James Lamont and Jon Foster, best known for being two-thirds of the writing team behind “Paddington in Peru,” are reteaming for the newly-announced AI animated feature “Critterz.”
The project is a feature-length adaptation of 2023’s groundbreaking short film of the same name, and comes from Vertigo Films, the Federation Studios-owned U.K. production company, which is teaming with AI creatives at Native Foreign. Lamont and Foster — who also helped write StudioCanal’s pre-school “The Adventures of Paddington” animated series and Channel 4 comedy “Wasted” starring Sean Bean — will pen the script for the family adventure, which is set to expand the world of the so-called Critterz characters.
“We’re very excited to be putting storytelling at the heart of this groundbreaking project,” said the writing duo. “The creative team behind ‘Critterz’ really impressed us with their vision and desire to make a beautiful, compelling and funny family movie”
The 2023 short “Critterz,” written and directed by Chad Nelson, a creative specialist at OpenAI, became the first ever AI film to combine visuals generated by OpenAI’s Dall•E system with traditional animation techniques. It screened at numerous festivals, including Annecy, Tribeca and Cannes Lions and was nominated for a PGA Innovation Award.
Earlier this year, the Native Foreign team released “Critterz: Remastered” with OpenAI’s Sora, demonstrating the advancement of the tech in two years. With the feature length “Critterz,” due to go into production in April, the producers say they hope to “set a new benchmark for generative storytelling pairing human-driven creativity and traditional animation techniques with the latest AI technology.”
“The original ‘Critterz’ showed us how AI tools can help filmmakers tell beautiful and entertaining stories and we are delighted to have an opportunity to once again be at the vanguard of another technological revolution,” said James Richardson of Vertigo Films. “Chad and Nik [Kleverov] and their animation team created an incredible and award-winning short two years ago, and now James and Jon will be bringing their storytelling magic to the feature-length version for family audiences around the world.”
Added OpenAI’s Nelson: “As a creative, I’ve always sought tools that allow me to bring my imagination to life. When I first explored OpenAI’s Dall•E, I immediately found a creative brush unlike any other. The AI didn’t replace my vision, it expanded it, helping me dream bigger and move faster. And now, with the rapid advancements made in AI since we launched the original ‘Critterz,’ we can fully realize these lovable characters and achieve our vision more completely.”
Kleverov of Native Foreign said: “We have been touched by how audiences have taken ‘Critterz’ to their hearts and can’t wait to reveal more of their world with the support of our visionary partners at Vertigo Films.”
The feature-length “Critterz” is being produced by Allan Niblo and Richardson for Vertigo and Kleverov for Native Foreign alongside Nelson, who serves as a consulting producer. Jane Moore is executive producer for Vertigo.
