A film based on the popular strategic adventure game Stray is in the works.
Stray is a third-person action game about a stray cat who falls inside a walled city populated by robots and machines and sets out to return to the surface with the help of a drone companion named B-12. Annapurna Interactive and BlueTwelve Studio designed the game, which was launched in July 2022.
The game is set in a cyberpunk environment filled with robots and machines. The player takes control of a stray cat that must navigate the city while solving puzzles and avoiding danger. The cat has the ability to climb walls, jump across platforms, and crawl through vents. They can also interact with their environment by knocking items over, opening doors, and activating switches.
The project is springing forth from Annapurna Pictures' increased exploration into the animation field, as they're adding the Nimona creative team of director Nick Bruno and producer Julie Zackary to their animation division.
Annapurna co-produced Nimona alongside Vertigo Entertainment and it seems the experience has left the award-winning studio keen to carve out their own niche in the animation world after previously producing hit indie features such as Her, American Hustle, and Booksmart.
Nimona actually started out at Fox's Blue Sky Studios (creators of Ice Age) and was an unfortunate casualty of Fox's acquisition by Disney. Mickey Mouse and co. shuttered Blue Sky in 2021.
Along with Stray, Annapurna is collaborating with Blue Sky founder Chris Wedge on an original animated picture titled, FOO.
Annapurna's animated division is led by Robert Baird and Andrew Millstein and the former recently made comments on both projects.
On Stray, Baird told Entertainment Weekly, "This is a game that's all about what makes us human, and there are no humans in it," he says. "It's a buddy comedy about a cat and a robot, and there's such a hilarious dynamic. So, there's comedy inherent in this, but there's not one human being in this movie. I think it's one of the reasons why the game was incredibly popular, that you are seeing the world through the point of view of an adorable cat."
Baird also touched on FOO, stating, "It's a not-perfect acronym for 'fish out of water,' and that's what the story is about. It's about the first fish ever to climb out of the water and onto land. What you learn in this movie is that was the last thing in the world that that fish wanted to do. It's about his hilarious struggle to get back into the water, but to get back will require a lot of effort and a lot of change on this fish's part. That was the pitch that came out of Wedge's brain that we just loved."