Warner Bros. Pictures Animation has tapped Hazbin Hotel creator Vivienne Medrano to write and direct an original animated musical called Prehistoria, a fossil fantasy animated musical set outside her Hellaverse universe, with a theatrical release planned. The deal was unveiled on June 22, 2026 by WBPA President Bill Damaschke during WBPA’s showcase at the Annecy International Animation Festival in France. Damaschke framed the announcement as the centerpiece of a “new chapter” built around independent, creator-led animation.
The film marks Medrano’s first theatrical feature. Medrano, also known as “VivziePop,” called the partnership with Warner Bros. a lifelong dream and said Prehistoria was a story she had been holding for years.
A Fossil Fantasy Anchors Annecy’s Biggest Reveal
Damaschke announced Prehistoria from the stage of the Bonlieu theater, the festival’s largest hall, to an audience that included Medrano herself. No footage was shown; the reveal rested on a single line of concept art, a description, and the name attached to it. Cartoon Brew, the animation trade that has followed Medrano’s rise, reported the room was shown “the sight of a punk dinosaur” in early visuals.
Since I began my animation journey, my biggest dream was to be part of a feature film. Now to be creating an original story that I have been holding for years, and with Warner Bros. Pictures Animation, a studio whose characters and stories have been a huge part of my life, is truly a dream come true. I’m SO excited to share this fossil fantasy world with everyone!
Medrano, the writer-director behind the YouTube-born Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss, released that statement through Warner Bros. Pictures Animation as the Annecy deal closed. Variety’s recap of the showcase led the day’s coverage with Prehistoria’s theatrical-release announcement at Annecy 2026. The Hollywood Reporter published a confirming report on Medrano’s writing and directing deal for the film. Both trade outlets treated the news as the studio’s biggest reveal of the day.
The Pitch Behind the Film: ‘A New Chapter’ for WBPA
The presentation Damaschke staged in Annecy was titled “A New Chapter” and was meant to reset expectations for a studio that has cycled through leadership turbulence. The roadmap was simple in slogan form: every WBPA film, he said, will be built around three values he called the “three Hs.”
Those values are Heart, Humor, Hope, a framing he repeated on stage and in Bill Damaschke’s ‘New Chapter’ pitch and full slate coverage from Cartoon Brew. Damaschke then laid out a “no singular house style” doctrine, an unusual pitch for a major animation studio meant to position WBPA as a vehicle for individual filmmakers. Animation Magazine reported he described the studio as “a studio driven by artists, and with no singular house style,” framing WBPA as a startup inside a legacy operation. The studio has grown from 30 to 250 people under his tenure, per WBPA’s no-singular-house-style promise to animators from Animation Magazine, an order-of-magnitude jump that gives the artist-first pitch some physical backing. Per the same coverage, Damaschke said the goal is “the energy of a startup combined with the legacy of Warner Bros. animation.”
WBPA by the numbers (Annecy 2026):
- 7 theatrical features slated for 2026-2028
- 1 theatrical short: Daffy Season
- 30 to 250 people under Damaschke’s tenure
- 3 guiding values: Heart, Humor, Hope
- 1 new WBPA logo, complete with a grinning Tweety Bird
Prehistoria is the cleanest test of the bet, because Medrano is the first signing Damaschke has framed as a new kind of WBPA filmmaker: a creator who built her audience outside the studio system. The deal is also the studio’s first since Damaschke’s Annecy reset.
The artist-first pitch is, in practical terms, a wager that original animated musicals, Dr. Seuss adaptations, and DC stories can all ship from the same shop. Prehistoria is the test case. Damaschke still has six other features to absorb the result if the wager goes the other way.
What Medrano Brings to the Table
Medrano’s path to the WBPA stage is the studio’s strongest argument for the wager. Variety, which broke the WBPA slate out of Annecy, noted Medrano’s combined YouTube and Prime Video footprint has generated billions of views, an audience Damaschke explicitly cited as the reason for the deal. Deadline reported the original 2019 YouTube pilot alone gained over 120 million views. Damaschke’s case for the deal was simple: Medrano arrives with a built-in fanbase and a track record of converting indie work into mainstream attention. Hazbin Hotel in particular set records as one of Prime Video’s biggest animated launches. The trade press, including Variety, called Medrano “one of the most influential voices in independent animation.”
Her career has unfolded in five visible steps:
- 2019: Medrano’s Hazbin Hotel pilot lands on YouTube, per Deadline.
- Hazbin Hotel migrates to Prime Video, setting records as one of the platform’s biggest animated launches.
