Lupus Films to adapt Benji Davies’ Storm Whale books into animation trilogy

The Storm Whale Trilogy specials are being written and directed by Robin Shaw

ANNECY: UK indie Lupus Films is in development on a series of three animated films based on the award-winning Storm Whale books by Benji Davies, published by Simon and Schuster.

The Storm Whale Trilogy, three half-hour specials written and directed by Robin Shaw (The Tiger Who Came to Tea), were presented during MIFA at the Annecy International Animation Festival this week.

The trilogy will reunite Shaw with producers Ruth Fielding and Camilla Deakin, joint MDs at Lupus, who also worked on The Tiger Who Came to Tea, as well as We’re Going on a Bear Hunt and The Snowman & The Snowdog.

Grammy-winning composer David Arnold, best known for scoring five James Bond films, will write the music for the trilogy. Arnold also wrote the original score for The Tiger Who Came to Tea, which won the British Animation Award for Best Music.

The Storm Whale was published in 2013 and has been followed by The Storm Whale in Winter (2016) and Grandma Bird (2018). They follow the adventures of a young boy who lives on a slip of land surrounded by sea and explore themes of friendship, love, loneliness and courage.

“The books look so beautiful and perfectly suit Lupus’s trademark hand-drawn animation style, which really captures their essence,” said Fielding. “The stories are both poignant and exciting, with truly engaging characters and perilous adventures that are sure to have kids on the edge of their seats.”