Locksmith Animation Explained

Locksmith Animation (also known as Locksmith) is an independent family-oriented computer animation feature film studio owned by Sister Group and based in London, England and Los Angeles, California. Locksmith is best known for producing and developing independent family-oriented computer-animated feature films.

Locksmith Animation's first film, Ron's Gone Wrong, was released on 22 October 2021, distributed by 20th Century Studios (which had recently been acquired by Disney two years prior) with positive reviews. That Christmas, a holiday film based on the children's Christmas book trilogy That Christmas and Other Stories by British filmmaker Richard Curtis, was released by Netflix on 4 December 2024 with mixed reviews. Its next films are, Bad Fairies, a subversive original musical-comedy film set in contemporary London, to be released by Warner Bros. Pictures on 23 July 2027, and The Lunar Chronicles, an animated feature film adaptation project based on the author Marissa Meyer's four young adult science fiction fantasy novels by the same name.

History

Locksmith Animation was founded in 2014 by media executive businesswoman Elisabeth Murdoch and two Aardman Animations collaborators Sarah Smith and Julie Lockhart. Locksmith was named after Lockhart and Smith's surnames.^[1] In April 2014, visual effects studio Double Negative (now known as DNEG) formed a deal with Locksmith to provide the computer animation for Locksmith's films, this led DNEG to found their own animation department, DNEG Feature Animation (now known as DNEG Animation).^[2]

In May 2016, Locksmith formed a production deal with Paramount Pictures, with Paramount acting as the distributor for Locksmith's films to be produced under the Paramount Animation label. The following year, however, Paramount abandoned its deal with Locksmith when Paramount chairman and CEO Brad Grey was replaced by Jim Gianopulos.^[3]

In September 2017, Locksmith formed a multi-year production deal with 20th Century Fox, which would distribute Locksmith's films; 20th Century Fox Animation was brought in to oversee the deal, as Locksmith was aiming to release a film every 12–18 months.^[4] The first film to be produced by Locksmith Animation was Ron's Gone Wrong which was released on 22 October 2021 by 20th Century Studios.^[5] In February 2018, it was announced that Locksmith was developing Wed Wabbit, a live-action/animated hybrid film based on Lissa Evans' children's book, serving as the first live-action/animated hybrid film from Locksmith.^[6] In October 2019, while Disney took over 20th Century Animation, Locksmith formed a new multi-year production deal with Warner Bros. Pictures, which will distribute three Locksmith films under the Warner Animation Group label after the release of Ron's Gone Wrong, which was now the only theatrical Locksmith film to be distributed by 20th Century Studios.^[7]

With the release of Ron's Gone Wrong in October 2021, Sister Pictures is Locksmith Animation's parent company that Elisabeth Murdoch works for.

In June 2021, it was announced that Natalie Fischer, the former COO of Illumination Entertainment, DreamWorks Animation, Pixar would step in as CEO. Locksmith co-founder Sarah Smith exited the company to pursue her own creative endeavours. It was also announced that Locksmith is currently in production on That Christmas,^[8] a holiday film based on the children's Christmas book trilogy That Christmas and Other Stories by British filmmaker Richard Curtis, and they are working on an original musical-comedy film.^[9] That Christmas was unveiled in June 2022 as part of Netflix's slate of animated films.^[10]

In January 2022, Locksmith had optioned to adapt Marissa Meyer's fantasy novel series The Lunar Chronicles.^[11]

In April 2023, Locksmith rebranded with a new logo, location and colours being orange and blue (sometimes white, maroon, or yellow).

In June 2023, as part of the rebranding of WAG (now called Warner Bros. Pictures Animation), it was announced that the studio had signed a first-look deal with Locksmith to develop and produce three animated feature films (Bad Fairies, The Lunar Chronicles and Wed Wabbit) for Warner Bros. Pictures.^[12]

Filmography

Feature films

Released

width=200	Title	width=100	Release date	Director(s)	Distributor	Co-production with	width=20	Animation service(s)	width=90	Budget	width=90	Gross	Rotten Tomatoes	Metacritic	CinemaScore
Ron's Gone Wrong		Sarah Smith Jean-Philippe Vine Co-director: Octavio E. Rodriguez			DNEG Animation	N/A	$60.6 million	81% (103 reviews)[13]	65 (23 reviews)[14]	A[15]
That Christmas		Simon Otto		Netflix Animation		N/A	N/A	56% (27 reviews)[16]	63 (9 reviews)[17]	N/A

