Draft:Larrikins (film)

Larrikins
Directed by	Chris Miller
Written by	Martin Hynes Steven Levenson
Produced by	Pharrell Williams Mimi Valdés Broderick Johnson Andrew A. Kosove Steven P. Wegner
Starring	Nick Jonas Chris Hemsworth Daveed Diggs Janelle Monáe Chiwetel Ejiofor
Music by	Kris Bowers
Production companies	Paramount Animation Nickelodeon Movies Alcon Entertainment I Am Other Imagine Entertainment
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date	August 13, 2027
Country	United States
Language	English

Larrikins is an upcoming Australian-American computer-animated musical adventure comedy film based on the 2018 short film Bilby. The film will be directed by Chris Miller, from a screenplay by Martin Hynes and Steven Levenson. The film stars Nick Jonas, Chris Hemsworth, Daveed Diggs, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Janelle Monáe.

Premise

Perry, a timid and uptight bilby who gets kicked out of the sheltered life of his family burrow after being surrounded by dingos. Perry is told the secret location of a royal egg. However, he's also told not to tell anyone but the pelicans. On the way to the pelicans, Perry also befriend a kangaroo named Red and a cane toad named Andrew, who together must battle an evil army of monsters known as the Syvalionilas, ot "Syvas" for short, and save the empire from a villainous white-bellied sea eagle named Hotspur to win the heart of his one true love.

Cast

• Nick Jonas as Perry, a clumsy bilby.
• Chris Hemsworth as Red, a red kangaroo.
• Daveed Diggs as Andrew, a cane toad.
• Liam Hemsworth as Austin, a bilby Perry's brother.
• Joel Edgerton as Luke, a bilby Perry's father.
• Rebel Wilson as Barbara, a bilby Perry's mother.
• Halle Bailey as Lindsay, a bilby Perry's sister.
• Margot Robbie as Jackie, a dingo.
• Janelle Monáe as Jewel, a female albatrossSteve's wife.
• Chiwetel Ejiofor as Hotspur, a villainous white-bellied sea eagle.
• Joe Pesci as Harry, a frilled lizard.
• Emma Stone as Sonny, a female frilled lizard.
• Richard Ayoade as Rocky, a dimwitted frilled lizard.
• Keegan-Michael Key as Howard, an crocodile.
• Jacki Weaver as Doris, an elderly rabbit.
• T.J. Miller as Jake, an rabbit Doris' grandson.
• Clancy Brown as Peter, an great white shark.
• Samuel L. Jackson as Larry, a red fish.
• Awkwafina as Karen, a kind-hearted, optimistic and sensitive inland taipan.
• Kelvin Harrison Jr. as Steve, an male albatross Jewel's husband.
• Tim Meadows as Frank, a smart, self-assured thorny devil.
• Brian Tyree Henry as Dave, a goanna.
• Quinta Brunson as Zoe, a lovelorn funnel-web spider.
• Jaboukie Young-White as Doug, a timid marbled scorpion.
• Da'Vine Joy Randolph as Meg, a great white shark.
• Anderson .Paak as Freddy, a Tasmanian devil.
• Missy Elliott as Auntie, a crow.

Production

Development

In June 2013, it was announced that Tim Minchin would compose the songs and score for Larrikins, which was based on an original concept by Harry Cripps. Minchin said, "I was lucky enough to grow up in Western Australia and know that the Australian outback is vast and spellbinding and heart-stoppingly beautiful, and the characters that inhabit it are unique and hilarious and tough and cheeky. I am hugely excited to be working with Harry and the DreamWorks Animation team in their mission to capture some of this unique aesthetic and quirky, iconoclastic culture on film. It's going to be bloody good fun." DWA chief creative officer Bill Damaschke said, "Our whole team is incredibly excited about this project. We've been looking to work with the immensely talented Tim Minchin on something for a while, and there is no doubt that this project is a perfect fit. He and Harry Cripps will be a fantastic team."

