Picture: Netflix TUDUM and Ben Hibon picture, courtesy of Netflix
Netflix unveiled new details about its upcoming Ghostbusters animated series, part of its Family Spectacle Slate, during its Annecy 2025 presentation. The series is being produced in collaboration with Sony Pictures Animation.
The series was introduced by Dominique Bazay, Netflix’s Director of Animation for Families and Kids, who was on stage to present one of four categories for Netflix’s upcoming slate. In the case of Ghostbusters, it falls in the Family Spectacle “bucket” alongside Minecraft, Clash of Clans, and Stranger Things: Tales from ’85:
“These spectacle shows are a giant bet for us. We want to make spectacular animation for the entire family, for parents, for kids, for teens, for grandparents, for young adults, whether they watch together or apart.
We’re very, very proud to be working with Kristine Belson [President of Sony Pictures Animation] and her team. They are the people who brought you the incredible Mitchells vs. the Machines and of course, the Spider-Verse films. This is Ghostbusters like you’ve never seen it.”
The significant new announcement for the series, beyond a collection of concept art pieces showcased to those in attendance, is that the new series is being developed under the creative leadership of Ben Hibon, who serves as executive producer and showrunner.
Who is Ben Hibon? Represented by Kinetic Media, Hibon is a renowned commercial and video director whose work spans high-profile campaigns for notable clients such as Disney, Microsoft, Sony, and most recently, Riot Games. He gained early acclaim with his MTV Asia short Codehunters, viewed by over 400 million people, and went on to serve as Chief Creative Officer at Psyop and Luma. Hibon notably directed the acclaimed Tale of Three Brothers sequence in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, which earned him a British Animation Award. Following this, he worked with Zack Snyder on Sucker Punch, contributed to Mirror Mirror, and directed an animated series for Sony’s Heavenly Sword. Most recently, after leading cinematics at Riot Games, he became the director, co-executive producer, and creative lead of Nickelodeon’s CG animated Star Trek: Prodigy.
Picture courtesy of Netflix
Speaking in a pre-prepared video, Hibon introduced the series with the backdrop of multiple concept art pieces. Here’s the full transcript of what he said (which was against a remixed version of the iconic Ghostbusters theme song by Ray Parker Jr.):
“Bonjour Annecy, je m’appelle Ben Hibon. I am executive producer and showrunner on the Ghostbusters animated series. Ghostbusters has always been a really surprising blend of horror, comedy, sci-fi and fantasy.
We want to keep the character and the story totally grounded in a time and place that felt real. It has grit, it has texture, it has vibrancy. The goal is never photorealism. The way we approach light, the volume of light and the softness and the coloration and the temperature of light is really what brings very highly stylized characters or simplified environments or basically textures into a realm that feels very tactile and tangible.
My mission is unbound by reality. That itself allows us to go much broader, in some ways much bigger.
We’re able to be very bold and very impactful and very striking, distorting motion, blend with frame rates, ghost designs. We will be able to push the envelope, really elevate content and really surprise audiences.
While the concept art pieces haven’t been released to the public, they did set the tone as outlined above, and all looked incredibly stylized and drew a positive reception from those in the audience.
We saw from the pictures that the series appears to be following four young protagonists (they were standing silhouetted with their backs facing towards the “camera” on a hill), with other snaps set indoors and outdoors in New York City, focusing on our heroes and monsters. One particular picture had one of the protagonists wading through a New York interior filled with boxes, with a proton pack on their back glowing. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse is clearing the blueprint for the animation style, which makes sense given the studio.
Netflix’s Ghostbusters series is executive produced by Elliott Kalan, Jason Reitman, Gil Kenan, and Amie Karp of Ghost Corps, Inc.
For a full list of all the new announcements that came out of the Annecy Film Festival, check out our full Annecy recap here or keep an eye out on What’s on Netflix in the coming days for all the latest.
Are you looking forward to watching Ghostbusters on Netflix? Let us know in the comments.
