Henry Faherty
Unfortunately, it’s a rare occurrence these days to see a stop-motion animated feature film get made. But it’s even more so when a studio drops a film from theatrical release a week before opening. And Paramount was right at the helm of doing just that with “The Little Prince” a few days ago. But according to THR, Netflix has saved the day once again.
The delightful stop-motion film was pulled without any comment from the studio. It did have a release in France where it grossed almost $80 million, which is quite uncommon for a film of that kind to perform that well financially. It was also the recipient of the Caesar award for Best Picture. So all of this begs the question: Why? Hopefully at some point there may be some details revealed about the Paramount drop but with Netflix having grabbed the rights for distribution for it in the US, all seems well now.
“The Little Prince” is an adaptation of the acclaimed 1943 novel of the same name by Antoine de Saint-Exupery. It tells the heartfelt tale of a friendship between a crashed pilot and a curious young boy who’s on a quest to return home, which he swears is a small asteroid. But there is a lot more to the story; the two discuss life, nature, and everything in between. So it is a deep, complex story that definitely has a lot to offer both kids and adults.
The film is directed by Mark Osborne (“Kung Fu Panda“), and also has a phenomenal voice cast which includes Jeff Bridges, Rachel McAdams, Marion Cotillard, Benicio Del Toro, James Franco, Paul Giamatti, and Ricky Gervais. So clearly there’s plenty to love about the film, especially since it is such a gift to see stop-motion done like this.
There’s no release date yet but with Netflix eagerly having bought the film, it’s not too bold to say we could be seeing it within the year.
