'Sharknado' Production Company The Asylum Launches An Assault On The Animation Medium With 'Izzie's Way Home'

Even if you haven't actually sat down and watched their movies, you have probably brushed shoulders with the work of The Asylum. The independent film production company reached a new level of notoriety with their Sharknado films, but they've been working the low-budget, direct-to-video corner of the film industry for nearly two decades. Their modus operandi: hustle easily confused movie fans by making low-budget "mockbusters" that resemble actual movies when given a quick glance. This method has survived into the age of streaming: they make cheap, fast junk that exists so it can be mocked by hipsters or accidentally rented by someone who mistakes Transmorphers for Transformers or Age of Tomorrow for Edge of Tomorrow.

And now, The Asylum is creating an animated film division. Place your bets on which famous movie they're ripping off first!

Variety reports that The Asylum will debut its new animated division with Izzie's Way Home, which tells the story of a lost fish who must "brave the perils of the sea and [learn] how to be true to herself." That actually isn't as egregious as it could have been. There was a time when this movie would have been called Locating Nemo. Maybe The Asylum is getting a little less shameless post-Sharknado? Nah. They just released San Andreas Quake and Martian Land, after all.

If you want to know what an animated movie produced by these folks looks like, here's the first still from the film:

Just a hair to the left of nightmarish, right? Anyway, The Asylum CEO David Rimawi says that Izzie's Way Home, which will star the voices of Tori Spelling (!) and Joey Fatone (!!) is the next natural step for the company:

"Our in-house VFX department is used for creating many, many sharks and robots for our live-action films, so animating creatures for a film like this just makes sense."

And that does make sense. As much as I roll my eyes in the general direction of the Sharknado series or groan every single time I see a title like Atlantic Rim or Battle of Los Angeles on my television, I can't help but admire this company's pluck. Their movies may be unwatchable and their methods suspect, but they're actually out there, doing work, making movies! They've released 29 films in the past two years and that's impressive, even if they're junk. I respect that. I hate that I respect that, but I do.

Perhaps the best way to end this article is with the trailer for Avengers Grimm, which is some kind apex of shamelessness that should be noted by the chroniclers of human history:

Izzie's Way Home will arrive directly on DVD in May. It will be purchased by many confused grandparents.