Nimona (2027 film)

Nimona would be a 2027 animated buddy fantasy film directed by Sabrina Cotugno in their feature directorial debut from an screenplay co-written with Noelle Stevenson and Molly Ostertag, with Wade Wisinkski producing. Based on the webcomic of the same name by Noelle Stevenson, the film would be produced by Disney Television Animation and Rough Draft Studios; the film would be Disney TVA's first original non-pilot film. The film would center on the friendship between the title character and Ballister, a villain with a moral code. The film would star the voices of Nive Nielsen, Marisa Quinn, Anna Lambe, Lana Condor, and Jia Xing. Kathryn Bostic would compose both the score and songs for the film, with several artists lending their vocals to the soundtrack.

Attempts at a film adaptation of Nimona date back to 2014, when 20th Century Animation and Blue Sky Studios announced work on an animated film directed by Patrick Osbourne. However, the film was eventually cancelled when Disney closed Blue Sky in 2021. In January 2024, it would be reported that a new film adaptation of Nimona would be developed by Disney Television Animation for Disney+, with Stevenson executive-producing and writing. Catungo would be hired as director and co-writer shortly after, and Ostertag would join as co-writer in mid-2024. Nielsen and Xing would join the cast in the lead roles in late 2024, with Lambe and Condor joining in early 2025, and Quinn joining in mid-2025.

Cotugno would draw inspiration in buddy movies like Disney's Zootopia and Treasure Planet for the film's plot. They would also want to establish the main themes as "trusting others and not letting others label you", and would change the cast to be enterily female to provide more gender diversity within the characters. Animation services would be provided by Rough Draft Korea and NE4U, with in-house Disney TVA animator Dana Terrace supervising the animation for certain sequences. Animators would try to create character designs that followed closely the webcomic's drawings while also keeping "a Disney-esque feeling".

The film would be released on Disney+ in July 27, 2027, and would become a critical success, particularly for Cotugno's direction, as well as its writing, vocal performances, musical score, faithfulness to the source material, themes, and animation. The film would also be one of the most streamed original films in 2027.

Voice cast

 * Nive Nielsen as Nimona: An amoral girl with trust issues who hopes to become Ballister's sidekick. Nielsen would describe her as "a sociopath whp has understandable reasons to be a sociopath", explaining that "the wprld treated her like a monster. Every single person. So she thougth 'You want me to be a villain, then i'm a villain' and she takes pleasure with being  the villain because everybody treated her like crap. But this also left her understandbly unable to put her trust and love in another one. Until she meets Ballister, which is when her heart vegins to thaw once more".
 * Melissa Quinn as Bellister: A supervillain who fights against the Institution, and agrees to take Nimona under her wing. Quinn would say that "Bellister is not really a villain of the villanous type. She is a bad girl, but she has a heart". She would describe her as "a woman with a broken heart. She fells there's something empty in her heart, but is not until Nimona comes into the picture that she manages to fill that void".
 * Anna Lambe as The Dictator: The leader of the Institute who secretly manipulates the kingdom, and cones into conflict with Nimona and Bellister. Lambe would desceibe The Dictator as "a heartless monster who will never stop until she gets what she wants. And a power hungry chessmaster who sadly feels very grounded in reality".
 * Lanna Condor as Sir Ambrosius Goldenloin: A knight in shinning armor and Bellister's ex-girlfriend, whom she pursues due to her villanlus ways. Director Sabrina Cotugno would compare her dynamic with Bellister to that between Eda and Lilith Clawthorne in The Owl House (2020-present), sayong that "they chase and fight each other, but you can tell that there are feelings lf love and care and pain and regret hidden inside her that she's trying to cope with". Condor woumd call her "someone who only wishes to do what's right, but failst to see what's right".
 * Jia Xing as Dr. Meredith Blitzmeyer, an eccentric and excitable scientist. Xing would describe her as "not really a mad scientist. But, rather, just a very energetic woman with a lot of impulse".

Music
Kathryn Bostic would compose the score for the film. Bostic would try to create a score that captured "the heart in the story, but also the moral ambiguity in its characters". Bostic would create a "maniac and schizophrenic" theme for Nimona that "also captures the tragedy behind her", as well as "a villanous melody for Bellister that also felt very lonely". Bostic would call her theme for The Dictator "the easiest one to compose", calling her theme "bombastic and evil, but with a political thriller edge". Her theme for Sir Ambrosius Goldenloin would have "a superficially royal feel to it, but that it is ultimately tragic and sad". She would also compose a "maniac and hyperactive" theme for Dr. Meredith Blitzmeyer.

Bostic would also compose several songs for the film, which would be performed by several artists. While working on the film, Director Sabrina Cotugno would be inspired by the use of songs in media like the Netflix series Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeastd and films like Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse to similarly feature songs that "boost the storytelling" within the film. She would personally approach Bostic to also work on the songs due to already having experience as a songwriter. Bostic would also incorporate her songs' melody within the score.

Reception
On Rotten Tomatoes, Nimona would have a rating of 100%, with an average rating of 10/10, based on 145 reviews. The website's critical consensus wpuld read, "With a profound screenplay, harmonic songs, astounding animation, and memorable characters, Nimona is a real emotional rollercoaster that explores morality like few stories had, all while telling a surpringsly profound and emotional tale powered by a talented voice cast". On Metacrotic, tje film would have an approval rating of 100 out of 100, one of the few films to ever attain that rating, based on 55 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".

Trivia

 * This would be the second film produced by Disney Television Animation for Disney+, Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Candace Against the Universe (2020).
 * This would also be the first original film produced by Disney Television Animation produced for Disney+.
 * The film would mark the first time Disney Television Animation has produced an original film that is not a pilot for a TV series.
 * According to director Sabrina Cotugno, the scene where Nimona turns into a dragon at the end would be inspired by Maleficent's transformation at the end of Sleeping Beauty (1950).
 * Among the objects stolen by Bellister in her chamber are the necklace of Pocahontas' mother from Pocahontas (1995), Mickey Mouse's sorcerer hat, Anne's armor from Amphibia (2019-present), a statue resembling Goliath from Gargoyles (1994-97), and Luz Noceda's Witch's Wool Cape from The Owl House (2020-present).