Tayyaba
Jorge R. Gutiérrez is an award-winning Mexican animator, writer, producer, director, and voice actor. A few of his most famous works are ‘Nicktoon El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera’, ‘The Book of Life’ and his newest project, ‘Maya and the Three’. His upcoming ‘I, Chihuahua!’ is also likely to receive a lot of attention. Recently, he announced at the Annecy Film Festival that he plans to come out with another Netflix series which is set to be his third project with the streamer.
What are the details of Jorge’s new series?
Gutiérrez’s announcement came at the end of an animation workshop at Annecy, which was the first of it’s kind and had a special focus on Mexican animation. Jorge even had the pleasure of designing the 2023 Annecy poster. He revealed that this project will be set in the same mythological “Mesoamerican universe” as his hit animated feature, ‘The Book of Life’, which came out in 2014 and his more recent Netflix series ‘Maya and the Three’. The animator was extremely tightlipped about this project and did not reveal further details aside from the fact that it will feature “a lot of reincarnated characters that that. It’s pretty crazy but it’s still really early [in development].”
What is ‘The Book of Life’ and ‘Maya and the Three’ about?
The hit film ‘The Book of Life’ which grossed $100 million worldwide, follows the story of a Mexican man Manolo who sacrificies himself in a bid to save the love of his life and is transported to the Land of the Remembered, where he reunites with his dead ancestors and strives to get his life back. ‘The Book of Life’ was rejected by “every single studio in Hollywood, who all said ‘no one wants to see a film about dead Mexicans. This was back in 2001,” Jorge recalled at Annecy this year. Finally he gave the “worst pitch of all time” to Guillermo del Toro 13 years later who ended up producing the movie.
‘Maya and the Three’ is a recent popular Netflix series which offers a feminist spin on Mesoamerican mythology. It follows the story of a female warrior princess who “embarks on a journey to fulfill an ancient prophecy and save humanity from vengeful gods.” It was released in 2021 and has only one season. It was a global smash for Netflix. Now, with the announcement of this new series in the same universe, fans are more excited than ever to see what Gutiérrez comes up with this time!