French animation and VFX studio STIM is building a production center in Tenerife and hiring more than 100 people. Netflix just greenlit another series in Yeon Sang-ho’s “Parasyte” universe, cementing Korea as a franchise production hub.
Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” is dominating the theatrical conversation on two fronts: format differentiation and casting backlash that didn’t translate into box-office resistance. And Kevin Feige publicly confirmed plans to bring Miles Morales into the MCU after the animated “Spider-Verse” films wrap.
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The common thread: infrastructure. Studios are making physical investments in new geographies. Streamers are building repeatable production pipelines outside Hollywood. Exhibitors are monetizing experiential formats. Franchise architects are telegraphing IP transitions years before they happen.
For media professionals tracking where the work is going, these moves sketch the next five years of production, development, and creative hiring.
New Studios, New Geographies
STIM, the company behind “The Wild Robot,” “The Garfield Movie,” and the unreleased “Coyote vs. Acme,” is opening a production center in Spain’s Canary Islands with plans to create more than 100 jobs. Per Variety, STIM Tenerife will operate under the Canary Islands’ ZEC tax incentive framework, which offers reduced corporate tax rates and customs advantages for companies establishing operations in the region.
This is not a satellite office. STIM is building physical infrastructure, hiring locally, and leveraging regional tax policy to make animation production viable outside traditional European hubs like Paris and London.
The company already operates facilities in France, Canada, Belgium, and Madagascar. Adding the Canary Islands signals something animators and pipeline engineers should pay attention to: the work is becoming geographically distributed, driven by talent availability, cost efficiency, and government incentives designed to attract production.
A permanent animation facility changes the local creative economy. More broadly, it reflects studios’ increasing willingness to build capacity wherever the talent and tax incentives align rather than concentrating everything in established media capitals.
Meanwhile, Netflix continues building international franchise ecosystems. The streamer has greenlit “Parasyte: Tamiya,” a new live-action series starring Shioli Kutsuna, marking Yeon Sang-ho’s return to the “Parasyte” universe.
Set to stream in 2027, the series follows Yeon’s earlier “Parasyte: The Grey” and shows Netflix commissioning multiple titles within a single IP universe from the same creator. Yeon developed “Parasyte: Tamiya” and will executive produce, with Son Hyung-bin directing. This is sustained, multi-year production demand in Korea: Korean writers, directors, crew, and post-production teams employed on an ongoing basis within a franchise that now has sequel potential and a repeatable model.
Put these two stories side by side and you see the dual mechanics of global production expansion. Studios build physical infrastructure in new regions. Streamers commission content that creates sustained demand in specific international markets. Both create hiring opportunities.
One Film, Two Industry Tests
Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” has surpassed $300 million at the global box office and become a case study in two simultaneous industry conversations: experiential theatrical formats and casting backlash.
Variety sent a correspondent to experience the film in 4DX, the format that adds moving seats, water sprays, wind effects, and other physical sensations synchronized to the action on screen. The 4DX “Odyssey” includes seat vibrations during battle sequences, water mist during ocean storms, and motion effects during ship navigation. For exhibitors, this is the format differentiation strategy that streaming cannot replicate.
The economics are straightforward. 4DX theaters require upfront capital in specialized seating and effects equipment, but they let exhibitors monetize the gap between home viewing and theatrical viewing. As streaming continues to erode the mid-tier theatrical market, experiential formats become one of the few defensible reasons to leave the house. “The Odyssey” is the kind of prestige blockbuster that justifies that investment.
The second conversation is cultural. Whoopi Goldberg addressed transphobic criticism of Elliot Page’s casting on “The View,” telling critics to “not go see the damn movie” if they object to Page’s involvement.
The backlash, primarily on social media, did not translate to box office resistance. “The Odyssey” opened to record numbers and has sustained strong performance. This outcome matters because it reveals the gap between social media controversy and audience behavior. Studios are watching these dynamics closely, as they inform future casting decisions and marketing strategies for tentpole releases.
“The Odyssey” is functioning as a two-front industry event: the format strategy is working, and the backlash is not.
Feige Maps the Next Spider-Man
Kevin Feige publicly confirmed what many industry observers suspected: Marvel Studios plans to bring Miles Morales into the MCU as a live-action character after the animated “Spider-Verse” films conclude.
In a recent interview, Feige said, “We definitely have plans” for the character’s transition from animation to live-action.
This telegraphs a major IP pipeline transition years in advance. Miles Morales has been the protagonist of Sony’s animated “Spider-Verse” franchise, both critically acclaimed and commercially successful. Once that animated story wraps, Marvel plans to introduce the character into the live-action MCU, creating a new Spider-Man franchise thread alongside or potentially replacing Peter Parker.
For professionals in development, casting, production, and marketing: a live-action Miles Morales film or series requires casting, script development, pre-production, principal photography, post-production, and marketing. All of that takes years. Feige’s comment signals Marvel is in the early stages, meaning hiring will follow across all those disciplines.
The transition also shows how studios manage IP across formats. Miles Morales comes with built-in audience awareness and franchise equity from the animated films. Moving him to live-action extends that IP into a different format and revenue stream while maintaining continuity with the broader Spider-Man universe. This is franchise architecture at its most deliberate: planning transitions across formats, timelines, and production pipelines to maximize both creative and commercial potential.
What This Means
The work is moving geographically, culturally, and across formats. Studios are building production capacity in tax-incentive regions. Streamers are commissioning franchise content that locks in sustained demand in specific international markets. Exhibitors are investing in experiential formats. Franchise stewards are publicly mapping IP transitions years ahead of production.
If you work in animation or VFX, watch for studios opening facilities in regions like the Canary Islands, Ireland, or Eastern Europe. If you work in international production, track which streamers are building franchise ecosystems in Korea, India, or Latin America. If you work in franchise development or casting, pay attention when executives telegraph major projects years out. Those comments are hiring signals.
You can browse open roles on Mediabistro to see where demand is growing now. If you are hiring for production, development, or creative roles, post a job on Mediabistro to reach professionals tracking these shifts.
This media news roundup is automatically curated to keep our community up to date on interesting happenings in the creative, media, and publishing professions. It may contain factual errors and should be read for general and informational purposes only. Please refer to the original source of each news item for specific inquiries.
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