‘The Wild Robot’ Director Chris Sanders & Stars Lupita Nyong’o, Mark Hamill On Creating “Homage To Motherhood” – Contenders Los Angeles

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At the core of DreamWorks’ The Wild Robot is the heartfelt concept of creating your own found family. The sci-fi animated adventure film — written and directed by Chris Sanders based on the 2016 Peter Brown bestseller — follows Rozzum, a robot that gets shipwrecked during a typhoon on an island populated with animals but no humans.

While there, Roz discovers an unhatched egg of a gosling (Kit Conner) whose family she inadvertently killed. Because of this she takes on the role of protector, with the help of a sly fox (Pedro Pascal).  RELATED: 2024-25 Awards Season Calendar: Dates For Oscars, Grammys, Tonys, Guilds & More “Chris made me aware of the fact that in most animations, the mother is missing.

And the mother is missing in order for the adventure to happen,” Nyong’o said Saturday at Deadline’s Contenders Los Angeles event. “But this film is really an homage and a celebration to motherhood and parenting and the unique bond between a mother and child, whether biological or chosen.”  RELATED: The 2025 Oscars: Everything We Know So Far About The Nominations, Ceremony, Date & Host The acclaimed film recently crossed the $300 million threshold globally since its September release.

With $134.4 million domestic and $166.1 million internationally, The Wild Robot the No. 2 nonsequel studio film of 2024 behind It Ends with Us, the No.1 non-sequel Hollywood animated title of the year and the fourth-biggest animated studio movie of 2024 globally.   “I think one of the reasons why it’s been so well received and it’s resonating is because we can all relate to being either a parent or child,” Nyong’o continued. “And [the film] does so with an earnestness that is beautiful.