Announced · Annecy 2026
ThunderCats on
the Big Screen
Warner Bros. Pictures Animation has confirmed a brand-new ThunderCats animated feature. If it reaches cinemas, it will be the first theatrical film in the franchise’s forty-one-year history.
- StudioWB Pictures Animation
- FormatAnimated feature
- Revealed22 June 2026
- StatusIn development
The News
At the 2026 Annecy International Animation Film Festival, the largest gathering in the animation calendar, Warner Bros. Pictures Animation rolled a sizzle reel of projects in the works. Tucked inside it, alongside a new Powerpuff Girls movie, was a single unmistakable title card: ThunderCats. With it, a feature that the studio has chased in one form or another for nearly two decades is officially, publicly, alive again.
The Announcement
The reveal came not as a press release but as a logo in a reel. io9 was first to flag it out of the studio’s Annecy showcase: a new ThunderCats movie, in development at Warner Bros. Pictures Animation, shown only as part of a broader slate of upcoming animated features. No footage. No logline. No talent. Just the name and the studio behind it, which after years of false starts is itself the headline.
The framing matters. This is the theatrical animation division, the same arm steering Warner’s renewed push into feature animation, rather than a streaming or television unit. A ThunderCats film placed there is being positioned, at least on paper, for the big screen.
What We Know, and What We Don’t
Confirmed
- A new ThunderCats feature film is in active development.
- It sits at Warner Bros. Pictures Animation, the studio’s theatrical animation arm.
- It is an animated feature, revealed during a studio sizzle reel presentation.
- It was unveiled publicly on 22 June 2026 at the Annecy festival.
Still Unknown
- No director is attached, or none has been named.
- No voice cast has been announced.
- No release date, or even a release window, has been set.
- The visual approach is unconfirmed: 2D, CG, or hybrid.
- Its relationship to the 2021 Wingard live-action project is unclear.
- Whether a ThunderCats logo or clip was included in the presentation is unclear.
The Long Road to the Big Screen
ThunderCats has been knocking on Hollywood’s door for almost twenty years. Each attempt got a little further, then stalled. Here is how the new announcement fits the line that came before it.
- 2007
The Sopocy CGI feature
Warner Bros. and Spring Creek announce a fully CG ThunderCats feature, written by Paul Sopocy with Jerry O’Flaherty attached to direct. Concept art and a Lion-O-vs-Slithe test clip surface before the project quietly goes dark around 2009.
The 2007 Movie → - 2011
The Cartoon Network reboot
A darker, anime-influenced ThunderCats series reframes the origin for a new generation. Critically liked, it is cancelled after a single season, leaving its story unfinished.
The 2011 ThunderCats reboot → - 2020
ThunderCats Roar
A comedic, broadly stylised reboot in the Teen Titans Go! mould divides the fanbase and runs short. The property cools again.
- 2021
The Wingard live-action project
Warner Bros. hands a live-action / CG hybrid ThunderCats to Adam Wingard, fresh off Godzilla vs. Kong. Five years on it remains in development with no cast and no date.
The Wingard Project → - 2026
The animated feature
At Annecy, Warner Bros. Pictures Animation confirms a new ThunderCats animated movie is in the works. If it reaches cinemas it will be the first theatrical ThunderCats film in the franchise’s history.
Why Now
The timing is no accident. Warner Bros. is mining its own back catalogue hard: the Annecy slate paired ThunderCats with a new Powerpuff Girls movie, and the studio has separately moved on a La La Land-styled Tom and Jerry feature and a Westworld revival. Nostalgia is the strategy, and ThunderCats is a marquee name in the 1980s vault.
There is a second reading. The announcement arrives just as the latest run of live-action 1980s revivals, including a new big-screen Masters of the Universe, met a mixed commercial response. Choosing animation for ThunderCats, rather than reviving the long-stalled live-action hybrid, may be the studio betting that the property plays best in the medium that made it, at a cost that an animated feature can better control.
The Reaction
Animation is the medium the property was born in. A theatrical-budget ThunderCats cartoon, taken seriously, is the version many fans have wanted since 1985.
Two reboots in fifteen years failed to stick. With no director, cast, or date, this is a sizzle-reel logo and a promise. Fans have learned to wait for a greenlight, not an announcement.
