Apple Drops The First Teaser For Skydance’s Debut Animated Feature ‘Luck’
It may be Friday the 13th, but Apple Original Films and Skydance Animation are bringing a bit of Luck to the ominous date by releasing the first teaser of their upcoming debut animated feature.
Apart from a couple of stills and a brief synopsis, details and visuals from the film have been kept largely under wraps. So, for many of us today’s teaser is a long-awaited first look at what we can expect when the film premieres on Apple TV+ this August 5.
According to Apple TV+’s page for the film, Luck follows Sam Greenfield, the unluckiest person in the world. Sam accidentally stumbles into the never-before-seen Land of Luck, where she must unite with magical creatures who live there to turn her bad luck around. In the trailer above, Bob the cat (Simon Pegg) provides a bit more info on how things work in the Land of Luck.
While most of us will need to wait until later this summer to learn more, a few lucky attendees of June’s Annecy Festival will be treated to an early sneak peek during a work-in-progress presentation hosted by the film’s artistic team.
Directed by Peggy Holmes (The Little Mermaid: Ariel’s Beginning, the Tinkerbell film Secret of the Wings), the film was written by Kiel Murray (Raya and the Last Dragon, Cars). Its voice cast includes Broadway star Eva Noblezada as Sam and Pegg as the lucky Scottish black cat Bob. Joining them are Jane Fonda, Whoopi Goldberg, Colin O’Donoghue, Lil Rel Howery, Flula Borg, John Ratzenberger, and Adelynn Spoon.
The film is produced by David Ellison, Dana Goldberg, David Eisenmann, and John Lasseter.
To date, Luck’s development and production have been anything but lucky. In mid-February of 2019, actress Emma Thompson quit the film after it was revealed that disgraced former Disney executive John Lasseter had been hired as head of animation at Skydance. Thompson’s was only one among a chorus of voices which reacted negatively to Lasseter’s hiring.
In January of the following year, the film’s original director Alessandro Carloni (Kung Fu Panda 3) left the project, citing “creative differences.” Originally, Luck was included in a long-term production and distribution deal with Paramount, but near the end of 2020 rumors began to spread that Apple TV+ was looking to pick up two Skydance titles. In February 2021, Skydance Animation signed a multi-year overall deal with Apple which included distribution for its first two animated features, Luck and Spellbound.
Luck was produced at L.A.-based Skydance Animation, and animated at its subsidiary, Skydance Animation Madrid.
