It’s a good time to be a YouTube creator turned filmmaker. Warner Bros. Pictures Animation announced today that it’s partnering with Vivienne “VivziePop” Medrano for an animated musical film titled Prehistoria. It is planned for a theatrical release.
Medrano is best known for creating the musical dark comedy series Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss, both of which received hundreds of millions of views on YouTube before being picked up by Prime Video.
Warner Bros. Pictures Animation president Bill Damaschke announced Prehistoria during a presentation at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival. While details for the film are scarce aside from a single promotional image, we know that the movie will take place outside of Medrano’s existing “Hellaverse,” and that it features dinosaurs that can use magic (because why not).
“Since I began my animation journey, my biggest dream was to be part of a feature film,” said Medrano. “Now to be creating an original story that I have been holding for years with Warner Bros. Pictures Animation, a studio whose characters and stories have been a huge part of my life, is truly a dream come true. I’m so excited to share this fossil fantasy world with everyone.”
Medrano achieved massive popularity as an indie animator through her YouTube channel VivziePop, where she has over 11 million subscribers. Hazbin Hotel’s pilot has gained over 123 million views on the platform since debuting in October 2019, and it was eventually spun off into the multi-season YouTube series Helluva Boss. Then Prime Video picked up Hazbin Hotel. The show went on to have the streamer’s largest global debut for an animated series, and has been greenlit for a total of five seasons. Known for a distinct art style, catchy music, and profanity, both of Medrano’s series have received generally positive reviews from critics.
The announcement of Prehistoria comes at a turning point for Warner Bros. Animation. While the company has obviously crafted some of the most famous cartoons ever, the division faced hard times during David Zaslav’s tenure as CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery. Warner Bros. has removed a large number of animated shows from HBO Max over the years (presumably so they wouldn’t have to pay residuals).
However, the highest-profile SNAFU came when Warner Bros. Discovery angled to shelve the upcoming Coyote vs. Acme film for a tax write-off. They eventually changed course following public backlash, allowing the filmmakers to find other distributors. The movie is finally hitting theaters this August.
With Zaslav gliding away from Warner Bros. on a golden parachute as the company prepares to get gobbled up by Paramount, it’s hard to know which way the merger will break for Warner Bros.’s animation division. While Zaslav seemed relatively hostile toward the division, Paramount already has a big chunk of the animation scene through Nickelodeon, meaning “redundancies” may be in store if the merger goes through.