What projects has Skydance Animation produced under John Lasseter’s leadership?
Executive summary
Skydance Animation’s publicly identifiable slate under John Lasseter’s leadership includes the feature Luck (released 2022 on Apple platforms) and several projects in development or produced during his tenure such as Spellbound, Pookoo/Swapped, Ray Gunn and other untitled features tied to an Apple deal; Lasseter is credited as producer on Skydance’s features and executive producer on its series [1] [2] [3]. Many of those projects were initiated before or independently of his arrival in 2019, and his role has been both creative overseer and strategic shepherd as Skydance expanded its output and signed a multi-picture/series arrangement with Apple [1] [4] [5].
1. Luck — the first high-profile release overseen by Lasseter
Luck, a family-oriented CGI feature that reached audiences via Apple after Skydance’s distribution deals, is the clearest example of a finished Skydance Animation project released while Lasseter ran the animation division; reporting states Luck was well underway when he arrived in 2019 and that he oversaw its completion and release in 2022 [1] [2]. Coverage describes Lasseter’s hands-on creative approach being applied to Luck, even as the film had already “sunk millions” into production before his hiring, and the studio incorporated some of his signature production practices from Pixar and Disney (travel research, empathy-driven story development) into its workflow [1].
2. Spellbound, Pookoo/Swapped and Ray Gunn — development slate under the Apple deal
Skydance’s development list under Lasseter includes Spellbound (directed by Vicky Jenson), Pookoo/Swapped (initially called Pookoo, with Nathan Greno attached) and Brad Bird’s revival of Ray Gunn — all projects named in trade reporting as part of the post‑2019 slate that Lasseter was helping to set strategy and shepherd, with many of them tied to the overall deal Skydance struck with Apple in 2021 [2] [1] [4]. Sources note that some of these projects were brought to Skydance by filmmakers who had previously worked with Lasseter, and that the studio planned an ambitious release cadence of multiple features per year, with theatrical vs. streaming distribution decided film-by-film [1] [2].
3. Production-credit role: producer on all features, executive producer on series
Skydance’s announcement and subsequent reporting make clear that Lasseter’s formal role at Skydance included producing credits on features and executive producing credits on series, positioning him as the creative overseer of the animation unit rather than as a sole auteur of each film [3] [5]. Corporate statements from Skydance’s CEO framed his hire as intended to “set overall strategy and creative direction” while overseeing production and operations, which helps explain why his influence is credited on multiple films in development even as individual directors and writers lead day-to-day creative work [5] [6].
4. Context, controversy and pre-existing projects — how much is ‘his’ work?
Multiple outlets emphasize that several Skydance projects credited to his era began before his January 2019 arrival — Luck being the most explicit example — and that his appointment was controversial because of past allegations that led to his exit from Disney/Pixar; coverage records both internal studio enthusiasm for Lasseter’s creative leadership and external criticism from advocacy groups and peer companies who warned about the optics and workplace dynamics of his rehiring [1] [7] [2]. Reporting also shows that Skydance and Apple deals enlarged the studio’s slate, meaning many of the films and series tied to Lasseter’s tenure are the product of both pre‑existing development and new initiatives launched with his oversight [4] [2].
5. What reporting does not (yet) establish definitively
Public reporting catalogs titles in production and describes Lasseter’s supervisory role, but it does not provide a comprehensive, itemized list of every Skydance Animation project wholly conceived, greenlit, produced and released only after his hiring — nor does it quantify his creative fingerprints on each film versus those of directors, writers and producers on individual projects; the sources establish his producer/executive producer credits and influence, but not a full causal map of which ideas originated with him versus preexisting teams [3] [1] [2].