Nov 9, 2021

Celebrity Koalas hate everyone in Netflix's "Back to the Outback" trailer

Not to be outdone by Illumination's Sing 2, Netflix has released the first trailer for its own koala-starring comic caper, Back to the Outback. The film will hit the streamer on December 10 and will also get a limited theatrical release.

The trailer introduces Pretty Boy, a world-famous koala with a misanthropic streak, and a ragtag gang of supposedly deadly animals who live in the zoo alongside him. Pretty Boy is caught up in a breakout staged by the animals, who flee across the outback with park rangers at their heels.

The film is directed by Clare Knight and Harry Cripps. Knight is an experienced editor who has worked on The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part and the Kung Fu Panda trilogy; she was nominated for an Annie Award for her work on Kung Fu Panda 2.

Cripps, who also wrote the screenplay, co-wrote the live-action drama Penguin Bloom. He was the writer on Dreamworks' aborted feature Larrikins, which was to have been directed by Tim Minchin and set in the outback.

In Back to the Outback, Minchin voices Pretty Boy. The cast also includes Isla Fisher, Miranda Tapsell, Guy Pearce, Angus Imrie, Eric Bana, and Diesel La Torraca.

Daniela Mazzucato, a veteran Dreamworks production manager, is producing. The executive producers are Akiva Goldsman and Greg Lessans, who developed the story with Cripps. Animation is by Reel FX (Scoob!, The Book of Life).