After a thirteen-year break from movie-making, the Academy Award-winning animation master Henry Selick (Coraline, The Nightmare Before Christmas) is back with Wendell & Wild. The devilish tale of a duo of demon brothers who enlist the help of a "tough teen" to summon them the "land of the living," Wendell & Wild also notably reunites a comic team who have worked together sparingly in recent years: Jordan Peele and Keegan-Michael Key, who broke into Hollywood via their comedy group—and show—Key & Peele. Peele co-writes the animated adventure with Selick, with a soundtrack contributed by the Oscar-nominee Bruno Coulais.
Peele has been typically busy in recent months, announcing his next film, Nope, to be released later this year. The tagline calls it "a new terror from the mind of Academy Award-winner Jordan Peele," and it looks to be in the same vein as Peele's previous socially conscious horror movies.
"While I was developing [Get Out] I was simultaneously developing four other projects that I call social thrillers," the director told Variety's Playback Podcast. "So I hope to soon direct another of these social thrillers—it's not gonna be about race, it'll be about something else, but it's gonna be very cinematic and fun." And Nope certainly looks to be both of those things.
Along with Key as Wild and Peele as Wendell, the new teaser reveals the full voice cast of Wild & Wendell including Lyric Ross, Angela Bassett, James Hong, Tamara Smart, Natalie Martinez, Tantoo Cardinal, Igal Naor, Gary Gatewood, Gabrielle Dennis, David Harewood, Maxine Peake, Ramona Young, Sam Zelaya, Seema Virdi, and Ving Rhames.
Selick, Ellen Goldsmith-Vein for The Gotham Group, and Peele and Win Rosenfeld for Monkeypaw produce. Lindsay Williams and Eddie Gamarra executive produce for The Gotham Group, with Kamil Oshundara and Ian Cooper for Monkeypaw.
Check out the new teaser and official synopsis for Wendell & Wild below:
"From the delightfully wicked minds of Henry Selick and Jordan Peele, comes Wendell & Wild, an animated tale about scheming demon brothers Wendell (Keegan-Michael Key) and Wild (Peele) — who enlist the aid of 13-year-old Kat Elliot — a tough teen with a load of guilt — to summon them to the Land of the Living. But what Kat demands in return leads to a brilliantly bizarre and comedic adventure like no other, an animated fantasy that defies the law of life and death, all told through the handmade artistry of stop-motion."