Agents of SHIELD‘s Chloe Bennet is the first major talent to board Pearl Studios’ upcoming animated feature Everest, The Hollywood Reporter has exclusively learned.
The comedy-adventure, out Sept. 27, 2019, will be the first worldwide release for the Shanghai-based animation studio previously known as Oriental DreamWorks. Pearl will distribute the film in China, while Universal Pictures will handle distribution everywhere else.
Everest begins in the streets of Shanghai and follows a group of misfits who encounter a young Yeti named Everest. They then embark on an epic 3,000-mile journey to reunite the mythical creature with his family at the highest point on Earth, in the Himalayas. Bennet, repped by CAA and manager Patrick Baker of Fewlas Entertainment, will voice the lead character of Yi.
The animated feature, already in production at DreamWorks Animation, is being directed by Jill Culton and co-directed by Todd Wilderman. Will Davies and Irena Brignull wrote the screenplay, and Suzanne Buirgy is on board as producer and Tim Johnson as executive producer.
Bennet stars as Daisy Johnson, aka Quake, on the Marvel drama series, now in its fifth season on ABC. The half-Chinese, half-Caucasian actress grew up in Chicago but began her entertainment career in China, where she worked as a pop artist and model after being discovered by a music manager. She’s set to make her feature debut this summer in MGM’s Valley Girl remake. In addition, Bennet is the co-founder of Represent Us Now (RUN), a civic platform for the Asian-American Pacific-Islander community.
