Seal Team, Triggerfish’s third animated feature, has appeared Netflix’s global Top 10 films for the week ending 9 January 2022. According to statistics from Netflix, the animation film has so far been watched for over 10 million hours, making it the 9th most-watched film on Netflix in 27 countries.
Seal Team is the story of Quinn, a seal who spends his days relaxing in the sun, splashing in the beautiful waters off the coast of Cape Town, and swimming for his life from great white sharks. When he decides it is time for the food chain to bite back, Quinn recruits a ragtag team of likeminded seals to try and teach those sharks a lesson.
The all-star cast for Seal Team features Jessie T. Usher (A-Train in The Boys) stars as Quinn, alongside Oscar winner J.K. Simmons (Omni-Man in Invincible), Emmy winner Matthew Rhys (Philip in The Americans), Emmy nominee Kristen Schaal (Mabel in Gravity Falls, The Guide in What We Do In The Shadows) and four-time Annie Awards nominee Patrick Warburton (Joe Swanson in Family Guy).
South African stars in the film include Sharlto Copley (Wikus van der Merwe in District 9) and John Kani (Rafiki in The Lion King). Grammy Award winner Seal plays a singing seal called Seal Seal and action legend Dolph Lundgren (The Expendables) portrays a dolphin called Dolph.
Seal Team is the feature film debut of South African writer-director Greig Cameron, working from a story by Wayne Thornley (Adventures in Zambezia) and Brian and Jason Cleveland. Greig leaned into the ridiculousness of the seals vs. sharks premise. “Cape fur seals forming a military SEAL team to fight sharks is something so silly and ridiculous, it makes me grin,” says Greig. “It makes everyone grin.” But, co-director Kane Croudace adds that for all its silliness, behind the madcap gags and rapid-fire punchlines, Seal Team is also an inspiring underdog story that everyone at Triggerfish related to.
Triggerfish’s first two films, Adventures in Zambezia and Khumba, sold nine million cinema tickets globally, placing them in the five biggest box office hits from Africa ever. Triggerfish then went on to animate the Oscar-nominated Roald Dahl adaptation Revolting Rhymes as well as four much-loved Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler adaptations, including the 2021 Annie Award winner The Snail and the Whale and the 2020 International Emmy-winning Zog, all produced by Magic Light Pictures.