Duncan Studio Launches New Development Slate Of Original Content

Duncan Studio, the Pasadena, California-based animation company headed by animator Ken Duncan, is entering the burgeoning field of original content production with Duncan Originals, an in-house development and production division.

As reported first by Deadline, Duncan Studio has been working on a slate of animated productions including features, series, and short-form content, targeted at a broad global audience.

“Our development division has created a slate of unique, inclusive, gender balanced and visually compelling stories, that will engage and resonate with audiences globally,” Duncan told Deadline. “Our mission is to work with culturally diverse, established, and emerging new talent to expand the creative boundaries of the animation art form.”

Creating original projects rather than solely participating in other productions was always a goal of founder Duncan, who worked as an animator for Disney for many years (Aladdin, The Lion King, Tarzan) before establishing his own studio in 2007. Most recently, Duncan Studio was behind the 2d animated sequences in Disney’s hybrid feature Mary Poppins Returns, which earned the studio two trophies at the 46th Annie Awards for best animated special production and character animation in a live-action production. The studio also worked with Brad Bird on animating new scenes for The Iron Giant: Signature Edition.

The company’s new projects in development include Nature’s End, a fantasy/sci-fi feature film with an ecological message and headed by a heroine who improves her world without aggression or intimidation. The movie is expected to combine live-action, animation, and gaming elements.

There is also R.E.D, a six-part sci-fi anthology that takes its cue from 1950s pulp novels. Approached with humor, the detective series follows a sentient machine debating whether or not it has value as a “living” creature.