One of Scandinavia’s most famous and memeable cultural exports is headed for the big screen. The Moomins are set to star in their first American-produced movie, with Steven Universe‘s Rebecca Sugar set to write and direct. The film is being produced by Annapurna Animation.

According to reports, the film will be the follow-up to Annapurna‘s acclaimed animated feature Nimona, which was likewise the brainchild of a noted TV animation creator, in this case She-Ra and the Princesses of Power‘s ND Stevenson. The Moomins have been adapted into animation many times, but this will be their first time hitting the big screen in over three decades. The Moomins were created by the late Finnish writer-illustrator Tove Jansson; their rights are now controlled by her family. Says Moomin Characters CEO Roleff Kråkström, “We are thrilled to partner with the talented Rebecca Sugar as well as Annapurna for this milestone new film. We are excited to see how this accomplished team will reinterpret the beloved Moomin stories and for them to be discovered and rediscovered by old and new fans alike.”

What Are the Moomins?

First created by Jansson in the 1945 book The Moomins and the Great Flood, the Moomins are a family of soft, white, hippopotamus-like trolls who dwell in Moominvalley. Friendly and gregarious, the Moomins make friends easily, and have welcomed a number of other creatures into their home. Jansson wrote nine novels, five picture books, and a syndicated comic strip about her creations before her death in 2001. The characters eventually became an international sensation, and have become a popular source of internet memes in recent years. They have also been adapted for the screen a number of times, in traditional animation, stop-motion animation, and even a live-action TV series featuring costumed actors. Most recently, Moominvalley, a Finnish-British co-production, took the characters into three dimensions via computer animation; running for four seasons between 2019 and 2024, it featured the voices of Taron Egerton, Rosamund Pike, and Matt Berry.

Sugar, who is non-binary and uses both she/her and they/them pronouns, has been hailed for her use of LGBTQ+ themes in Steven Universe, the tale of a young boy and his trio of extraterrestrial guardians. Moomin creator Jansson was bisexual, and lived with her partner, artist Tuulikki Pietilä, for 45 years; Pietilä is also said to have inspired the Moomin character Too-Ticky, a bohemian artisan.

A Moomins film is in development at Annapurna Animation.

via Collider