OpenAI backs $30M AI-animated film “Critterz” for 2026 release 

OpenAI is leading the creation of Critterz, an AI-assisted animated feature targeting a global theatrical release in 2026, according to the Wall Street Journal report. The film, directed by OpenAI creative Chad Nelson, combines advanced AI tools with traditional animation to tell the story of forest creatures navigating a world disrupted by a mysterious stranger.

The project brings together London’s Vertigo Films and Los Angeles-based Native Foreign. Using OpenAI technologies including DALL-E and Sora alongside human voice actors and hand-drawn sketches, the team aims to complete the movie in just nine months – a fraction of the usual three-year production cycle for animated films. The film is budgeted at less than $30 million and is scheduled to debut at the Cannes Film Festival, highlighting its innovative approach.

Building on the success of a 2023 short, Critterz expands the original story into a full-length feature. That short became a festival sensation, combining DALL·E-generated visuals with traditional animation, earning selections at Annecy, Tribeca, and Cannes Lions, and a PGA Innovation Award nomination. The feature’s screenplay is written by James Lamont and Jon Foster, known for their work on Paddington in Peru, and continues to focus on the intersection of AI-generated creatures and human characters.

OpenAI can say what its tools do all day long, but it’s much more impactful if someone does it,” Nelson said. “That’s a much better case study than me building a demo.

Producers Allan Niblo and James Richardson of Vertigo, working with Mikhail Kleverov and Chad Nelson of Native Foreign, are developing the project using AI tools. Richardson said the original Critterz demonstrated AI's potential in filmmaking, and the team is studying this approach further. Nelson reported that AI tools like DALL·E have altered his workflow, allowing the production to develop the Critterz concept more rapidly than traditional methods would permit.

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