The reveal lands just as the latest wave of 1980s revivals draws a mixed response at the box office. Some ask whether the moment for nostalgia features has already passed.
Press Coverage
The Other ThunderCats Films
Quick Facts
- Announced
- 22 June 2026, Annecy International Animation Film Festival
- First reported
- io9 / Gizmodo
- Studio
- Warner Bros. Pictures Animation
- Format
- Animated feature (approach unconfirmed)
- Revealed via
- Studio sizzle reel, alongside a new Powerpuff Girls movie
- Director
- None announced
- Cast
- None announced
- Release date
- None set
- Significance
- Would be the first theatrical ThunderCats film
- Status
- In development
- Last checked
- 4 August 2026. Still no director, cast, or release date announced.
- Relationship to the Wingard film
- Unconfirmed. Wingard’s live-action and CG hybrid has not been cancelled and has not been mentioned by him since March 2024. Warner Bros. has not linked the two projects.
Questions Fans Are Asking
When does the ThunderCats movie come out?
There is no release date, and no release window. Warner Bros. Pictures Animation confirmed the film is in development on 22 June 2026 at Annecy and has announced nothing about scheduling since. An animated feature that has not named a director is typically three or more years from a cinema screen.
Is the 2026 ThunderCats movie animated or live action?
Animated. It was revealed as part of a Warner Bros. Pictures Animation slate, the studio’s theatrical animation arm. Whether it is 2D, CG, or a hybrid has not been confirmed.
Is this the same as Adam Wingard’s ThunderCats movie?
Nobody outside Warner Bros. knows. Wingard has been attached to a live-action and CG hybrid ThunderCats at the studio since March 2021, and his last public word on it was 22 March 2024, to The Playlist. He has not mentioned the project since. The Annecy reveal was an animated feature at Warner Bros. Pictures Animation, a different division, and neither the studio nor Wingard has said whether it replaces his film or runs alongside it. Be careful with the 2026 articles that appear to quote him: several recycle the 2024 interview without saying so.
Who is in the cast of the ThunderCats movie?
Nobody has been announced. No voice cast, no director, no writer. Any cast list circulating online, including the Chris Hemsworth and Hugh Jackman names attached to YouTube concept trailers, is fan-made and not connected to the film.
Has there ever been a ThunderCats movie before?
Not in cinemas. ThunderCats has run since 1985 across two television series, comics, toys and two feature attempts that never shipped: the 2007 Sopocy CGI film and the Wingard project. A released feature would be the first theatrical ThunderCats film in the franchise’s history.
Where can I watch the ThunderCats movie?
Nowhere yet. The film is in development and unreleased. The 1985 series and the 2011 reboot are both available to stream and to buy, and this site indexes every episode of each.
En breve / Em resumo / Σύντομα
Short answers in the languages this page is already found in. The full article above is in English.
¿Cuándo sale la película de ThunderCats?
No hay fecha de estreno. Warner Bros. Pictures Animation confirmó el 22 de junio de 2026, en el festival de Annecy, que una nueva película animada de ThunderCats está en desarrollo. No hay director, ni reparto, ni fecha. Sería la primera película de ThunderCats en cines en cuarenta y un años.
Quando estreia o filme dos ThunderCats?
Não há data de estreia. A Warner Bros. Pictures Animation confirmou em 22 de junho de 2026, no festival de Annecy, que um novo filme de animação dos ThunderCats está em desenvolvimento. Sem diretor, sem elenco e sem data. Seria o primeiro filme dos ThunderCats nos cinemas em quarenta e um anos.
Πότε βγαίνει η ταινία ThunderCats;
Δεν υπάρχει ημερομηνία κυκλοφορίας. Η Warner Bros. Pictures Animation επιβεβαίωσε στις 22 Ιουνίου 2026, στο φεστιβάλ του Annecy, ότι μια νέα ταινία κινούμενων σχεδίων ThunderCats βρίσκεται υπό ανάπτυξη. Χωρίς σκηνοθέτη, χωρίς καστ και χωρίς ημερομηνία. Θα ήταν η πρώτη ταινία ThunderCats στους κινηματογράφους μετά από σαράντα ένα χρόνια.
Backdrop art: atmosphere from ThunderCats (1985), Rankin/Bass Productions and Pacific Animation Corporation, drawn from the thundercats.org Atlas of Third Earth. No official artwork has been released for the new film.