Gnome Alone sequel Game of Gnomes starts production, heads to AFM
The gnomes are back. SC Films International has started production on Gnome Alone: Game of Gnomes, a sequel to its 2017 animated family film, Deadline reported on 12 October 2026.
The London-based sales and production company will launch worldwide sales — selling distribution rights country by country — at the American Film Market, the annual marketplace where producers meet cinema buyers, according to the same report. Deadline
The story sends Chloe and Liam back in time to save mankind from warring families and the rock-like Troggs. They get help from gnome allies Quicksilver, Zook and Zamfeer.
Peter Lepeniotis is returning to write and direct the sequel. He also made the first Gnome Alone, having signed on to direct it after The Nut Job, released in 2014, according to Cartoon Brew. Cartoon Brew
Producers are Simon Crowe and Matthew Joynes for SC Films, alongside Lepeniotis, Kevin Hicks, Nathaniel Hunter and Euan Macdonald, Deadline reported. Production is split between California and Toronto, with animation by SiXiTZ Studios.
The film is the first project under a multi-picture, multi-year deal between SC Films International, SiXiTZ Studios and Magieva. In plain terms, the three companies have agreed to make several films together over several years.
SiXiTZ, an animation and media studio founded and led by Macdonald, is using workflows and technology built in partnership with Magieva on the sequel. Hunter and Macdonald previously built film and animation pipelines for Disney, Lucasfilm and Apple, and won an Emmy together in 2022 for an animation studio they co-founded.
The original Gnome Alone played in cinemas worldwide, with Netflix handling North America. Smith Global Media had set 13 October as its United States theatrical date in 2017, according to Screen Daily. Screen Daily
Lepeniotis's earlier The Nut Job took $120 million worldwide, Deadline reported. That figure is a lifetime total, with worldwide meaning all cinema markets combined.
SC Films is bringing a wider slate to the market. The animated titles include Girl in the Clouds and Zsazsa Zaturnnah. The live-action titles include Breeder and Cotton Eye Joe, with Cotton Eye Joe in post-production, the stage after filming when editing, sound and effects are finished.
What makes this stand out is the structure. Sequels to modest family titles often live or die on costs. A shared pipeline and a multi-film pact point to a plan to keep animation moving across more than one release.
