Nimona Animated Movie Gets a 2020 Release Date

Fox Animation sets the Nimona animated movie for release in February 2020. Comic books and graphic novels have long served as inspiration for all kinds of big screen adaptations, from famous superheroes like Superman and Batman to less well known properties like Mark Millar and Dave Gibbons' The Secret Service - which provided the source material for Matthew Vaughn's Kingsman: The Secret Service. In recent years, moviegoers have been treated to the massively expanding subset of films based on all manner of comic books, with superhero movies branching into R-rated territory thanks to 20th Century Fox's Deadpool and Logan, but there's plenty of other kinds of comics that Fox can adapt.

Twentieth Century Fox Animation is one of the major animation houses in Hollywood, joining the likes of Disney, Pixar, DreamWorks, and even the much newer Illumination. Though their most recognizable - and successful - franchise is no doubt Ice Age and its sequels, Fox Animation has also produced Rio and its sequel as well as The Peanuts Movie. In terms of upcoming films, Fox Animation is gearing up to release Ferdinand later this year, an adaptation of a popular children's book, and more recently took a major step forward on Nimona.

Fox acquired the film rights to Nimona in 2015 and, as reported by Exhibitor Relations, has set the animated film for release on February 14, 2020. Patrick Osborne, who directed Disney's Oscar-winning short film Feast, will helm Nimona from a script written by Marc Haimes (Kubo and the Two Strings).

Based on the graphic novel of the same name written and drawn by Noelle Stevenson, Nimona follows the titular character, a shapeshifter and sidekick to the villainous Lord Ballister Blackheart. Together, the two fight against Blackheart's nemesis, Sir Ambrosius Goldenloin. Stevenson started Nimona as a webcomic initially posted on Tumblr, later published as a graphic novel in 2015 by HarperCollins.

Of course, while a number of comic book adaptations are live-action, Fox's Nimona will be animated, joining the adaptation of Lumberjanes (another 20th Century Fox property) in the animation camp. Stevenson also worked on the Lumberjanes comic series, which is published by BOOM! Studios. Fox has set Emily Carmichael to direct Lumberjanes, though it doesn't yet have a release date.

It seems both Nimona and Lumberjanes are part of another arm of Fox's push to adapt all kinds of comic book properties to the big screen. Unlike Deadpool and Logan, Nimona and Lumberjanes - both the films and their source material - are directed at a younger audience, and Fox seems to be keeping the properties true to their roots by adapting them to animation rather than live-action. Plus, considering all the creatures into which Nimona transforms and the antics the rambunctious sidekick gets up to with Blackheart, Stevenson's graphic novel would be challenging to bring to live-action anyway. Now with a release date set, those excited to see Stevenson's best-selling novel brought to life will be able to in less than two years when Nimona's adventures hit theaters.