Netflix Buys Taika Waititi’s Stop-Motion Film ‘Bubbles’ About Michael Jackson’s Pet Chimp
Over the past few days, the Netflix-Cannes Film Festival debate has been reaching new heights. This morning news arrived that the streaming platform/studio has purchased the rights to Bubbles, which is not a movie about little spheres of soap fill with air, but about Michael Jackson’s pet chimp.
If you don’t know about Bubbles, let me tell you about this delightful little project that is only sounding better and better. Isaac Adamson’s script, which found its way onto the 2015 Black List, doesn’t just tell the story of the King of Pop and his chimpanzee pal; it’s an MJ biopic told from the perspective of the monkey. And it will be made into stop-motion feature by Dan Harmon‘s Starburns Industries. And Taika Waititi will be directing it. Excited yet?
Netflix scooped up the rights at Cannes this week for around $20 million, according to Deadline. But the slight irony of that is now Bubbles may not get to play at the festival in the future. The jury decided last week that any future films that wish to compete in Competition at the fest have to be released in French cinemas. That was followed by a little spar between Will Smith, who’s pro-Netflix’s releasing strategy, and this year’s jury president Pedro Almodovar, who’s pro-theatrical releases.
This year Netflix has two films in competition, Bong Joon-ho’s Okja and Noah Baumbach’s The Meyerowitz Stories. So will French audiences get a chance to see a stop-motion Chimpanzee moonwalk beside his pop star bud or is this an on-your-couch-only thing? We’ll have to wait and see.