Warner Bros. Pictures Sets ‘Tom and Jerry: Forbidden Compass’ Release Date

EXCLUSIVE: Warner Bros. Pictures will release Chinese co-produced animated feature Tom and Jerry: Forbidden Compass on August 9 in China.

The film is set to make its world premiere at the ongoing Shanghai International Film Festival.

Tom and Jerry: Forbidden Compass follows the iconic cat-and-mouse duo as they accidentally travel through time in a museum. Along their journey, they meet a group of intriguing new companions and become involved in a final showdown with mysterious forces.

Produced by Warner Bros. Pictures in China, Tom and Jerry: Forbidden Compass will be distributed in the country by Wu Zhou Film Distribution Co. Ltd.

Chinese director Zhang Gang helmed the project, after previously co-directing Kuiba 3.

Zhang also worked on the animation for No.7 Cherry Lane, which won the Best Screenplay Award in the main competition section at the Venice International Film Festival in 2019.

This is not the first time that Warner Bros. has adapted the Tom and Jerry IP into a localized version for an Asian market.

In 2023, WBD made its first-ever localized version of Tom and Jerry, set in Singapore. This premiered as a series of shorts on Cartoon Network and HBO Go across various Asian territories, before a global rollout.

Another series of Tom and Jerry shorts was also made for Japanese audiences.

This year marks the 85th anniversary of Tom and Jerry, after the duo was first created in 1940 as an animated cartoon series by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera.