Netflix Lands 'In Waves': The Animated Film That Stopped Cannes in Its Tracks
TL;DR: Netflix has acquired global rights (outside France) to In Waves, the animated feature that opened Cannes Critics' Week 2026. Directed by Phuong Mai Nguyen and voiced by Oscar-nominated Stephanie Hsu and Will Sharpe, the film adapts AJ Dungo's 2019 graphic memoir about young love, illness, and surfing. It's the streamer's first major Cannes acquisition this year. No global release date confirmed yet—but this is worth marking on your watchlist now.
On the Croisette in May 2026, while the main competition sorted itself out, something unexpected happened in the parallel section: an animated film about a skateboarder and a surfer quietly became the most talked-about acquisition of the entire festival.
Netflix moved fast. The streamer secured global rights outside of France to In Waves, the Critics' Week opener directed by Phuong Mai Nguyen, in what Variety reported as a deal in the mid-seven-figure range—Netflix's first significant buy out of Cannes 2026. Anonymous Content, CAA Media Finance, and Charades brokered the deal on behalf of the filmmakers. Multiple worldwide offers were on the table. That bidding war matters: it means Netflix didn't pick this up out of prestige charity. Other streamers wanted it badly.
Why Phuong Mai Nguyen Just Became a Name You Need to Know
Getting an animated feature into Critics' Week at Cannes is already rare. Animation doesn't often get serious-cinema treatment in European festival programming. That Phuong Mai Nguyen managed it—and arrived with enough critical momentum to trigger a bidding war—tells you something about what she's built here.
The film follows AJ, a shy Los Angeles teenager who skateboards and draws, and Kristen, a surfer whose energy pulls him out of his shell. They fall hard. They plan a future. Then Kristen gets sick, suddenly, with no warning. What follows is a portrait of two young people holding each other up when the ground gives way, with surfing and the ocean serving as both literal escape and emotional metaphor throughout. Dungo's original graphic memoir is notable for how much it communicates through silence—long wordless sequences where the Pacific swallows the panel borders whole—and early Cannes reactions suggest Nguyen preserved that quality on screen.
Voice cast:
- Stephanie Hsu (Oscar-nominated for Everything Everywhere All at Once, 2022)
- Will Sharpe (BAFTA winner, The White Lotus Season 3)
Here's what's interesting: neither is a voice actor by trade. That usually produces the best results in animation—you hear the performance, not the technique. The fact that both are also executive producers means they were genuinely invested early on, not just hired for marquee value.
Production details:
- Screenplay: Fanny Burdino and Samuel Doux
- Producers: Priscilla Bertin and Judith Nora
- Production company: Silex Films
- French distributor: Diaphana
- International sales: Charades
What This Deal Actually Signals About Streaming in 2026
Here's the part most write-ups skip: Netflix buying an animated film out of Cannes Critics' Week isn't just a feel-good story about prestige animation getting its moment. It's a signal about where streaming is heading.
Adult animation has been one of the most under-served categories for years. You've got your adult comedy end (Arcane, Invincible) and your family animation. But the quiet, emotionally grounded animated feature—the kind that sits on the same shelf as The Breadwinner or Persepolis—has struggled to find a home that actually amplifies it. Netflix paid somewhere between $5 million and $9 million to change that equation for In Waves. The last time the streamer spent comparable money on a non-franchise animated acquisition was The Mitchells vs. the Machines in 2021, and that was a Sony family comedy with a completely different audience profile. This buy has no safety net of IP recognition or kid-friendly marketing. Pure conviction purchase.
What's striking is the international comp that comes to mind immediately: films like I Want to Eat Your Pancreas (2018) or A Silent Voice—Japanese animated work built around illness, young love, and devastating emotional precision that found massive audiences through streaming. In Waves is positioning itself in exactly that register, just through a Western lens and LA skateboard culture instead of Tokyo high schools. If Nguyen's direction delivers what the Cannes reviews suggest, Netflix may have found its answer to a real genre gap.