- Helluva Boss follows Hazbin Hotel to Prime Video.
- 2026: Prime Video renews Hazbin Hotel for a fifth and final season.
- June 22, 2026: WBPA announces Prehistoria at Annecy.
The years between 2019 and 2026 are the case Damaschke was making. Medrano’s Hellaverse gave her a decade of serialized work, a stable voice cast, and a fanbase that already shows up for original songs. Per her statement, Prehistoria is a story she has been holding for years. The film is the first project to step outside that universe.
The Slate Around Prehistoria
Prehistoria is one of seven theatrical features WBPA has lined up for 2026 through 2028, plus one theatrical short. The full slate, as presented at Annecy, mixes Dr. Seuss adaptations, original musicals, DC stories, and a Hellaverse creator’s first feature.
| Film | Release | Lead creative |
|---|---|---|
| The Cat in the Hat | November 2026 | Carloni, Rivinoja |
| Bad Fairies | May 21, 2027 | Dong, Staphylas |
| Prehistoria | TBA | Vivienne Medrano |
| Dynamic Duo | 2028 | Swaybox Studios |
| The Lunar Chronicles | November 3, 2028 | Noëlle Raffaele |
The most concrete release date belongs to Bad Fairies, the Cynthia Erivo and Ncuti Gatwa musical with James Acaster and Dee Bradley Baker joining the cast, set for May 21, 2027. The Cat in the Hat, an Alessandro Carloni and Erica Rivinoja Dr. Seuss adaptation, opens in November 2026 and is the first film out under the “new chapter.” Dynamic Duo, a Swaybox Studios puppetry-and-animation take on Batman sidekicks Dick Grayson and Jason Todd, hits theaters in 2028. The Lunar Chronicles, a Locksmith Animation sci-fi fairy tale directed by Noëlle Raffaele, releases November 3, 2028. Per Cartoon Brew’s coverage, the range is meant to demonstrate that “no singular house style” can hold across a release calendar.
The remaining slate, all still in development, includes Margie Claus, Oh, the Places You’ll Go!, a Hello Kitty film, a ThunderCats movie, and a Powerpuff Girls movie. A Daffy Season Looney Tunes short, premiered at Annecy and inspired by animator Maurice Noble, accompanied the studio’s Cat in the Hat presentation.
The Risks Buried Inside the Bet
The deal is rich on promise and thin on proof. Medrano has never directed a feature; the longest narrative work she has shipped is a roughly 25-minute episode of Hazbin Hotel or Helluva Boss. The shift from serialized streaming animation to a feature-length theatrical musical is, in craft terms, a different problem: song placement, pace, audience attention, and budget management all have to be solved at once. Cartoon Brew’s Annecy recap noted no footage was shown for Prehistoria, meaning the wager is, for now, a wager on the name.
The “no singular house style” pitch cuts both ways. It gives Medrano room to bring her visual identity, but it also means WBPA cannot offer the kind of internal production infrastructure that Disney or Pixar would have on hand. The doctrine leaves WBPA room to absorb a Prehistoria miss: six other films are already in production across the 2026-2028 slate.
There is also the question of timing. A Prehistoria theatrical release would land while Hazbin Hotel is wrapping its fifth and final season on Prime Video, putting Medrano in the position of running a streaming finale and a feature launch in parallel. Warner Bros. Pictures Animation has not announced a release date for the film, and Variety’s Annecy report described further details as “expected as the project moves through development.” The project is described as in development rather than in production, per Variety’s report.
The studio’s broader context adds another layer. Cartoon Brew’s recap noted the films’ fate will also depend on whether Warner Bros. Discovery completes its proposed sale to Paramount. The studio’s slate is being built during an active corporate transaction.
What Success Would Mean for Indie Animation
If Prehistoria works, it gives the next generation of online animators a clearer runway to features. The pitch Damaschke made at Annecy was that WBPA wants to partner with creators who have what he called “strong direct-to-fan connections.”
That is the kind of audience Medrano has spent a decade building on YouTube and Prime Video. Prehistoria is the test case for that strategy, and a successful film would also extend her studio relationship past the streaming finale of Hazbin Hotel. Prime Video’s renewal announcement explicitly described the fifth season as the show’s last.
Medrano has said publicly she is “so excited for fans to see how this story ends,” referring to the show’s fifth and final season on Prime Video. A feature debut from the same creator, on original material, would give the studio’s creator-led pitch its first concrete proof point. Either way, the Annecy announcement is the first data the doctrine has collected. Medrano is the only Annecy signing with both a built-in audience and a still-airing streaming series.
