Ron Howard is making his Netflix animated feature film debut with ‘The Shrinking of Treehorn,’ an adaption of the 1971 children’s book written by Florence Parry Heide and illustrated by Edward Gorey. The movie has been in development since 2019 with the animation studio Animal Logic and Howard’s Imagine Entertainment handling the production.
The movie was originally going to be distributed by Paramount Pictures under their Paramount Animation. Still, after a series of delays, Netflix announced that it would make its way onto their streaming service.
“Netflix has picked up ‘The Shrinking of the Treehorn,’ an animated musical film set in New York City during the holidays,” the streaming service said in a press release.

Ron Howard’s first animated feature "The Shrinking Of Treehorn" has been acquired by Netflix. The story centers on Treehorn, a young boy who starts shrinking one day, even if his parents barely seem to notice. pic.twitter.com/udjP3hSwJE

— Animation on Netflix (@nx_animation) May 16, 2022

With Howard directing and producing, screenwriter Rob Lieber, who previously worked on ‘Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day’ and ‘Peter Rabbit,’ is handling the writing duties.
Imagine Features President Karen Lunder told Variety in 2019, “This is a company that’s known, as are Brian and Ron, for having original storytelling at the highest level, be it features, television or documentaries.” She added, “These divisions have been evolving. To work with Animal Logic so closely, where they have such ingenuity and expertise, has been really exciting.”
Wikipedia describes the synopsis as follows,
“Treehorn is a young boy who begins shrinking one day. The book opens with the line “Something very strange was happening to Treehorn,” and the boy soon discovers that he is getting smaller when he cannot reach the candy bars and bumble gum he has hidden on a previously accessible shelf. (No reason for his shrinking is ever given in the text.) When his parents comment on it, they say, “Maybe he’s doing it on purpose, just to be different.” In the end, Treehorn returns to his normal size.”
Two sequels followed the first book, ‘Treehorn’s Treasure’ in 1981 and ‘Treehorn’s Wish’ in 1984.
This comes on the heels of the news that Netflix was canceling serval animated projects, including the Meghan Markle-produced project.