Genndy Tartakovsky reveals origins of The Black Knight, the adult animated movie he leaked to dru...

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&34;Throw in a little 'Gladiator,' 'Kingdom of Heaven,' throw Excalibur in there, and that's the pot that we're in right now,&34; he tells EW. Genndy Tartakovsk

"Throw in a little 'Gladiator,' 'Kingdom of Heaven,' throw Excalibur in there, and that's the pot that we're in right now," he tells EW.

Genndy Tartakovsky reveals origins of The Black Knight, the adult animated movie he leaked to drum up buzz (exclusive)

"Throw in a little 'Gladiator,' 'Kingdom of Heaven,' throw Excalibur in there, and that's the pot that we're in right now," he tells EW.

By Nick Romano

Nick Romano is a senior editor at ** with 15 years of journalism experience covering entertainment. His work previously appeared in *Vanity Fair*, Vulture, IGN, and more.

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October 9, 2025 8:35 p.m. ET

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Genndy Tartakovsky's 'The Black Knight' footage. Credit:

Genndy Tartakovsky/Instagram

- Genndy Tartakovsky shares why he leaked footage from *The Black Knight*, an animated movie he's been developing for the past six years.

- "Throw in a little *Gladiator*, *Kingdom of Heaven*, throw Excalibur in there, and that's the pot that we're in right now," he says.

- Tartakovsky points to the success of *KPop Demon Hunters* and *Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle* as to why he was "frustrated" by the project stalling.

Genndy Tartakovsky dropped a bomb on his longtime followers on social media last month.

The creator of such beloved animated hits like *Dexter's Laboratory* and *Samurai Jack* decided to release footage from *The Black Knight*, an adult animated movie he's been developing for "about six years" for Sony Animation, by his own estimations. He shared in an Instagram post how "the studio liked what we were doing but they were unsure if there is an audience that would go see it theatrically. We made a down and dirty test, and still no go."

By leaking that test footage without Sony's expressed permission — which he admitted "might get me in trouble" — he revealed a concept about a knight operating a giant mech suit of medieval armor from the inside using ropes, pulleys, and levers.

The hope is that leaking this footage, as well as other assets in the coming weeks, will drum up the buzz needed to get the movie made.

In an interview with ** around the New York Comic Con reveal of the third season to his show, *Primal*, Tartakovsky shared the origin for *The Black Knight* and what Sony's reaction has been to his leak.

'The Black Knight' test footage.

Genndy Tartakovsky/Instagram

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"I love knights," Tartakovsky tells EW. "I love all that stuff. I had this idea for a story that the knights are actually driving these big mech suits, but it's with Leonardo da Vinci-type of equipment. And that was it. I haven't really seen that. I love giant robot-type stuff. It's got this amazing father-daughter story [that's] part of it, incredible action, and it feels fresh and different."

*The Black Knight*, he continues, is a representation of who he is as a storyteller. "Knights exist there and giant robots exist there. So this is me mashing these two elements together and telling a story about my version of how the medieval world was," he says. "Throw in a little *Gladiator*, *Kingdom of Heaven*, throw Excalibur in there, and that's the pot that we're in right now."

Tartakovsky notes how he was seeing the immense audience response to animated works like *KPop Demon Hunters* and theatrically released anime *Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle*. The former is a fellow Sony Animation title, but one that released through Netflix; the latter became the biggest anime release of all time, including at the U.S. box office.

"It was just sitting there," he says of *The Black Knight*, "and I was so frustrated."

According to him, Sony likes the script, noting how he's "not getting any story notes anymore." They just, apparently, don't know who this kind of movie is for. EW reached out to reps for Sony for comment.

Did Tartakovsky get in trouble for leaking the footage? "They're like, 'Yeah, we saw that, but we're okay,'" he relays. "They're not stopping it because I think they support it, in a way. They want to see it happen, too. We have such a good relationship. So basically the question is, 'Is there an audience for this type of thing?'"

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Tartakovsky already sees the audience through his work on recent projects like *Primal* and *Unicorn: Warriors Eternal*, but also in the box office and streaming success of recent animated works that garnered plenty of adult viewers — *Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse *included. "We're gonna be low budget. Nobody's paying top dollar for this movie, which is fine," he notes. "So they have to see that the audience is there."

He adds, "I wish I had the magic words. The last 15 years of my career, I'm a salesman. How do you sell this product to this studio for them to realize they can make money? At the end of the day, it's not supporting me, myself, as an artist. They gotta make some bucks."**

You heard him, folks. Show *The Black Knight* some love on social media, if you want to see this on the big screen someday.

Original Article on Source

Source: "AOL Movies"

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