Netflix Taps Hannah Minghella as Head of Feature Animation and Live-Action Family Film

Hannah Minghella is joining Netflix as head of Feature Animation and Live-Action Family Film. She will be replacing Karen Toliver and Traci Balthazor, who will both be leaving the streamer.

Minghella joins Netflix from Bad Robot, where she worked across all live-action, animation and documentary features as president of Motion Pictures. She recently wrapped on “Flowervale Street” from “It Follows” filmmaker David Robert Mitchell. Before that, Minghella had spent almost 15 years at Sony Pictures and Columbia, where she worked on animated titles like “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs” and “Hotel Transylvania,” along with live-action hits like “21 Jump Street” and “Casino Royale.”

Additionally, Sharon Taylor will return to Netflix to head up production on feature animation, based out of Vancouver. Sharon was previously CEO of Animal Logic Studios, the animation studio behind “The Lego Movie,” which Netflix purchased in 2022. For Netflix, Animal Logic produced “The Magician’s Elephant” and Adam Sandler’s “Leo,” which was released last year and proved one of the most popular Netflix original movies of the year.

“Hannah brings her unique skill set and experience to this role, along with strong relationships with top filmmakers. As a studio executive and producer, Hannah has overseen many franchise films across animation and live-action,” Dan Lin said in a Tuesday statement. “I believe her expertise will deepen our efforts to bring variety and quality to both our animation and live-action family film slate.”

“I am thrilled to be joining Netflix and the incredibly talented team working on feature animation and live-action family film. In such a short time, the studio has already distinguished itself within the animation community as a home for bold and original voices,” Minghella echoed. “I am so grateful to Bela and Dan for the opportunity to build on that foundation and collaborate on a dynamic slate of both animation and live-action movies. I have loved my time at Bad Robot with JJ Abrams, Katie McGrath and my wonderful colleagues there. It is hard to leave those people and those projects behind, but I return to being an executive with an even deeper appreciation and respect for all artists, storytellers, filmmakers and producers who give so much of themselves to the process of creating.”

Netflix has a mightily impressive animation track record, most notably the Oscar-winning “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” and the Oscar-nominated “The Sea Beast,” “Nimona” and “The Mitchells vs. the Machines.” Upcoming projects include anime “The Imaginary,” out next month, and “Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl,” “That Christmas” and “Spellbound,” the first film from their new pact with Skydance Animation. “Ultraman: Rising” was just released on the platform. Future projects include Brad Bird’s “Ray Gunn,” “K-Pop Demon Hunters” and a Jack and the Beanstalk project from Rich Moore.

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