Jul 9, 2019

Cuphead to Become a Netflix Animated Series

Netflix and King Features Syndicate today announced the launch of "The Cuphead Show!", a new animated series based on indie game studio Studio MDHR's video game "Cuphead".

The announcement marks King Features' first animated feature-length series production since announcing its strategy to build character franchises across multiple platforms King Features, a division of Hearst Entertainment and Syndication, signed a 2017 Studio MDHR and signed a licensing agreement for Cuphead.

The comedy series, which will debut on Netflix on an as-yet-unannounced date, follows "the impulsive Cuphead and his cautious but easily swept-away brother Magman... . follow their misadventures in the Inkwell Islands, their surreal home. "Cuphead co-creator Chad Moldenhauer told IGN that the show is still in development but will appeal to both children and adults. The series will tell a different story than the game, Moldenhauer noted, "I would say [the show's creators] are aiming for the same kind of atmosphere that the game is hinting at. They will take that idea and expand on it."

Like the game, the show's animation style is "inspired by the Fleischer cartoons of the 1930s," which likely means there will be plenty of rubber-string antics. Moldenhauer also said that the series will be hand-drawn: "The goal now is to move away from [computerized] puppeteer animation as much as possible. Nevertheless, every frame will still be hand-drawn. It will be hand-drawn, but digital."

King Features has shown itself to be largely clueless when it comes to producing its own animation, but this project is a good example of that, as the series is being produced by Netflix Animation and the people involved are familiar with the early American It is different in that the series is produced by Netflix Animation and the people involved are industry luminaries who understand the pastiche of the early American animation style that made the game a breakthrough.

The series is executive produced by Dave Wasson (director of "Mickey Mouse Shorts" and creator of Cartoon Network's "Time Squad"), with Cosmo Segerson (Rocco's Modern Life: Static Cling, and Pig Goat Banana Cricket) will serve as co-executive producer. President C.J. Kettler will serve as executive producer at King Features, while Cuphead creators Chad and Jared Moldenhauer will serve as executive producers at Studio MDHR.

Adam Paroian (Supervising Director of SpongeBob) and Clay Morrow (Director of Mickey Mouse Shorts) will serve as Supervising Directors, and Andrea Fernandez (Unikitty! 's art director) will serve as art director.

The start of our amazing crew pic.twitter.com/CRpKf0lXMz

- Adam Paloian (@adampaloian) July 9, 2019

The first image of the series is here, with character designs by Shakeh Haghnazarian, cleanup by Tapan Gandhi, and final color and design by Andrea Fernandez: