The Lion King co-director Rob Minkoff in talks for an AI film

Rob Minkoff, co-director of "The Lion King" and director of "Stuart Little," is in advanced discussions to board the AI-assisted feature "Storm Dogs" from Particle 6, the studio behind the synthetic performer Tilly Norwood, Variety reported on September 25, 2026. Variety describes advanced discussions, not a signed deal; Particle 6's official release, as reported by TheWrap, describes the film as in early development with no distributor announced.

The film is a family comedy-drama about Poppy, a toddler separated from her adult caretaker when a storm hits an English village, who bands together with a group of dogs to get home. Minkoff would be creative lead, developing story, characters and script with Particle 6 founder Eline van der Velden. Production is targeting a 2027 start.

The production method is the news for anyone working with generative tools. Particle 6 says "Storm Dogs" combines live-action performances with photorealistic animated characters, using AI tools, conventional production and human actors together, in a process where a performer's expressions, physicality and inflections are applied to the animated character rather than voice alone. The toddler and the dogs will be created from a mix of live action and AI. A company spokesperson framed that as "a real bonus," telling Variety that "neither toddlers nor animals need to be on set for long hours." Van der Velden said the film's nature "presents a challenge that would be extraordinarily difficult to achieve through conventional production alone," and that the company is "keeping every creative decision in human hands."

Both named people gave statements rather than interviews. Minkoff said he had spent much of his career looking for ways to make animal characters "funny, emotionally truthful and completely alive," and that he found a group of filmmakers at Particle 6 who "care deeply about story, character and performance."

The hiring would extend a run of Hollywood-adjacent moves around generative production. Particle 6's first feature, "Misaligned," which stars Tilly Norwood, began production earlier this month; the studio put the character on the press circuit last week, including an interview with Piers Morgan in which she switched from English to Cantonese. SAG-AFTRA has said Norwood is not an actor but "a character generated by a computer program that was trained on the work of countless professional performers, without permission or compensation," and that signatory producers must notify and bargain with the union before using a synthetic performer.

Variety reports no budget, financing or distributor for "Storm Dogs," and Particle 6 has not said which AI systems it will use on the film. The performer-consent question the guild raised about Norwood is unanswered by this announcement; the union's 2026 TV and theatrical agreement requires notice and bargaining when a synthetic performer takes a role a human would play.

The next step to watch is whether the talks close into a signed deal and whether Particle 6 names the tools and performers involved; the studio is targeting a 2027 production start.