Annapurna is gearing up to form a new animation division with former Disney animation executives Andrew Millstein and Robert Bairds.
If you don’t already know, Annapurna Pictures is an entertainment company with film, TV, games and theatre under its belt. Millstein and Bairds have recently paired up with Annapurna for an animated film NIMONA, which will be released on Netflix sometime in 2023. Annapurna Pictures is known as a “boutique film studio,” which in not so many words means indie film studio. From this collaboration, Millstein and Bairds decided to join Annapurna to form an animation division with the studio.
Annapurna has made many movies and TV series that are highly regarded in the movie-making business, such as PAM & TOMMY and The Staircase. A lot of Annapurna’s content is collaborative with Amazon Prime Video and other studios. Still, their rein will soon come with a team like Millstein and Bairds running their animation division. It is known as an indie entertainment company but, the hope is that these new experienced Disney execs will bring Annapurna Pictures into the conversation along with well-known studios somewhat as they had previously done at Disney.
There has been little information about their collab film online, but so far, Netflix has released that the movie will star Chloe Grace Moretz as Nimona, and that’s about all the information gathered at this time.
Audiences have waited quite some time for NIMONA to premiere, it had previously hit a few snags before it was fully taken on by Annapurna pictures, and the making of this film is what brought Millstein and Bairds fully on board with co-heading Annapurna’s animation division. Bairds said in a statement that “We instantly felt at home at Annapurna, their vision is extremely compelling and is a deep match with our values and the types of impactful stories we want to help bring to life.”
Annapurna Pictures has previously been nominated for up to 12 Emmys for its numerous productions on different television series. Adding on two past Disney execs is exactly what this entertainment company needs if they’re finally going to release the highly anticipated and highly sought-after NIMONA film.
