Netflix scraps a film about the cult comic band Gorillaz – and the frontman is not happy

The Gorillaz is a fictional animated band that has been active in the music scene since the early 2000s and has a loyal fan base to this day. The project is led by Blur frontman Damon Albarn, who co-founded the band with comic book artist and Tank Girl creator Jamie Hewlett. Songs like “Clint Eastwood” or “Feel Good Inc.” are still catchy.

The band now sees itself more as an experimental pole that is always looking for new sounds and offers both established and newcomers a place to explore unknown musical paths. For example, music legend Elton John meets autotune rapper 6LACK in the song “The Pink Phantom”.

At the same time, the history of the band expands a little with each album and meanwhile knows no narrative boundaries: occult cults, environmental disasters, wormholes and haunted houses – the history of the musical group is reminiscent of whimsical pulp novels. It is therefore not surprising that the rumor did the rounds some time ago Netflix at one Feature film about the comic group works – unfortunately the project has now stopped unexpectedly.

Damon Albarn on working with Netflix

Gorillaz creators Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett have repeatedly hinted for several years at the possibility of a Netflix film about the virtual band, which could also be told separately from the actual band story. Now Albarn confirmed in an interview with that Netflix stopped working on the project:

“Yes. […] The streaming platform we were making the movie for pulled out. They panicked about producing too much content and decided to withdraw their movie offerings. And of course, the guy we worked with also transferred to another company – seems to be standard Hollywood practice. From that moment on you lost your guardian angel and a bad smell seems to stick to you. Hollywood is pretty territorial: when a new kid comes along, he must and will have a different opinion than his predecessor, even if he secretly agrees with him.”

Netflix is ​​remodeling its animation division

Damon Albarn alludes to the fact that Netflix is ​​currently massively restructuring its animation department and that the streaming giant with the red N is currently repositioning itself in this area. Popular shows such as “Inside Job” or “Dead End: Paranormal Park” were discontinued and planned projects such as the series adaptation of the “Bone” comic were halted early. Apparently, the film about the cartoon band has now also fallen victim to this restructuring.

However, Damon Albarn needn’t worry about the future of the Gorillaz. The band’s new studio album, which will be called “Cracker Island”, will be released on February 24, 2023. And maybe the film about the fictional group of musicians will find a new home with other providers such as Paramount+ or Amazon Prime Video.