Stray, the hit 2022 adventure video game from BlueTwelve Studio, is being adapted into an animated movie.
Announced exclusively by Entertainment Weekly, an animated Stray feature film is currently in the works. The film is being released by Annapurna Animation, marking the studio’s second feature film following 2023’s Nimona.
Published by Annapurna Interactive, Stray is a third-person game that allows players to control a cat trying to escape a confined city full of various robotic enemies and threats. The game received positive positive reviews and won a number of awards, including The Game Awards‘ Best Independent Game and Best Debut Indie Game.
“This is a game that’s all about what makes us human, and there are no humans in it,” Robert Baird, who runs Annapurna Animation alongside Andrew Millstein, said. “It’s a buddy comedy about a cat and a robot, and there’s such a hilarious dynamic. So, there’s comedy inherent in this, but there’s not one human being in this movie. I think it’s one of the reasons why the game was incredibly popular, that you are seeing the world through the point of view of an adorable cat. How did they pull that off, and how are we going to pull that off in the movie? We will, even though sometimes it feels impossible, but we know that’s the essence of the game and the key to telling the story.”
Other Annapurna Animation movies are also in the works
The Stray adaptation isn’t the only film currently in the works from Annapurna Animation. Nick Bruno, who co-directed Nimona, is also working on an untitled film for the company, while Ice Age director Chris Wedge is working on a title called FOO, an acronym for ‘fish out of water.’
“It’s about the first fish ever to climb out of the water and onto land,” Annapurna Animation lead Robert Baird explained. “What you learn in this movie is that was the last thing in the world that that fish wanted to do. It’s about his hilarious struggle to get back into the water, but to get back will require a lot of effort and a lot of change on this fish’s part. That was the pitch that came out of Wedge’s brain that we just loved.”
