Nimona · reception & legacy

2023 · Troy Quane

How Nimona has been received, argued over, and remembered.

The arc

Famously left for dead when Disney shuttered Blue Sky Studios in 2021 with the film mostly finished, it was rescued by Annapurna and Netflix — and rode that survival story all the way to a Best Animated Feature Oscar nomination in 2024.

What's debated

Fans still argue over the adaptation itself — whether the film softens ND Stevenson's darker, thornier graphic novel or improves on it — alongside the perennial 'Netflix buried it' complaint.

Its footprint

It instantly became a queer-animation touchstone — 'the movie Disney tried to kill' — with Nimona's shark form and gleeful chaos-gremlin energy living on as fan-art and meme fuel.

Where it stands

A near-instant Letterboxd favourite and a fixture of the modern queer animation canon, cited as proof of what studio animation can be when it isn't sanded down.

★ Did you know? The film was reportedly around three-quarters finished when Disney shut down Blue Sky Studios in April 2021 and cancelled it; Annapurna revived the project with DNEG Animation and Netflix released it in June 2023 — reporting on the Blue Sky version cited internal pushback over its queer content, including a same-sex kiss.