| Locksmith Animation Limited | |
| Former Name: | Wishmaker Animation Ltd. (April 23, 2013January 31, 2014)[1] |
| Type: | Subsidiary |
| Founder: | Sarah Smith Julie Lockhart Elisabeth Murdoch (financial backing) |
| Location City: | 113 Regent's Park Road, London |
| Location Country: | England |
| Num Locations: | 9255 Sunset Boulevard, West Hollywood, California |
| Key People: | Julie Lockhart (president of prod.) Natalie Fischer (CEO) Mary Coleman (CCO) Britt Gardiner (COO) Daphne Mather (Head of Culture) Doug Ikeler (CTO/SVP Digital Prod.) Shelley Page (Head of Talent) |
| Products: | Feature films |
| Industry: | Computer animation Film production |
| Num Employees: | 100 (2025) |
| Parent: | Sister |
Locksmith Animation Limited[2] is a British animation studio and film production company owned by Sister and headquartered in London with an office in Los Angeles. Locksmith's first animated feature film Ron's Gone Wrong was theatrically released by 20th Century Studios in October 2021. Locksmith's second animated feature film That Christmas (based on the children's Christmas book trilogy That Christmas and Other Stories by Richard Curtis and Rebecca Cobb) was released on Netflix on 4 December 2024.
The studio's next films are, Bad Fairies, a subversive original musical-comedy film set in contemporary London, to be released by Warner Bros. Pictures[3] on 21 May 2027, The Lunar Chronicles, based on Marissa Meyer's book series of the same name, to be released also by Warner Bros. Pictures on November 3, 2028,[4] and Wed Wabbit, based on Lissa Evans' children's book of the same name, and their first independent feature, to be funded and release by themselves.
Locksmith Animation was founded in 2014 by media executive businesswoman Elisabeth Murdoch and two Aardman Animations collaborators Sarah Smith and Julie Lockhart. Locksmith was named after Lockhart and Smith's surnames.[5] In April 2014, visual effects studio Double Negative (now known as DNEG) formed a deal with Locksmith to provide the computer animation for Locksmith's films, this led DNEG to found their own animation department, DNEG Feature Animation (now known as DNEG Animation).[6]
In May 2016, Locksmith formed a production deal with Paramount Pictures, with Paramount acting as the distributor for Locksmith's films to be produced under the Paramount Animation label. The following year, however, Paramount abandoned its deal with Locksmith when Paramount chairman and CEO Brad Grey was replaced by Jim Gianopulos.[7]
In September 2017, Locksmith formed a multi-year production deal with 20th Century Fox, which would distribute Locksmith's films; 20th Century Fox Animation was brought in to oversee the deal, as Locksmith was aiming to release a film every 12–18 months. The deal was to bolster Blue Sky's output and replace the loss of distributing DreamWorks Animation films, which are now owned and distributed by Universal Pictures, following its takeover by NBCUniversal in 2016.[8] The first film to be produced by Locksmith Animation was Ron's Gone Wrong which was released on 22 October 2021 by 20th Century Studios.[9] In February 2018, it was announced that Locksmith was developing Wed Wabbit, a live-action/animated hybrid film based on Lissa Evans' children's book, originally served as the first live-action/animated hybrid film from Locksmith.[10] In October 2019, after Disney took over 20th Century Animation, Locksmith formed a new multi-year production deal with Warner Bros. Pictures, which will distribute three Locksmith films under the Warner Animation Group label after the release of Ron's Gone Wrong, which was now the only theatrical Locksmith film to be distributed by 20th Century Studios.[11]
Sister was announced as Locksmith Animation's parent company following the release of Ron's Gone Wrong in October 2021.