I keep coming back to the "multiple worldwide offers" detail. That's not just flavor text. That's competitive pressure. That's other platforms believing this film can perform across markets—not just with arthouse subscribers, but with younger audiences who grew up on graphic novels and want animation that doesn't talk down to them.
Where You'll Actually Watch It (and When)
Netflix holds global rights outside France. That means Indian subscribers are in the picture. Given Netflix India's track record with prestige animation and dubbed content, there's a solid expectation that In Waves will arrive with at least Hindi dubbing—possibly Tamil and Telugu depending on how the marketing team reads the audience.
Where to watch by region:
- India: Netflix (date TBC)
- US: Netflix (date TBC)
- UK: Netflix (date TBC)
- Spain: Netflix (date TBC)
- France: Theatrical via Diaphana (Netflix rights excluded)
The Indian angle is worth unpacking. AJ Dungo's graphic memoir has a small but devoted following among Indian readers who found it through international comics communities online. The skateboarding-and-surfing setting reads as aspirational in a way that travels well. More importantly: Indian audiences have consistently connected with illness-and-love narratives across formats—from Kal Ho Na Ho to Ae Dil Hai Mushkil to The Sky Is Pink. This isn't a guess. It's pattern recognition.
The animation style, described as elegant rather flashy, should work well on mobile viewing—which remains the dominant Netflix consumption mode in India. Movie OTT's where-to-watch tracker will update India availability listings for In Waves the moment a confirmed streaming date lands.
Why the Release Timing Actually Matters More Than You Think
The part I'm most curious about: whether Netflix positions this as an awards-season title or pushes it out sooner. The Cannes buzz is freshest right now. Every week without a release date costs the film some of that critical momentum. A late 2026 release—October or November—would catch Oscar and BAFTA eligibility windows. That feels deliberate if it happens. And here's the real strategic wrinkle: the Animated Feature Oscar race has been a two-horse contest between Pixar and whoever else shows up for three straight years now, and the Academy has been visibly hungry for something outside that lane. Netflix knows this. They can smell the opening.
A trailer should drop within weeks. Watch for festival screenings to continue at Telluride, Toronto, or NYFF as Netflix builds the rollout. These moves tell you whether the streamer is treating In Waves as an event or an evergreen title.
Hard to say if the mid-seven-figure deal will look smart or overconfident until we see viewing numbers. But the combination of Nguyen's direction, Hsu and Sharpe's performances, and source material with a built-in readership suggests Netflix made a real bet here—not a prestige checkbox.
Movie OTT will have confirmed streaming dates across all regions as they're announced. For cast and crew details before the release, their database has the full production lineage.
The Production Team Behind the Deal
David Levine and Nick Shumaker of Anonymous Content, who serve as executive producers, weren't shy about what drew them in. "From the very start, we were energized by Mai's unmistakable talent and the ability of AJ's story to deeply move audiences," they said. "This exciting partnership with Netflix will ensure that our romantic, coming-of-age story reaches people all over the world."
Producer Priscilla Bertin of Silex Films echoed that: "I am very happy about this partnership with Netflix and their enthusiasm for In Waves, which gives us the opportunity to reach the broadest possible audience and share this deeply moving true love story with the world."
Both quotes say the quiet part out loud—this wasn't positioned as niche art-house work. The filmmakers genuinely believe they have something with mass-market emotional reach. Netflix agreed enough to win a bidding war over it.
What to Watch For Next
A trailer drop should come within weeks. Beyond that—festival circuit, release date confirmation, regional dubbing announcements. The thing to track is velocity. Fast-moving release suggests Netflix is confident and wants to capitalize on Cannes momentum. Slower rollout suggests they're planning long-tail positioning across multiple markets.
For the latest confirmed dates and regional availability as they're announced, Movie OTT tracks global streaming releases in real time—check back there when the news breaks.
