The 2020s have birthed a thrilling era of animation. Audiences have never had so many options: anime is more accessible than ever, the biggest film of 2025 is a Chinese cartoon, and an independent, near-silent film from Latvia won the Best Animated Feature Oscar. It’s easy to forget that, not so long ago, Disney had a near-total monopoly on the form for American audiences.
In the ‘90s, their much-mythologized renaissance made them more commercially and critically beloved than ever. The rest of the industry tried to keep up, starting their own animation divisions to keep up with the House of Mouse, either by outright copying their formula or offering an alternative to their brand. One studio brought in the era’s great anti-Disney animator to helm their new project and to create the kind of cool, teen-oriented film that the other company just didn’t make. It ended with a notorious flop that crushed this ambitious project before it really started.
