NETFLIX Movie “Orion and the Dark” Features Colin Hanks

Netflix and DreamWorks’ new animated kids’ movie Orion and the Dark is about a young kid and his encounters with his greatest fear: the Dark. The story is being told by older Orion, who is voiced by Colin Hanks, to his daughter Hypatia (Mia Akemi Brown) in order to help her to get over her own fears. The character in the movie even looks a little bit like the actor.

“This is really such a delight,” Colin told the hosts of Good Morning America. “It’s basically a story about a young kid who needs to overcome his fear of the dark as well as numerous other fears and it being an animated movie Dark comes and visits him and takes him around the world to show him the beauty of the dark.” He continues “It’s a really sweet film that doesn’t have a bad guy and it’s very accessible for everyone. It’s simply about overcoming your fears.”

When he was asked about the important takeaways that we can walk away with especially with families, Colin explains that more than anything else it just shows ‘hey we’re all human beings and everyone has got issues’ and a lot of times, the fears are a lot worse in our mind than they are in reality.

“So that’s kind of the message of the film, but it’s also funny and beautiful to look at.”

Orion and the Dark was written by Charlie Kaufman and when Colin learned that he is doing a kids movie he wanted to be a part of the project. “As I read it, I just went ‘wow this is really some not only profound stuff that we are talking about’. Again, there is no bad guy pushing a plot, it’s simply this relatable subject.”

“Everybody has a hard time overcoming your fears but it’s not impossible”, he finishes. And we all got them. Colin reveals his biggest fear at the end of the short interview which you can watch below. You’ll get to see a short clip from the movie at the beginning of the interview.

Besides Colin Hanks, the leading vocal cast features Jacob Tremblay, Paul Walter Hauser, and Mia Akemi Brown. The film is based on the best-selling picture book Orion and The Dark by Emma Yarlett and was released on Netflix on February 2nd, 2024.