Draft:Annapurna Animation

Annapurna Animation is an American animation studio and division of Annapurna Pictures, founded by former Blue Sky Studios executives Robert L. Baird and Andrew Millstein on December 1, 2022 and based in North Stamford, Connecticut. The studio's first film Nimona was released on June 30, 2023 on Netflix.

History
After the shutdown of Blue Sky Studios, it was announced on April 11, 2022 that Annapurna Pictures had picked up their last film Nimona earlier in the year, and would be releasing it on Netflix in June 30, 2023 with DNEG Animation announced as the project's animation partner. In December 2022, Annapurna Pictures launched its animation division with former Blue Sky executives Robert Baird and Andrew Millstein leading the new studio.

Upon its release with a positive reception, Annapurna Animation plans to create both original films and game adaptations from it’s interactive division Annapurna Interactive, marking Stray as its first project to adapt. Other games like Twelve Minutes are considered to be potential for adaptations. Two original projects from Annapurna includes Foo, directed by Chris Wedge that describes the story as a fish out of water story set within the beginning of time, and an untitled Nick Bruno film with a Spielbergian sense of a high concept. During the announcement, Julie Zackary, producer of Nimona, joined the studio as Head of Animation Production overseeing all aspects of production while Erica Pulcini also joins as Creative Executive to help curate, develop, and further define the division's feature film slate.