Rob Minkoff, who co-directed The Lion King and directed the first two Stuart Little films, has signed on to direct Storm Dogs, a family film whose dogs and toddler will be generated with AI. The producer is Particle 6, the studio of Eline van der Velden, best known as the creator of the AI "actress" Tilly Norwood.
The story is simple: a crew of pups helps a toddler lost in the woods find the way home. What makes it news is who is directing it, and why he says AI is the right tool for this one.
What follows comes from The Hollywood Reporter's article by Steven Zeitchik, published on 10 November 2026 and read on 11 November, and from Particle 6's website. We have not seen the teaser beyond the article.
What the film is
Storm Dogs is a hybrid. According to THR:
- AI generations for the toddler and for the dogs, which come in a wide range of breeds.
- Human voice actors for the dogs.
- Adult actors in select live-action scenes.
- A workflow built on existing models, with the 3D software Blender in the pipeline.
The team has made a proof of concept of about two and a half minutes, which it plans to show at public events and to industry buyers. A private donor behind Particle 6 is financing the film, and the producers will look for a studio distributor later. Minkoff estimates the whole film, from story development and generation to script polish, editing and live shoots, will take about a year.
Why Minkoff says yes
His argument is about what is hard to shoot, not about saving money. He told THR he has worked with animals and with children and knows how difficult it is. With animals, he said, it "borders on the inhuman to put them through the paces of a movie set." He used real toddlers on Stuart Little and called the experience unfair to crew and child alike.
Van der Velden makes the same case: "I wanted to make a film that needed to be made with AI." Talking dogs, she says, have never looked convincing in classic animation or CGI, "and also you never want to shoot with dogs and toddlers."
Minkoff also told THR he has no involvement with Tilly Norwood and does not endorse it.
The hard part is the one every AI filmmaker knows
Minkoff does not pretend it is easy. Dogs filmed in close-up have very specific features, and AI struggles to keep them the same from one scene to the next. That is the consistency problem, scaled up to a cast of dogs who must stay recognisable for 90 minutes.
Filip Parulski, on the Particle 6 team, says new tools will "help us actually direct rather than spend time in the 'AI casino'". The AI casino is a good name for what happens without a plan: you pull the lever, hope the dog still has the same patch over its eye, and pull again.
Try it free
Try ScreenWeaver for free on your script
It is free. Import your existing project, get a clearer view of your outline, and regain control of your story structure in minutes.
Start FreeWhat this means for your own film
You may not be making a family feature, but the method scales down:
- Treat every animal as a character. Each dog gets a name, a description of its markings, size and coat, and a reference sheet before any shot is generated. "The beagle" is not enough when there are three beagles.
- Decide what is generated and what is shot. Storm Dogs generates what is hard or unfair to film and shoots adult actors live. Write that split shot by shot on your storyboard, not halfway through production.
- Keep close-ups for when the references are solid. Wide shots forgive small drift. Close-ups do not. Plan your hardest close-ups once the character sheets are locked.
- Direct, do not gamble. A storyboard where every shot names its characters and place turns a lever pull into a decision.
In ScreenWeaver, characters, places and objects are story elements with their own reference sheets, and each storyboard shot cites the ones it shows. Our guides to keeping characters consistent across a storyboard and fixing character drift in AI video go further, and 3D animation with AI covers the Blender side.
What we don't know
- The budget. THR says AI could cut costs enough to make indie family films possible, but gives no figure for Storm Dogs.
- The models and tools. The team built its tool on existing models and uses Blender. THR does not name the models.
- A distributor. None is attached. THR asks whether studios will take the risk of a backlash.
- A release date. Minkoff estimates about a year of work. No date is announced.
FAQ
What is Storm Dogs? A hybrid live-action and AI-generated family film about a crew of pups helping a lost toddler get home. Particle 6, the studio of Eline van der Velden, produces it and Rob Minkoff directs, according to The Hollywood Reporter on 10 November 2026.
Who is Rob Minkoff? A veteran family filmmaker who co-directed The Lion King (1994), directed the first two Stuart Little films and Mr. Peabody & Sherman (2014).
What will be generated with AI in Storm Dogs? The dogs, in a wide range of breeds, and the toddler. Human actors voice the dogs, and adult actors appear in select live-action scenes. The team built its tool on existing models and also uses Blender.
Is Storm Dogs connected to Tilly Norwood? It is produced by the same studio, Particle 6, whose founder created Tilly Norwood. Minkoff told THR he has no involvement with Tilly Norwood and does not endorse it.
How do you keep AI-generated animals consistent across a film? Treat each animal as a character with a written description and reference images, make every shot point to those references, and save the close-ups for when the references are locked. In ScreenWeaver, story elements and storyboard shots are linked so each shot pulls the right references.
From script to shots
Turn your script into a film, shot by shot
Write the scene, get its storyboard, then generate each shot with consistent characters. You direct every step.
Start your film free
