Locksmith Animation

British animation studio From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Locksmith Animation is a British-American independent computer animation feature film studio owned by Sister Group. Headquartered in London, England with an office in Los Angeles, California, Locksmith is best known for producing and developing independent computer-animated feature films.

Quick Facts Company type, Industry ...
Locksmith Animation
Company typeSubsidiary
IndustryComputer animation
Film production
FoundedJanuary 14, 2012; 13 years ago (2012-01-14)
FounderSarah Smith
Julie Lockhart
Elisabeth Murdoch (financial backing)[1]
Headquarters,
United Kingdom
Number of locations
28 (2025)
Key people
Julie Lockhart (president of prod.)
Natalie Fischer (CEO)
Mary Coleman (CCO)
Britt Gardiner (COO)
Daphne Mather (Head of Culture)
Doug Ikeler (CTO/SVP Digital Prod.)
Shelley Page (Head of Talent)
ProductsFeature films
OwnerSister Group
Number of employees
100 (2025)
ParentSister Pictures
Websitewww.locksmithanimation.com
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Locksmith Animation's first film, Ron's Gone Wrong, was released on 22 October 2021, distributed by 20th Century Studios (which had recently been acquired by Disney two years prior) with positive reviews. That Christmas, a holiday film based on the children's Christmas book trilogy That Christmas and Other Stories by British filmmaker Richard Curtis, was released by Netflix on 4 December 2024. The studio's next films are, Bad Fairies, a subversive original musical-comedy film set in contemporary London, to be released by Warner Bros. Pictures[2] on 23 July 2027, The Lunar Chronicles, based on the author Marissa Meyer's four young adult science fiction fantasy novels by the same name, and Wed Wabbit, based on the adventure fiction novel from Lissa Evans, and their first independent feature, to be funded and release by themselves.

History

Summarize
Perspective

Locksmith Animation was founded in January 14, 2014 by media executive businesswoman Elisabeth Murdoch and two Aardman Animations collaborators Sarah Smith and Julie Lockhart. Locksmith was named after Lockhart and Smith's surnames.[3] In April 2014, visual effects studio Double Negative (now known as DNEG) formed a deal with Locksmith to provide the computer animation for Locksmith's films, this led DNEG to found their own animation department, DNEG Feature Animation (now known as DNEG Animation).[4]

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The early logo of Locksmith Animation used since 2015

In May 2016, Locksmith formed a production deal with Paramount Pictures, with Paramount acting as the distributor for Locksmith's films to be produced under the Paramount Animation label.[3] The following year, however, Paramount abandoned its deal with Locksmith when Paramount chairman and CEO Brad Grey was replaced by Jim Gianopulos.[5]

In September 2017, Locksmith formed a multi-year production deal with 20th Century Fox, which would distribute Locksmith's films; 20th Century Fox Animation was brought in to oversee the deal, as Locksmith was aiming to release a film every 12–18 months.[5][6] The first film to be produced by Locksmith Animation was Ron's Gone Wrong which was released on 22 October 2021 by 20th Century Studios.[5][7] In February 2018, it was announced that Locksmith was developing Wed Wabbit, a live-action/animated hybrid film based on Lissa Evans' children's book, originally served as the first live-action/animated hybrid film from Locksmith.[8] In October 2019, after Disney took over 20th Century Animation, Locksmith formed a new multi-year production deal with Warner Bros. Pictures, which will distribute three Locksmith films under the Warner Animation Group label after the release of Ron's Gone Wrong, which was now the only theatrical Locksmith film to be distributed by 20th Century Studios.[1]

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The original logo of Locksmith Animation (used from 2017 to 2023) with the Sister Pictures byline (used from 2021 to 2023)

Sister Pictures was announced as Locksmith Animation's parent company following the release of Ron's Gone Wrong in October 2021.

In June 2021, it was announced that Natalie Fischer, the former COO of Illumination Entertainment, DreamWorks Animation and Pixar would step in as CEO. Locksmith co-founder Sarah Smith exited the company to pursue her own creative endeavours. It was also announced that Locksmith is currently in production on That Christmas,[9] a holiday film based on the children's Christmas book trilogy That Christmas and Other Stories by British filmmaker Richard Curtis, and they are working on an original musical-comedy film.[10] That Christmas was unveiled in June 2022 as part of Netflix's slate of animated films.[11]

In January 2022, Locksmith had optioned to adapt Marissa Meyer's fantasy novel series The Lunar Chronicles.[12]

In June 2023, as part of the rebranding of WAG (now called Warner Bros. Pictures Animation), it was announced that the studio had signed a first-look deal with Locksmith to develop and produce the animated feature films, Bad Fairies, and The Lunar Chronicles for Warner Bros. Pictures.[13]

Feature films

Released

More information Release Year, Title ...
Release Year Title Director(s) Screenwriter(s) Producer(s) Composer(s) Co-production with Distributor Animation service(s)
2021 Ron's Gone Wrong Sarah Smith
Jean-Philippe Vine
Co-director:
Octavio E. Rodriguez
Peter Baynham
Sarah Smith
Julie Lockhart
Lara Breay
Henry Jackman TSG Entertainment 20th Century Studios DNEG Animation
2024 That Christmas Simon Otto Based on the books by:
Richard Curtis
Nicole P. Hearon
Adam Tandy
John Powell Netflix
Richard Curtis
Peter Souter
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Upcoming

More information Release Year, Title ...
Release Year Title Director(s) Screenwriter(s) Producer(s) Composer(s) Co-production with Distributor Animation service(s) Ref.
2027 Bad Fairies Megan Nicole Dong Deborah Frances-White Carolyn Soper Isabella Summers
(score)
Toby Marlow
Lucy Moss
(songs)
Warner Bros. Pictures Animation
Sketchshark Productions
Warner Bros. Pictures DNEG Animation [10][14]
TBA The Lunar Chronicles Noëlle Raffaele Based on the books by:
Marissa Meyer
Christina Steinberg TBA Warner Bros. Pictures Animation Legendary Entertainment Village Roadshow Pictures TBA [12]
Kalen Egan
Travis Sentell
Wed Wabbit Olly Reid Based on the book by:
Lissa Evans
Julie Lockhart
Andrew Baker
Cantilever Media
Timeless Films
Sky Cinema [8][15]
Gideon Defoe
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Short films

More information Release Year, Title ...
Release Year Title Director(s) Producer(s) Composer Distributor Animation service(s)
2025 Cardboard[16] Jean-Philippe Vine Michaela Manas Malina TBA TBA DNEG Animation
Ritzy Animation
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Reception

Box office

More information Film, Budget ...
Film Budget USA box office gross Worldwide box office gross
Ron's Gone WrongTBA$23 million$60.7 million
That ChristmasTBA
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Critical and public response

More information Film, Rotten Tomatoes ...
Film Rotten Tomatoes Metacritic CinemaScore
Ron's Gone Wrong82% (103 reviews)[17]65 (23 reviews)[18]A[19]
That Christmas66% (41 reviews)[20]60 (13 reviews)[21]
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Accolades

Annie Awards

British Animation Awards

More information Year, Film ...
YearFilmCategoryRecipient(s)Result
2022 Ron's Gone Wrong Best Long Form Sarah Smith, Jean-Philippe Vine and Octavio E. Rodriguez Won
Best Design
Writers Award Sarah Smith and Peter Baynham Nominated
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References

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