Hoping for that Gorillaz movie? Nope. Not gonna happen.

The beauty of being behind a virtual band is that you can push things in directions you never could with an IRL group. Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett have always looked at Gorillaz that way so when news emerged that they were working on a feature-length animated movie for Netflix, fans got pretty pumped.

A deal was secured with Netflix and work began on a script. It all looked pretty good–until it didn’t.

If you’ve been following the fortunes of tech companies over the last year, you’ll know that there have been plenty of layoffs. Those changes also affected Netflix in the form of the shuffling of staff and various cutbacks. One of the casualties is apparently the Gorillaz movie because Netflix has dismantled much of its animation division.

Damon and Jamie gave an interview to a Dutch-language magazine called Humo that detailed what happened (Via Stereogum).

Yes. That is to say, and without naming names because the whole matter has not yet been settled: the streaming platform for which we were making the film has withdrawn. They started to panic because they were making too much content and decided to cut back on their movie offerings. And, as has been classic Hollywood practice for decades, the guy we were working with has moved on to another company. From then on you have lost your guardian angel, and there seems to be a bad smell hanging on you. Hollywood is quite territorial: if a new guy comes along, he must and will have a different opinion, even if he secretly agrees with his predecessor.

Hey, Apple TV! Interested? Better yet, what about you, Disney+?