Overview
- Co-directors John Ripa and Alyce Tzue confirmed at an Annecy work-in-progress session that Netflix will take Steps straight to its streaming service rather than pursue a wide theatrical run.
- Ripa said the decision lets the film reach a very large audience at once, and the directors showed short clips to build festival and trade awareness.
- Steps reframes Cinderella by centering the stepsisters and arguing that “everyone deserves their happily ever after,” with creative aims to broaden how female animated characters are designed and portrayed.
- The voice cast is majority female and includes Amanda Seyfried, Bette Midler, Ali Wong, Stephanie Hsu and Nikki Glaser, and the project began at Amy Poehler’s Paper Kite before Netflix greenlit it in 2020.
- The straight-to-streaming release underscores Netflix’s case-by-case approach to theatrical windows and could affect awards eligibility and industry perceptions about which animated films get short theatrical runs.