Warner Bros. Pictures Animation wants the industry to know it’s back. For real this time.
After several years in which Warner Bros. became better known among animators for what it wouldn’t release than for what it made, WBPA President and chief creative officer Bill Damaschke took the stage at Annecy to say the studio is committed to taking big swings in animation.
“Today marks the beginning of a new chapter for animation at Warner Bros.,” Damaschke said, calling WBPA an “artists-first studio” that wanted to make original theatrical films that “feel completely unique, connected not by a single style but by heart, hope, and humor.”
Damaschke ran through a slate of seven features planned from this year into 2028, starting with the oft-delayed The Cat in the Hat, directed by Alessandro Carloni and Erica Rivinoja and starring Bill Hader, set for a November release, and including upcoming theatrical releases Bad Fairies and The Lunar Chronicles, both developed with the U.K.’s Locksmith Animation.
He unveiled a new logo, that evoked the studio’s 80-year-old tradition, and premiered the new Looney Tunes short Daffy Season. All in front of an audience of animators, producers and festival-goers who have spent recent years watching the Warner Bros. animation pipeline become a case study in corporate caution rather than a creative destination.
