Family Business) as producer and a stacked cast of voice actors that includes Lupita Nyong’o, Pedro Pascal, Catherine O’Hara and Mark Hamill.