Star Wars and One Battle After Another Stars Team Up for Bonkers Anime-Inspired Sci-Fi About a Woman Injected With Superpowered Slime

Here comes a wild one: an animated sci-fi called 'Slime' just locked in a cast stacked with names you know, and the premise sounds like it crawled out of a neon fever dream. I mean that as a compliment.

So what is 'Slime'?

Set in a not-so-distant future, the story follows an upbeat but broke young woman who signs up for a paid clinical trial and gets injected with... slime. Not just any slime, though — it belongs to some mysterious creature, and it sets off destructive powers she can’t control. Things go very sideways very fast. On the run, she grabs the lab worker who stuck her with the stuff, and the two of them trek through a crumbling, dystopian world looking for safety and a cure. It’s part road movie, part monster movie, part everything-on-fire.

Described as an 'anime-inspired pre-apocalyptic sci-fi monster flick with retro video-game aesthetics.'

The cast and the brains behind it

• Willow Smith is set to play the lead character. She first popped up on screen in 2007’s 'I Am Legend' with her dad, Will Smith. This is her biggest swing yet, and it sounds like the entire story revolves around her character.
• Scott 'Kid Cudi' Mescudi was previously announced as the lead star. He’s also producing through his Mad Solar banner and will deliver an original soundtrack and score. More on him in a sec.
• John Boyega (yep, 'Star Wars' John Boyega) is on board.
• Teyana Taylor, fresh off her breakout in 'One Battle After Another,' joins the ensemble.
• Anna Sawai ('Shogun') is in the mix.
• John Cho rounds out the cast.
• Jeron Braxton, an animator-director, is at the helm.
• Producers: Mad Solar teams with Hammerstone Studios and Capstone Global.
• Script: Brian Ash.
• First announced: 2023.

Quick clarification on the 'lead'

This part reads a little inside baseball, so let’s simplify: marketing originally framed Kid Cudi as the lead star attached to the project. Now, per Deadline, Willow Smith is playing the lead role at the center of the story. Translation: Willow is the protagonist on screen, while Cudi is still a top-billed star and a creative driver (producer and composer). Different kinds of 'lead' — both true.

Why this combo is intriguing

The mash-up here is bold: anime adrenaline, pre-apocalypse grime, and that throwback video game look. With Braxton directing and Cudi scoring, it has the potential to feel like a late-night Adult Swim fever dream blown up for theaters. I want to see what that actually looks like in motion.

Kid Cudi’s screen track record

Beyond the music career and the Grammys, Cudi’s been busy on screen: 'Goodbye World,' 'Need for Speed,' 'Entourage,' 'Bill & Ted Face the Music,' and Netflix’s hit 'Don’t Look Up.' Horror fans saw him in Ti West’s 'X,' and he executive produced the follow-ups 'Pearl' and 'MaXXXine.' Most recently, he played an FBI agent in Netflix’s Adam Sandler sequel 'Happy Gilmore 2.' And now he’s adding 'animated monster odyssey' to the list — plus the soundtrack.