‘Lion King’ Director Rob Minkoff Joins AI-Assisted Film ‘Storm Dogs’ From Tilly Norwood Creator Particle 6 — SkimNews
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- Rob Minkoff, co-director of Disney's 'The Lion King' and director of 'Stuart Little,' is in advanced discussions to join 'Storm Dogs' as creative lead, working with Eline van der Velden on story, characters, and script, with production targeted to start in 2027.
- Particle 6 plans to combine live-action performances with photorealistic animated characters on 'Storm Dogs,' applying actors' expressions, physicality, and inflections to animated characters — with toddler Poppy and the dogs created via a mix of live-action and AI to avoid long hours on set for toddlers and animals.
- Eline van der Velden, Particle 6's founder, said AI is 'not a replacement for human creativity' but has 'extraordinary potential to transform the process of making motion pictures,' adding that the company is 'still in the pioneering phase of this transformation.'
- 'Storm Dogs' follows toddler Poppy, who after a storm separates her from her adult caretaker must band together with a group of dogs to help guide her home in an English village setting.
- Particle 6 began production earlier this month on 'Misaligned,' its first feature-length project starring AI character Tilly Norwood, who was put on the press circuit last week including a 'Good Morning Britain' appearance where she switched from English to Cantonese during an interview with Piers Morgan.
Why it matters: Pairing a director famous for photorealistic animal work (Lion King, Stuart Little) with the studio behind the polarizing Tilly Norwood AI character signals that mainstream Hollywood talent is now testing AI-assisted animation pipelines on family content — and the production model specifically sidesteps putting toddlers and live animals through extended on-set work, potentially reshaping how child-and-animal films are made.
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