Netflix is heading to Australia for its next animated film. Eric Bana, Isla Fisher, Guy Pearce, Jacki Weaver, Tim Minchin and Keith Urban have joined the voice cast of the animated comedy adventure Back to the Outback. Miranda Tapsell, Angus Imrie, Rachel House, Celeste Barber, Wayne Knight, Aislinn Derbez, Diesel Cash La Torraca, Lachlan Ross Power will also be joining the cast.
The movie follows a scrappy group of Australia’s most dangerous creatures as they escape the zoo’s reptile house and journey to return to the wild. Leading the group is Maddie (Isla Fisher), a poisonous snake with a heart of gold, who bands together with a self-assured Thorny Devil lizard Zoe (Miranda Tapsell), a lovelorn hairy spider Frank (Guy Pearce), and a sensitive scorpion Nigel (Angus Imrie). But when their nemesis — Pretty Boy (Tim Minchin), a cute but obnoxious koala — unexpectedly joins their escape, Maddie and the gang have no choice but to take him with them.
The comedy adventure marks the directorial debuts of filmmakers Clare Knight (editor on The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part and the Kung Fu Panda trilogy) and Harry Cripps. Script comes from Cripps (Penguin Bloom). Daniela Mazzucato is the producer with Weed Road Pictures’ Akiva Goldsman and Greg Lessans, who developed the story with Cripps, serving as the executive producers.
Knight said, “I have always been touched by stories of hidden beauty. Maddie is both uniquely beauty and beast, and to get to present that message in comedy is the icing on the cake.”
This announcement comes as Netflix continues to expand its kid-friendly offerings, working to release six animated films every year. Back to the Outback is set to launch in fall 2021.