Annecy Festival 2026: From the Joker Anime to the Return of The Powerpuff Girls and the Shrek Spinoff

According to the CinemaDrame News Agency, late June always brings the most exciting days for animation lovers. The Annecy International Animation Film Festival in southeastern France, serving as the largest and most prestigious event for the medium, once again became the main battleground for streaming giants—including Amazon, Netflix, and Warner Bros.—to unveil their biggest upcoming projects.

Alongside the main competitive sections, the event acted as a massive commercial market, delivering a slew of surprising, controversial, and sometimes bizarre news. Here is a review of the most important announcements.

Amazon’s Unexpected Project: Conan the Barbarian Handed to the Creator of Samurai Jack

Amazon, a company that hasn’t exactly been on the best of terms with animation fans lately, surprised everyone with a massive trump card: the production of an animated Conan the Barbarian series for Prime Video.

The thrilling aspect of this project is the involvement of Genndy Tartakovsky (creator of works like Dexter’s Laboratory, Samurai Jack, and the critically acclaimed series Primal) as director. Given Tartakovsky’s track record in creating epic, wordless action sequences, this classic hero and his brutal world will serve as the perfect canvas for the renowned animator’s unique visual style to shine.

DC and Warner Bros. Take by Storm: From the Joker Anime to a Working-Class Batman

Warner Bros. Animation arrived at Annecy armed with an impressive lineup, dedicating several exclusive panels to the DC Universe. Among these, the announcement of four new projects captured the most attention:

• Last Laugh: An exclusive anime centered on the Joker, directed by Yasuhiro Aoki.
• Absolute Batman: An adaptation of the best-selling alternate universe comic books, where Bruce Wayne is depicted not as a traditional billionaire, but as a blue-collar construction worker from the lower class. Scott Snyder, the lead writer of the comic, serves as an executive producer on the project.
• Krypto: A children’s series about Superman’s superhero dog, developed by the creator of Chowder.
• Mister Miracle: A series based on the writings of Tom King, featuring its first-ever footage screened at the festival.

Outside the superhero realm, Warner Bros. announced a spinoff of Adventure Time, focusing on the characters Marceline and Princess Bubblegum. It was also confirmed that a Powerpuff Girls animated feature film is in development, though the failure of the 2016 reboot and the cancellation of the live-action version have cast some skepticism over reviving this classic franchise. Vivienne Medrano, creator of the hit series Hazbin Hotel, will also make her feature film directorial debut with the animated movie Prehistoric.

A Heated Rivalry Between Netflix and Amazon in the Anime Realm and Crunchyroll’s Diversification

Streaming services placed a special focus on the anime market this year. In its exclusive panel, Netflix showcased footage from the highly anticipated One Piece reboot and the new series Fool Night. Amazon also announced that the reboot of the groundbreaking sci-fi anime Ghost in the Shell, produced by studio Science SARU, will premiere next month.

Meanwhile, Crunchyroll, traditionally known for distributing Japanese anime, took a new strategic step by acquiring the broadcast rights to the French animated film The Wolf. Based on a graphic novel by the original creator of Snowpiercer, this work is helmed by the directing team behind the acclaimed animated film I Lost My Body.

From the Bizarre ‘Shrek’ Prequel to Timothée Chalamet and Selena Gomez Teaming Up

One of the most bizarre pieces of news emerging alongside the festival, which simultaneously generated a lot of buzz, was the confirmation of a Shrek spinoff centered on the character Donkey.

Furthermore, Illumination (the studio behind Minions) unveiled its new animated film titled I Am Not Alone, featuring the voice talents of Selena Gomez and Timothée Chalamet. Finally, other projects like Aardman Studio’s stop-motion Pokémon animated series and Batman: Knightfall validated the unparalleled diversity of this year’s Annecy event by showcasing new trailers and details.