Netflix to Produce New Mark Osborne Animated Feature

Netflix is going to produce the latest animated feature film from Mark Osborne, the two-time Academy Award-nominated director of Kung Fu Panda and The Little Prince.

Osborne collaborated on the feature, Escape from Hat, with writer Adam Kline (Artemis Fowl, The Clockwork War), who wrote the yet-to-be-published middle-grade novel of the same name. Netflix’s Escape from Hat will follow a rabbit as he embarks on a mission with an unlikely band of allies to find his way out of a magician’s hat and back to the human boy he loves.

Osborne is directing and producing with Jinko Gotoh, who he worked with on The Little Prince. Production will begin in New York this month for a debut on Netflix in 2022.

“Escape from Hat tells a story about friendship and magic, which perfectly mirrors how I feel about getting to reunite with my friend Mark at Netflix after ten years,” said Melissa Cobb, the VP of kids and family at Netflix. “I cannot wait for audiences around the world to immerse themselves in our fantastical magic trick gone awry, where they will find an epic and imaginative world of good versus evil.”

Osborne added: “Netflix is shaking up the animated feature world in highly inventive ways, including offering filmmakers the rare opportunity to turn their dream project into a reality. I’m thrilled that Escape from Hat is now one of them.”