In June 2021, it was announced that Natalie Fischer (the former COO of Illumination Entertainment, DreamWorks Animation and Pixar) would step in as Locksmith's new CEO. Locksmith co-founder Sarah Smith exited the company to pursue her own creative endeavours. It was also announced that Locksmith Animation was currently in production on its second animated feature film That Christmas[12] (based on the children's Christmas book trilogy That Christmas and Other Stories by Richard Curtis and Rebecca Cobb) and was working on a subversive original animated musical fantasy comedy film.[13] That Christmas was unveiled in June 2022 as part of Netflix's slate of animated films.[14]
In January 2022, Locksmith had optioned to adapt Marissa Meyer's book series The Lunar Chronicles.[15]
In June 2023, as part of the rebranding of Warner Animation Group (now called Warner Bros. Pictures Animation), it was announced that the studio had signed a first-look deal with Locksmith to develop and produce the two animated feature films Bad Fairies and The Lunar Chronicles for Warner Bros. Pictures.[16]
| Year | Title | Director(s) | Screenwriter(s) | Producer(s) | Composer(s) | Distributor | Feature animation | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Ron's Gone Wrong | Sarah Smith Jean-Philippe Vine Octavio E. Rodriguez | Peter Baynham Sarah Smith | Julie Lockhart Lara Breay | Henry Jackman | 20th Century Studios | DNEG Animation | Locksmith Animation's first feature film |
| 2024 | That Christmas | Simon Otto | Richard Curtis Peter Souter | Nicole P. Hearon Adam Tandy | John Powell | Netflix | Based on That Christmas and Other Stories by Richard Curtis and Rebecca Cobb |
| Year | Title | Director(s) | Screenwriter(s) | Producer(s) | Composer(s) | Distributor | Feature animation | Note | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2027 | Bad Fairies | Megan Nicole Dong Olivier Staphylas | Deborah Frances-White | Carolyn Soper | Isabella Summers Toby Marlow Lucy Moss | Warner Bros. Pictures | DNEG Animation | [17] | |
| 2028 | The Lunar Chronicles | Noëlle Raffaele | Lindsey Ferrentino Kalen Egan Travis Sentell | Christina Steinberg | Industrial Light & Magic | Based on the book series of the same name by Marissa Meyer[18] [19] [20] | |||
| Wed Wabbit | Olly Reid | Gideon Defoe | Julie Lockhart Andrew Baker | Timeless Films | Locksmith Animation's first independent feature film Originally Locksmith Animation's first live-action/animated hybrid film Based on the book of the same name by Lissa Evans[21] |
| Year | Film | Budget | USA gross | Worldwide gross | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Ron's Gone Wrong | $75–$100 million | $23 million | $60.7 million | |
| 2024 | That Christmas | $100 million |
| Year | Film | Rotten Tomatoes | Metacritic | CinemaScore | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Ron's Gone Wrong | 82% (103 reviews)[23] | 65 (23 reviews)[24] | A[25] | |
| 2024 | That Christmas | 66% (41 reviews)[26] | 60 (13 reviews)[27] |
| Award | Year | Category | Nominees and recipients | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| VHS Awards | 2021 | Best Animated Film | Ron's Gone Wrong | |
| Indiana Film Journalists Association Awards | Best Animated Feature | |||
| Best Vocal/Motion Capture Performance | Olivia Colman | |||
| Zach Galifianakis | ||||
| 42nd London Film Critics' Circle Awards | British/Irish Actress of the Year | Olivia Colman | ||
| BFE Cut Above Awards | 2022 | Best Edited Single Animation | David Burrows, James Cooper and Sim Evan-Jones | |
| 49th Annie Awards | Outstanding Achievement for Character Design in an Animated Feature Production | Julien Bizat | ||
| Outstanding Achievement for Production Design on an Animated Feature Production | Aurélien Predal, Till Nowak and Nathan Crowley | |||
| British Animation Awards | Best Writer | Peter Baynham and Sarah Smith | ||
| Best Design | Aurélien Predal, Nathan Crowley and Till Nowak | |||
| Best Long Form | Ron's Gone Wrong |
| Award | Year | Category | Nominees and recipients | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15th Hollywood Music in Media Awards | 2024 | Best Original Score in an Animated Film | John Powell | |
| IFMCA Awards | 2025 | Best Original Score for an Animated Film | ||
| 52nd Annie Awards[28] | Best Animated Feature | That Christmas | ||
| Outstanding Achievement for Character Design in an Animated Feature | Uwe Heidschötter | |||
| Outstanding Achievement for Directing in an Animated Feature | Simon Otto | |||
| Outstanding Achievement for Music in an Animated Feature | John Powell, Ed Sheeran and Johnny McDaid | |||
| Outstanding Achievement for Production Design on an Animated Feature | Justin Hutchinson-Chatburn and Mike Redman | |||
| Outstanding Achievement for Storyboarding in an Animated Feature | Lorenzo Fresta, Ashley Boddy and Helen Schroeder | |||
| 4th Children's and Family Emmy Awards | 2026 | Outstanding Animated Special | That Christmas | |
| Outstanding Music Direction and Composition for an Animated Program | John Powell | |||
| Outstanding Editing for an Animated Program | Sim Evan-Jones |
| Award | Year | Category | Nominees and recipients | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 53rd Annie Awards | 2026 | Best Animated Short Subject | Cardboard | |
| 79th British Academy Film Awards | Best British Short Animation | J.P. Vine and Michaela Manas Malina |
