Australia’s SLR Productions (Space Nova, Guess How Much I Love You, Captain Flinn and the Pirate Dinosaurs) and Canada’s Sinking Ship Entertainment (Jane, Dino Dana, Odd Squad) have today announced development is underway on a 90-minute CGI feature, Monkey Base.
Announced at this year’s Australian Children’s Content Summit, the movie is based on an SLR Original animated comedy/sci-fi adventure created for global family audiences.
SLR Productions’ CEO Suzanne Ryan and Sinking Ship Entertainment’s Head of Co-Production and International Partnerships Carla de Jong will serve as executive producers, together with Sinking Ship Entertainment Partners Blair Powers and Matt Bishop.
SLR Productions’ Yasmin Jones joins as a producer, alongside Dean Sutherland, whose concept inspired the movie. The award-winning script team includes screenwriter Joel Slack-Smith, with script editing by Michael Drake.
Design and animation will be led by Sinking Ship Entertainment, which will also handle international distribution, with SLR Productions managing Australian and New Zealand distribution.
Synopsis: Erika, a hotshot Space Academy cadet, is destined for greatness until a spectacular graduation mishap gets her reassigned from Earth’s newest, shiniest space base to its oldest and most embarrassing, Space Base 7.
Perched on the edge of a white hole and charged with protecting Earth from wayward asteroids, SB7 is run by the freewheeling Captain Derik and his dancing crew of misfits, including an entire team of meerkats all named Fred.
But when a moon-sized piece of space junk barrels toward Earth, Erika must rally this unlikely band in a last-chance mission to save the planet… and maybe even learn to have a little fun along the way.
Major support for the development of Monkey Base comes from Screen NSW, whose support, alongside the Australian Children’s Television Foundation, has been instrumental in bringing the Australian-Canadian partnership to life.
Monkey Base marks the first in a planned suite of family films from the official co-production partnership, formed following a meeting between SLR Productions and Sinking Ship Entertainment at the inaugural Australian Children’s Content Summit in 2023.
“Monkey Base is a bold and funny adventure that brings together some of the most exciting creative talent from Australia and Canada. It is a story with universal appeal about courage, friendship and finding your place in the universe, wrapped up in a wildly imaginative sci-fi comedy,” said Suzanne Ryan, CEO of SLR Prod. and Founder of the Australian Children’s Content Summit. “This partnership with Sinking Ship Entertainment began at the first Australian Children’s Content Summit, so it feels fitting to announce the project here at this year’s event. With the support of Screen NSW and the Australian Children’s Television Foundation, we are proud to be building a global family film franchise as an Australian Canadian co production.”
Sinking Ship Ent.’s Head of Co-Production and International Partnerships Carla de Jong said, “We’re thrilled to be bringing this bold new animated feature to life as an Australian–Canadian co-production. This film is pure space chaos in the best possible way. At its heart, the film is a celebration of friendship, resilience, and the courage to embrace your own path — all wrapped up in an irreverent, cosmic adventure. With Erika’s journey from misfit to hero, we’re blending laugh-out-loud comedy with high-stakes sci-fi in a way that we know will resonate with audiences of all ages.”
