‘Ultraman: Rising’ Helmer John Aoshima Inks Multi-Year Overall Deal With Warner Bros. Pictures Animation, Boards ‘Blue Eye Samurai’ Season 2​on April 7, 2025 at 4:15 pm

EXCLUSIVE: Hot animation director John Aoshima (Ultraman: Rising) has entered into an exclusive multi-year overall development deal with Bill Damaschke’s Warner Bros. Pictures Animation in feature animation, Deadline has learned. Under the deal, he will develop original and studio projects as Director in Development.

Elsewhere, Aoshima has landed a coveted gig with Netflix, one of today’s preeminent platforms for launching animation directors, as we understand he’s been signed as guest director for the second season of Blue Eye Samurai, the streamer’s Emmy- and Annie Award-winning series from Amber Noizumi and Michael Green.

Boasting over 25 years of experience in both television and feature animation, Aoshima recently made his feature debut as co-director of the Annie- and VES-nominated film Ultraman: Rising for Netflix. A CalArts grad, he’s also known for directing on series like DuckTales, American Dad!, and Disney’s hit Gravity Falls. His creative contributions also span projects like Laika’s Oscar-nominated stop-motion feature Kubo and the Two Strings, as Head of Story, and Jorge Gutierrez’s Maya and the Three, as Sequence Director.

Last week at CinemaCon, Warner Bros. previewed its new animated take on The Cat on the Hat, with star Bill Hader in tow. Also featuring the likes of Quinta Brunson, Matt Berry, and Bowen Yang, the film is due to hit theaters in 2026. Last month, the company sold off rights to its long-shelved Coyote vs. Acme to Ketchup Entertainment for around $50 million, finalizing a deal on which we were first to report. Among the current projects on the animation division’s development slate is a take on popular gothic character Emily the Strange with J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot, as we were first to report last fall.

Aoshima is represented by attorney Rob Szymanski.