
This summer, DreamWorks Animation dives into the turbulent waters of high school with a hilarious, heartfelt action comedy about a shy teenager who discovers that she’s part of a legendary royal lineage of mythical sea krakens and that her destiny, in the depths of the oceans, is bigger than she ever dreamed. Sometimes the hero you are meant to be lies just beneath the surface. Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken will premiere at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival on June 15, 2023, and is scheduled to be theatrically released in the United States on June 30. The film draws inspiration from John Hughes films, Easy A (2010), Lady Bird (2017) and Booksmart (2019). Pearl also joined the project as co-director, and Kelly Cooney Cilella signed on as producer. The majority of the voice cast members, along with Condor and Murphy's confirmation, were announced in March 2023, along with DeMicco replacing Tibbitt as director. Paul Tibbitt came on board to direct, with Brady signing on to write, and production was expected to start in 2022. It was announced in June 2021 as its original title Meet the Gillmans, with casting taking place to play the role, including Condor, Laura Dern, Michael Sheen and Murphy, and an expected release year of 2022. The film was first pitched to DreamWorks Animation and had been in the works for several years. In the film, sixteen year old Ruby Gillman (Condor) is desperate to fit in at Oceanside High, but when she breaks her mother's (Collette) rule about going on the beach with any would-be friends, Ruby discovers that she is a direct descendant of the warrior Kraken queens and is destined to inherit the throne from her commanding grandmother, the Warrior Queen of the Seven Seas (Fonda). The film features an ensemble voice cast including Lana Condor, Toni Collette, Annie Murphy, Sam Richardson, Liza Koshy, Will Forte, Colman Domingo, Jaboukie Young-White, Blue Chapman, Eduardo Franco, Ramona Young, Echo Kellum, Nicole Byer and Jane Fonda. It is directed by Kirk DeMicco, co-directed by Faryn Pearl, and written by Pam Brady, Brian C. Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken is an upcoming American computer-animated coming-of-age fantasy action-comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Universal Pictures.
