Navigating a hopeful future with ‘The Wild Robot’

Filmmaker Chris Sanders had finally cracked “The Wild Robot.” Peter Brown’s middle-grade book, about an intelligent robot living in the wilderness, had been sitting on the shelf at DreamWorks Animation for a bit. No one had quite figured it out. Then Sanders, the man behind beloved animated features from “Lilo & Stitch” to “How to Train Your Dragon,” came along.

His vision, however, was different from the norm: The story started without zippy dialogue and didn’t follow traditional beats. He also wanted to embrace a more illustrated style that melded analog warmth with computer-generated imagery capabilities, which was finally technologically possible. Before he got too deep, he needed to make sure the studio was on board.

“They said, ‘That’s the reason we bought the book. We want to do something different,’” Sanders said. “One of the great strengths of DreamWorks is they’re willing to try new things. To everybody’s credit, they stayed the course.”

And it’s already paying off. “The Wild Robot” opened No. 1 in theaters nationwide this weekend, riding in on a wave of critical acclaim. Sanders didn’t know it at the time but something bigger was at play too: “The Wild Robot” would be released coinciding with the studio’s 30th anniversary.

It wasn’t so long ago that DreamWorks was the new kid on the block. The upstart, founded by Jeffrey Katzenberg, Steven Spielberg, and David Geffen, was in October 1994 the first new studio in 60 years. Since their first animated release (“Antz,” in 1998), DreamWorks Animation has released 49 feature films that have grossed more than $17 billion at the box office. They have major franchises, including “Shrek,” which became the first best-animated feature Oscar winner, “Kung Fu Panda” and “How to Train Your Dragon,” originals and Emmy-winning television series.