Night of the Zoopocalypse

Night of the Zoopocalypse
Film poster
Directed by	Rodrigo Perez-Castro Ricardo Curtis
Written by	James Kee Steven Hoban
Based on	ZOOmbies by Clive Barker
Produced by	Steven Hoban Mark Smith Wes Lui Joe Iacono Yohann Comte Pierre Mazars Carole Baraton Cloé Garbay Bastien Sirodot
Starring	Gabbi Kosmidis Scott Thompson Paul Sun-Hyung Lee David Harbour
Music by	Dan Levy
Production companies	Copperheart Entertainment Anton Capital Entertainment [1] Charades U Media Production IDL Films Crave House of Cool
Distributed by	Apollo Films (France) Elevation Pictures (Canada)
Release dates	October 6, 2024 (2024-10-06)(57th Sitges Film Festival) January 29, 2025 (2025-01-29)(France) March 7, 2025 (2025-03-07)(United States and Canada)
Running time	91 minutes
Countries	Canada France Belgium
Languages	English French
Box office	$3.8 million [2] [3]

Night of the Zoopocalypse (originally titled as Night of the Zoombies) is a 2024 animated comedy horror film directed by storyboard artists Ricardo Curtis and Rodrigo Perez-Castro, written by James Kee and producer Steven Hoban; inspired by a concept by Clive Barker, loosely based on his short story "ZOOmbies". The film follows a group of animal survivors in a zoo trying to survive a zombie outbreak when an extraterrestrial virus carried on a meteor turns various zoo creatures into slobbering mutant zombies.

It premiered at the 57th Sitges Film Festival on October 7, 2024, then being released in France by Apollo Films on January 29, 2025 and in the United States and Canada by Viva Kids and Elevation Pictures on March 7, 2025 while receiving positive reviews. ^[4]

Plot

A meteor containing a mysterious space virus crashes into Colepepper Zoo turning the animals into vicious gummi-like zombie mutants. A young wolf named Gracie teams up with a gruff mountain lion named Dan to find a cure, while leading a rag-tag group of survivors to stop the leader of the zombies, Bunny Zero, from taking over the world.

Cast

• Gabbi Kosmidis as Gracie, a young quirky timber wolf who is burdened by her life in the zoo and the leader of the survivors ^[5]
• David Harbour as Dan, a gruff mountain lion who reluctantly teams up with Gracie to help her reunite with her pack
• Scott Thompson as Ash, a sarcastic ostrich
• Paul Sun-Hyung Lee as Felix, an egotistical proboscis monkey who thinks he is the leader of the survivors
• Pierre Simpson as Xavier, a movie-obsessed red ruffed lemur
• Heather Loreto as Frida, a fiery capybara
• Kyle Derek as Fred, a western lowland gorilla who lives in the monkey house with Felix. He is later infected by the mutants
• Christina Nova as Poot, a baby pygmy hippopotamus who is mostly oblivious to the situation and the danger the mutants pose
• Bryn McAuley as Bunny Zero, a rabbit who, after accidentally eating the meteorite, becomes the deranged leader of the mutants
• Carolyn Scott as Gramma Abigail, an old wolf and Gracie's paranoid grandmother who is always rambling about something bad happening. She is later infected by the mutants

Production

In Spring 2014, the original idea from Clive Barker was more matured as a graphic novel and would follow a kid who gets trapped in a zoo during a zombie outbreak. When the idea was shifted to the animated feature by Copperheart Entertainment, the story of it changed to focus on how the final version looked and putting a focus on a wolf and a mountain lion working together to stop a virus from infecting the zoo animals into gummi mutants, making the zombie animals less mature-stylized to make them undead while balancing out the family humor of the film. ^[6] In 2015, Steven Hoban announced that Clive Barker's short story "ZOOmbies" had been optioned for a feature film. ^{[7] [8]}

Animation and design

The film was initially to be animated by Tangent Animation and Mac Guff under its original title Night of the Zoombies; however, with Mac Guff still intact, production was shifted to L'Atelier Animation after the studio's shutdown on August 3, 2021. ^{[9] [10]} Storyboard and pre-production was provided at House of Cool while character design was provided by Hadi Tabasi. ^[11] During production, the choice was made to only give some of the animals a realistic fur texture as a creative decision to show the difference between the mutant and normal characters, as well as a way to cut costs. The choice was also made to give the film a low-budget horror film aesthetic, which was accomplished by using lighting and fog. ^[12]

Music

Dan Levy was brought on to compose the score for the film. The soundtrack was released on January 29, 2025 during the film's release in France. ^[13]

Release

Night of the Zoopocalypse had its premiere on 57th Sitges Film Festival on October 7, 2024 and was released in the United States and Canada by Viva Pictures and Elevation Pictures on March 7, 2025.

Marketing

The first teaser released on November 21, 2024. ^[14]

Reception

The film received a 100% rating of over 19 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. ^[15]

References

1. Amidi, Amid (May 23, 2024). "Animation Producer Anton Capital Secures $100M+ Financing Via Blackrock To Expand Production Output". Cartoon Brew .
2. "Night of the Zoopocalypse – Financial Information". The Numbers. Retrieved March 7, 2025.
3. "Night of the Zoopocalypse – Financial Information". Boxofficemojo. Retrieved March 8, 2025.
4. "Viva Pictures Offers First-Look at Critter Creepshow 'Night of the Zoopocalypse'". Animation Magazine . October 4, 2024. Retrieved October 8, 2024.
5. Wiseman, Andreas (2023-10-18). "David Harbour Among Voice Cast Attached For Animation 'Night Of The Zoopocalypse'; Anton & Charades Launch For AFM". Deadline. Retrieved 2023-10-18.
6. "The Official Clive Barker Website - Revelations Interview 31".
7. Gingold, Michael (October 6, 2015). "Christmas Horror Story Creator Talks Sequel, Clive Barker Projects, More Ginger Snaps?". Fangoria.
8. "The Official Clive Barker Website - Films - in-progress projects". www.clivebarker.info. Retrieved 2024-12-05.
9. "Instagram".
10. Amidi, Amid (2021-08-04). "Tangent Animation Shuts Down Production. As Many As 400 People Laid Off". Cartoon Brew. Retrieved 2024-12-15.
11. "How the 'Night of the Zoopocalypse' Directors Created a Kid-Friendly Horror Pic Packed with Laughs (EXCLUSIVE CLIP)".
12. Lang, Jamie (November 6, 2024). "'Night of the Zoopocalypse' Filmmakers on Making the Most of a Limited Budget, Creating an Original Aesthetic and Horror Flick Rites of Passage". Variety .
13. "'Night of the Zoopocalypse' Soundtrack Released | Film Music Reporter".
14. Milligan, Mercedes (November 21, 2024). "'Night of the Zoopocalypse' Teaser Trailer Unleashes Meteoric Mayhem". Animation Magazine .
15. "Night of the Zoopocalypse | Rotten Tomatoes". Rotten Tomatoes .

External links

• Night of the Zoopocalypse at IMDb