Cripps started working on the script in 2011 after DreamWorks Animation decided to make a film set in Australia. The story was about a desert-dwelling bilby named Perry who leaves his burrow to go on a road trip with a music band in Australia. Minchin, who liked classical Disney animated musicals such as Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin, made a deal with DWA after complaining to Will Davies, one of the writers of How to Train Your Dragon, that no one had been making such musicals anymore. Waiting for almost four years for the right screenplay, DWA gave Minchin Cripps' script, which he approved of: "...it's a bit Star Wars, a bit Gods Must Be Crazy, a big road journey... It's really funny and cheeky and Australian, without being parochially, nationalistically Australian." Minchin and Cripps reworked the story with songs, successfully setting the project in motion.

By 2014, Minchin's role expanded to director, with Chris Miller joining him by 2016. In June 2014, 20th Century Fox announced that the film would be released on February 16, 2018. Following NBCUniversal's acquisition of DreamWorks Animation in 2016, Universal Pictures took over the distribution rights for the film. In June 2016, it was officially announced that Minchin and Miller were to co-direct Larrikins while Margot Robbie, Hugh Jackman, Naomi Watts, Rose Byrne, Ben Mendelsohn, Jacki Weaver, Josh Lawson, Damon Herriman, and Ewen Leslie were to voice characters for the film.

Cancellation

In March 2017, Minchin announced on his personal blog that Larrikins had been canceled. Minchin wrote on his blog, "I've recently been working in 3 different continents, missing my kids a lot, sleeping too little, and not playing piano enough. And then a couple of days ago, the animated film to which I've dedicated the last 4 years of my life was shut down by the new studio execs. The only way I know how to deal with my impotent fury and sadness is to subject members of the public to the spectacle of me getting drunk and playing ballads." Peter de Sève said, “Very sad to hear DWA killed LARRIKINS, their Aussie project. I was the first designer on that and had high hopes. Silly me. Fun though!” According to Deadline, the reason for the cancellation was that "creatively it just wasn't working out well."

Revival by Paramount and Nickelodeon Movies

In January 2025, it was announced that Alcon Entertainment would produce a $35 million budgeted computer animated musical film, Larrikins, which Martin Hynes and Steven Levenson would write the screenplay, with DNEG Animation will handle the film's animation, after having previously worked with Paramount Animation on Under the Boardwalk (2023). Chris Miller were announced as the new direct of the film, having previously directed Puss in Boots (2011). Pharrell Williams and Mimi Valdés were reported as the producers on I Am Other and Brian Grazer and Ron Howard were reported as the producers on Imagine Entertainment.

In April 2025, Nick Jonas, Chris Hemsworth, Daveed Diggs, Janelle Monáe and Chiwetel Ejiofor would be voicing characters for the film.

Music

The film features original music from Nick Jonas, Daveed Diggs, Janelle Monáe, Keegan-Michael Key, Awkwafina, Anderson .Paak, Missy Elliott and Chiwetel Ejiofor. The musical score is composed by Kris Bowers while songs are written by Pharrell Williams and Benj Pasek and Justin Paul. Bowers previously worked with Miller on The Smurfs Movie (2025), and also worked with Pasek and Paul on Atlantis (2025). The film's soundtrack was released by Lakeshore Records.

Release

Larrikins is scheduled to be released on August 13, 2027 in the United States.

External links

This page will be placed in the following categories if it is moved to the article namespace.

Categories:

• Upcoming films
• 2027 films
• 2027 computer-animated films
• 2020s American animated films
• 2020s English-language films
• American children's animated adventure films
• American children's animated musical films
• American children's animated comedy films
• American computer-animated films
• Musicals by Pasek and Paul
• Works by Steven Levenson
• Films scored by Kris Bowers
• Nickelodeon animated films
• Nickelodeon Movies films
• Paramount Animation films
• Paramount Pictures animated films
• Paramount Pictures films
• Upcoming English-language films