Upcoming

width=250	Title	Release date	Director(s)	Distributor	Co-production with	width=20	Animation service(s)	Production status
Bad Fairies		Megan Nicole Dong	Warner Bros. Pictures	Warner Bros. Pictures Animation	DNEG Animation	In development	[18]
The Lunar Chronicles	Noëlle Raffaele
Wed Wabbit

Accolades

Annie Awards

Year	Film	Category	Recipient(s)	Result
2021	Ron's Gone Wrong	Outstanding Achievement for Character Design in a Feature Production	Julien Bizat	rowspan="2"
		Outstanding Achievement for Production Design in an Animated Feature Production	Aurélien Predal, Till Nowak and Nathan Crowley

British Animation Awards

Year	Film	Category	Recipient(s)	Result
2022	Ron's Gone Wrong	Best Long Form	Sarah Smith, Jean-Philippe Vine and Octavio E. Rodriguez	rowspan="2"
		Best Design
		Writers Award	Sarah Smith and Peter Baynham

Notes and References

1. Web site: Paramount and Locksmith Animation Enter Exclusive Multi-Pic Deal. Animation Magazine. May 4, 2016. February 15, 2018.
2. Web site: British Studios Locksmith and Double Negative Plan To Make CG Features. Cartoon Brew. Emmett. Neil. April 11, 2014. February 15, 2018.
3. Web site: Fox, Locksmith Animation Ink Multi-Year Production, Development Deal (EXCLUSIVE). Variety Magazine. Lang. Brent. September 20, 2017. February 15, 2018.
4. Web site: UK's Locksmith Animation Announces Production Agreement with 20th Century Fox. Cartoon Brew. Amidi. Amid. September 20, 2017. February 15, 2018.
5. Web site: 20th Century Fox & Locksmith Animation Slate 'Ron's Gone Wrong' As First Project. Deadline. N'Duka. Amanda. October 12, 2017. February 15, 2018.
6. Web site: White . Peter . January 29, 2018 . Locksmith Animation Sets Up Animated Feature Based On 'Wed Wabbit' Kids' Books . Deadline . February 15, 2018.
7. News: Clarke . Stewart . Warner Signs Multi-Picture Deal With Elisabeth Murdoch's Locksmith Animation . November 1, 2019 . Variety . October 31, 2019 . en.
8. Web site: Milligan . Mercedes . 2019-11-06 . Locksmith Teams with Richard Curtis for Christmas Movie . 2023-01-26 . Animation Magazine . en-US.
9. News: Yossman . K.J. . Liz Murdoch's Locksmith Animation Hires Natalie Fischer as CEO, Co-Founder Sarah Smith Exits. June 18, 2021 . Variety . June 10, 2021 . en.
10. Web site: Milligan . Mercedes . 2022-06-09 . Netflix Sets Bold Slate of Animation from Europe Ahead of Annecy . 2022-08-08 . Animation Magazine . en-US.
11. Web site: The Lunar Chronicles: Locksmith Animation Options Marissa Meyer's New York Times Bestselling Novel Series For Film. Grobar. Matt. Deadline. January 25, 2022. January 26, 2022.
12. Web site: D'Alessandro. Anthony. Warner Bros Pictures Animation Inks First-Look Deal With Locksmith Animation; First Pics Are Bad Fairies & The Lunar Chronicles. Deadline Hollywood. June 9, 2023. June 9, 2023.
13. rons_gone_wrong . movie . Ron's Gone Wrong . May 10, 2024 .
14. Web site: Ron's Gone Wrong Reviews . . March 29, 2022 .
15. Web site: October 27, 2021. El-Mahmoud . Sarah . Could Ron's Gone Wrong Get A Sequel? Here's What The Filmmakers Say . Cinemablend .
16. Web site: That Christmas . December 4, 2024 . Rotten Tomatoes.
17. Web site: That Christmas. Metacritic. December 4, 2024.
18. Web site: Gajewski. Ryan. Warner Bros. Sets Animated Musical 'Bad Fairies' for 2027 Release. The Hollywood Reporter. July 16, 2024. July 16, 2024.