Killer of Killers could be the start of an exciting new era for animation from Disney. While Disney has evolved over the years into one of the most profitable and successful mᴀss media companies in the world, the backbone of its legacy can be found in Walt Disney Animation. The early cartoons of Walt Disney gradually established a studio that could pump out some of pop culture’s most foundational films. That animated evolution has only gotten more interesting in the years since the company procured other studios like Lucasfilm and Marvel Studios, especially in the realm of television.

However, feature animation from the likes of Walt Disney Animation, Pixar, and 20th Century has remained fairly consistent with the studio’s history. That might be about to change, though, thanks to the Predator franchise. Killer of Killers, the upcoming animated anthology focusing on different hunters in different eras, looks to be a bloody and stylish approach to the material. Killer of Killers is a breath of violent fresh air for animation fans, and should be a good indicator of how far animation can go from studios connected under the Disney banner.

Killer Of Killers Looks Like A Great Animated Movie

The Animated Action Looks Amazing

Killer of Killers looks like a fantastic animated film, and a good indicator of how the general moniker of “Disney Animation” can go far beyond what most audiences expect from the company. Killer of Killers was produced in tandem alongside Predator: Badlands, taking a more historic approach to the тιтular alien hunter as opposed to the futuristic setting of Badlands. The anthology film explores three different settings across human history, pitting three very different types of warriors against the Predator.

The animated approach is an ideal way to bring this story to life, as the live-action equivalent would have cost far more money to produce. The fluidity of the motion and the starkness of the character designs is reminiscent of something like Arcane or Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, with a grounded edge that gives the grisly kills and monstrous Predator designs a bit of extra bite. Just a technical achievement in the art form, Killer of Killers looks to be an impressive piece of animated potential brought to life in an exciting way.

Disney Animation Typically Leans Into Formula

There’s More To The House Of Mouse Beyond Princess Musicals

Most feature-length animation tied to the Disney company has been beholden to certain expectations and genres. Walt Disney Animation has been the standard bearer for the medium for over half a century, but it’s also established itself with family-oriented fairy tales and colorful musicals. While many of those films were strong in their own right, they spoke to a singular approach to the limitless potential of animation and often overshadowed the more technically experimental entries in the canon like Fantasia or Atlantis: The Lost Empire.

Even Pixar, which has always been inventive in its approach to subject matter and world-building, has a tendency to follow the same general tonal playbook as Walt Disney Animation. Their features are directed towards the whole family but younger audiences most of all, with plenty of characters, stories, and worlds that fit that general mold. This also applies to 20th Century Animation, whose most subversive project so far has been the somewhat raunchy humor of The Simpsons Movie. Films that fall under the umbrella of “Disney Animation” have been legends for years, but it’s always relied on established playbooks.

Marvel & Star Wars Have Been Forcing Disney To Broaden

Shows Like Star Wars Vision And What If…? Have Pushed The Envelope For Animation Connected To Disney

Things have started to shift in recent years, though, thanks in no small part to how the more experimental animation of Marvel and Star Wars properties have found audiences. What If…? was an interesting experiment for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, offering glimpses into different worlds where varied genre conventions and character archetypes took the forefront. The show was willing to get grim, scary, and morally ambiguous in a way most animation tied to Disney never has. The visual panache and unique perspectives of shows like Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur and Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man pushed Marvel’s approach to the medium.

Star Wars has had a foot in the world of animation for years, with Disney producing shows like Star Wars: Rebels and Star Wars Resistance that felt willing to push the boundaries of all-ages animation. Star Wars Visions is one of the biggest (and best) swings in the franchise’s history, giving a host of different animation studios and styles the freedom to experiment with the IP in exciting new ways that frequently bucked expectations about the franchise. Disney Animation can mean more than just replaying the hits, with Marvel and Star Wars proving how even established franchises can be tweaked.

Predator Pushes Disney Out Of Its Comfort Zone (And It’s Great)

This Isn’t What Walt Would Have Ever Expected, And That’s Exciting

Killer of Killers is a very unique animated film to come from the larger House of Mouse. Even if it isn’t a Walt Disney Animation project, it still comes from the same brand that Walt Disney established almost a century ago with Steamboat Willie, making the willingness to go all out with the gore, scares, and mature themes all the more impressive. The action in Killer of Killers looks like nothing the company has ever even attempted, and the execution looks to be phenomenal.

Having seen one of the three films’ vignettes, I’m incredibly impressed with how Killer of Killers moves. It feels like a Predator movie to the very core, but with a visual edge that makes it stand out from other animated projects. Even though it might feel familiar to fans of shows like Arcane, the animation in Killer of Killers has a hearty sense of physicality and weight that makes each fight scene hit harder. It’s all the resources of a major studio like 20th Century, which feels like a best-case scenario for an animated Predator movie set in different eras.

Disney Animation Should Experiment More

Embracing More Styles, Tones, And Approaches To Animation Is An Exciting Development For Disney

While 20th Century isn’t the same exact studio as Walt Disney Animation, the connection between them should be able to influence one another. Especially if the reaction to the full film is as universally positive as the response to the preview, Killer of Killers could be a genuine game-changer for one of the biggest names in animation. This could prove to Disney (and by extension Pixar, Marvel, and Star Wars) that there is plenty of room in the animated space for adult-oriented stories and subject matters alongside the likes of Moana 2 and Elemental.

Disney Animation’s most experimental films have often been a risk for the studio, but have also produced undeniable works of art like Fantasia. The expansive nature of the company in the present day means there are plenty more opportunities to push the envelope in exciting ways, with Killer of Killers being a prime example of how easily animated films can work across genres and franchises. Killer of Killers looks like a bold step forward for the Predator franchise, but it should also be a big move for Disney Animation as a whole.