Guillermo del Toro to Direct Animated Film Adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro’s “The Buried Giant”

Guillermo del Toro has lined up his next project…

Following his Best Animated Feature Academy Award nomination for Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, the 58-year-old Mexican Oscar-winning filmmaker is set to direct another animated film for Netflix.

Guillermo del Torodel Toro will adapt The Buried Giantbased on the fantasy novel by Nobel Prize-winning British writer Kazuo Ishiguro.

The novel follows an elderly Briton couple, Axl and Beatrice, living in a fictional post-Arthurian England in which no one is able to retain long-term memories.

del Toro will produce as well as direct, and is co-writing the script with Matilda the Musical scribe Dennis Kelly.

As on Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, ShadowMachine’s stop motion studio will serve as the production’s home base.

Netflix Film Chairman Scott Stuber sparked to setting another big animated film by del Toro, who won the Best Picture and Best Director Oscars for The Shape of Water, and is now in the center of the Oscar action for the brilliant Pinocchio, which he directed with Mark Gustafson.

“Guillermo del Toro is a visionary filmmaker and master of his craft,” Stuber said. “We couldn’t be more proud of the prestigious recognition for his Pinocchio, and we’re pleased to continue our creative partnership as he develops his next project with Netflix.”

Said del Toro: “The Buried Giant continues my animation partnership with Netflix and our pursuit of stop-motion as a medium to tell complex stories and build limitless worlds. It is a great honor and greater responsibility for me to direct this screenplay which Dennis Kelly and I are adapting from Kazuo Ishiguro’s profound and imaginative novel.”

Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio spent a month near the top of Netflix’s global film standings, and had more than 50 million views in its first 28 days.

The film recently won the BAFTA for Best Animated Feature along with a slew of other awards, and he’s nominated by the Producers Guild of America (PGA) for Outstanding Producer of Animated Theatrical Motion Picture this weekend.

Jennifer Lopez’s Nuyorican Productions Signs Multi-Year First Look Deal with Netflix

Jennifer Lopez’s got the (first) look

The 51-year-old Puerto Rican superstar’s production company Nuyorican Productions has signed a multi-year first-look deal with Netflix spanning feature films, television series and unscripted content, with an emphasis on projects that support diverse female actors, writers and filmmakers.

Jennifer Lopez

Lopez co-runs Nuyorican Productions with her producing partner Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas.

Lopez already has two feature projects in the works at the streamer including the Niki Caro-directed The Mother, and The Cipherbased on the Isabella Maldonado novel.

The Mother follows a deadly female assassin who comes out of hiding to teach her daughter how to survive. The multi-hyphenate is currently training for the role, with filming schedule for this autumn and the film is set for release in Q4 2022.

“I am excited to announce my new partnership with Netflix. Elaine, Benny (Medina) and I believe there is no better home for us than a forward leaning content creation company that seeks to defy conventional wisdom and directly market to the millions across the globe who no longer view art and entertainment with the kind of boundaries and limitations of the past. We at Nuyorican Productions are thrilled to find like-minded partners in Ted Sarandos, Scott Stuber, Bela Bajaria and the whole team and look forward to getting to work right away,” said Lopez.

“Throughout every aspect of her career, Jennifer Lopez has been a force in entertainment. In partnering with her and Nuyorican we know she will continue to bring impactful stories, joy and inspiration to audiences around the world,” said Netflix Head of Global Films Stuber,

Bajaria, Netflix Head of Global TV, said: “Jennifer is a singular talent whose creativity and vision have captivated audiences and inspired the next generation around the world. For years she and the team at Nuyorican have brought a distinctive voice to entertainment, and I’m looking forward to working with her and the team to create new series for our members to love.”

Lopez scored her best opening for a live-action movie at the domestic box office with STX’s 2019 stripper caper Hustlers, which debuted to $33.1 million, and grossed $105M stateside, $157.6M worldwide.

As a recording artist, Lopez has sold over 70 million albums, with J.Lo became her bestselling album with 3.8M copies sold in the U.S. and 12M global.