Locksmith Animation

Locksmith Animation is an independent animation studio. Based in London, England and Los Angeles, California, Locksmith describes itself as "An independent producer of high-quality animated features and series for global audiences."[2]
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. Its next films are: That Christmas, a holiday film based on filmmaker Richard Curtis' children's book series, to be released by Netflix in December 2024; Bad Fairies, a subversive original musical-comedy film set in contemporary London, 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[edit] ==
Locksmith was founded in 2014 by Aardman Animations collaborators Sarah Smith and Julie Lockhart with the financial backing of Elisabeth Murdoch, the studio was named after Julie Lockhart and Sarah Smith's last names.[3] In April 2014, visual effects studio Double Negative (now known as DNEG) formed a deal with Locksmith where it will provide the CGI animation for Locksmith's films, this was before DNEG's animation division, DNEG Feature Animation (now known as DNEG Animation) was founded.[4]
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.[3] The following year, however, Paramount abandoned its deal with Locksmith when Paramount chairman and CEO Brad Grey was replaced by Jim Gianopulos.[5]
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.[5][6] The first film to be released under the production company was Ron's Gone Wrong, which was released on 22 October 2021 by 20th Century Studios.[5][7] 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.[8] In October 2019, while Disney took over 20th Century Animation, Locksmith formed a new multi-year production deal with Warner Bros., which will distribute future 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.[1]
link=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Locksmith_Animation_(2021).svg|left|thumb|The studio's logo with the SISTER byline used in 2021.
With the release of Ron's Gone Wrong in October 2021, Sister Pictures became the parent of Locksmith Animation since Elisabeth Murdoch is the President of Production of the studio.
In June 2021, it was announced that Natalie Fischer, the former COO of Illumination Entertainment, 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 The Empty Stocking (now entitled That Christmas),[9] a holiday film based on filmmaker Richard Curtis' children's book series, and they are working on an original musical-comedy film.[10] That Christmas was unveiled in June 2022 as part of Netflix's slate of animated films.[11]
In January 2022, Locksmith had optioned to adapt Marissa Meyer's fantasy novel series The Lunar Chronicles.[12]
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 animated features for worldwide distribution, which include Bad Fairies and The Lunar Chronicles.[13]
In December 2023, Locksmith updated their new website.
== Filmography[edit] ==
=== Feature films[edit] ===
==== Released[edit] ====
Title 	Release date 	Director(s)	Distributor 	Co-production with	Animation service(s)	Budget	Gross 	Rotten Tomatoes 	Metacritic 	CinemaScore
Ron's Gone Wrong	22 October 2021	Sarah Smith
Jean-Philippe Vine
----Co-director:Octavio E. Rodriguez	20th Century Studios[a]	20th Century Animation
TSG Entertainment	DNEG Animation 	N/A 	$60.6 million	81% (103 reviews)[14]	65 (23 reviews)[15]	A[16]
==== Upcoming[edit] ====
Title 	Release date	Director(s) 	Distributor 	Co-production with 	Animation service(s)	Production status	Ref.
That Christmas 	2024 	Simon Otto 	Netflix 	Netflix Animation 	DNEG Animation 	In production 	[17][18][19]
Bad Fairies 	TBA 	Megan Nicole Dong	Warner Bros. Pictures	Warner Bros. Pictures Animation	TBA 	In development 	[20]
The Lunar Chronicles	TBA 	Noëlle Raffaele 	Warner Bros. Pictures	Warner Bros. Pictures Animation	TBA 	In development 	[12]
Wed Wabbit[b] 	TBA 	TBA 	Warner Bros. Pictures	Warner Bros. Pictures Animation	TBA 	In development 	[8]
== Accolades[edit] ==
=== Annie Awards[edit] ===
Year	Film 	Category	Recipient(s) 	Result
2021	Ron's Gone Wrong	Outstanding Achievement for
Character Design in a Feature Production	Julien Bizat 	Nominated
2021	Ron's Gone Wrong	Outstanding Achievement for
Production Design in an Animated Feature Production	Aurélien Predal, Till Nowak and Nathan Crowley	Nominated
=== British Animation Awards[edit] ===
Year	Film 	Category 	Recipient(s) 	Result
2022	Ron's Gone Wrong	Best Long Form	Sarah Smith, Jean-Philippe Vine and Octavio E. Rodriguez	Won
2022	Ron's Gone Wrong	Best Design 	Sarah Smith, Jean-Philippe Vine and Octavio E. Rodriguez	Won
2022	Ron's Gone Wrong	Writers Award 	Sarah Smith and Peter Baynham 	Nominated
Category:2014 establishments in England
Category:British companies established in 2014
Category:British animation studios
Category:Film production companies of the United Kingdom
Category:Mass media companies established in 2014
Category:Companies based in the London Borough of Camden