ACTF News

Australia’s SLR Productions and Canada’s Sinking Ship Entertainment have partnered to develop a 90-minute CGI feature film, Monkey Base.

Announced at this year’s Australian Children’s Content Summit in Coffs Harbour, Monkey Base is an animated comedy/sci-fi adventure created for global family audiences.

Monkey Base marks the first in a planned suite of family films from the official co-production partnership, formed following a meeting between SLR Productions and Sinking Ship Entertainment at the inaugural Australian Children’s Content Summit in 2023.

SLR Productions’ CEO Suzanne Ryan and Sinking Ship Entertainment’s Carla de Jong will serve as Executive Producers, alongside Blair Powers and Matt Bishop. SLR Productions’ Yasmin Jones joins as Producer, with Dean Sutherland as Producer, whose concept inspired the movie.  The award-winning script team includes screenwriter Joel Slack-Smith, with script editing by Michael Drake.

Design and animation will be led by the globally renowned Sinking Ship Entertainment, which will also handle international distribution, with SLR Productions managing Australian and New Zealand distribution.

Major support for the development of Monkey Base comes from Screen NSW and the Australian Children’s Television Foundation, which has been instrumental in bringing the Australian-Canadian partnership to life.

Monkey Base tells the story of Erika, a hotshot Space Academy cadet with a heroic legacy to live up to is destined for greatness, until a graduation prank goes wrong lands her on a duct-taped disaster of a space station - Monkey Base 7, a forgotten space dump run by a dancing St. Bernard and staffed by a bunch of misfit mammals.

But when a moon-sized piece of space junk threatens Earth, Erika must lead her band of oddballs in a last-chance mission to save the planet.

SLR Productions CEO and Australian Children’s Content Summit Founder Suzanne Ryan said: “Monkey Base is a bold and funny adventure that brings together some of the most exciting creative talent from Australia and Canada.  It is a story with universal appeal about courage, friendship and finding your place in the universe, wrapped up in a wildly imaginative sci-fi comedy.  This partnership with Sinking Ship Entertainment began at the first Australian Children’s Content Summit, so it feels fitting to announce the project here at this year’s event.  With the support of Screen NSW and the Australian Children’s Television Foundation, we are proud to be building a global family film franchise as an Australian Canadian co production.” 

Sinking Ship Entertainment’s Carla de Jong said: "We’re thrilled to be bringing this bold new animated feature to life as an Australian–Canadian co-production.  This film is pure space chaos in the best possible way.  At its heart, the film is a celebration of friendship, resilience, and the courage to embrace your own path — all wrapped up in an irreverent, cosmic adventure.  With Erika’s journey from misfit to hero, we’re blending laugh-out-loud comedy with high-stakes sci-fi in a way that we know will resonate with audiences of all ages.”