Jan 21, 2021

Netflix acquired Sony's "Connected", the original title "The Mitchell vs.Return to "The Machines"

Sony Pictures Animation's Connected, a promising feature from first-time director Mike Rianda, was starting to look like a casualty of Covid. As other films danced around the 2021 calendar in search of a safe release date, Connected went quiet.

Now the film has found a home - and a new title. It will be released later this year on Netflix, the great refuge for theater-skeptic studios who lack their own big streaming platform. The film will come out as The Mitchells vs. The Machines, which was its original working title.

Rianda is a former writer and creative director of hit Disney series Gravity Falls. His directorial debut tells the story of a dysfunctional family that draws inspiration from his own upbringing. He wrote the film with Jeff Rowe (who also co-directs). The synopsis is as follows:

Will Allegra and Louis Koo Tin Lok executive-produced the film, while Phil Lord and Chris Miller produced alongside Kurt Albrecht. Lord and Miller have a strong relationship with Sony's animation unit - they won the studio an Oscar in 2019 by producing Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. They also wrote and directed its 2009 feature Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and executive-produced its 2013 sequel.

The cast of The Mitchells vs. The Machines includes Danny McBride, Abbi Jacobson, Maya Rudolph, Mike Rianda, Eric Andre, Olivia Colman, Blake Griffin, and Doug The Pug.

Rianda said in a statement:

Lord and Miller added:

Last week, Netflix unveiled its slate of animated films for 2021. It includes another heavyweight acquisition, Wish Dragon, which Sony co-produced with various Chinese companies. In Netflix's earnings call this week, chairman and co-CEO Reed Hastings reaffirmed the streamer's commitment to animation: “We're very fired up about catching [Disney] in family animation, maybe eventually passing them.”