{"id":84776,"date":"2023-10-14T09:21:00","date_gmt":"2023-10-14T07:21:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/disappointment-as-netflix-halts-tunga-film-by-zim-born-godwin-jabangwe"},"modified":"2023-10-14T14:48:13","modified_gmt":"2023-10-14T12:48:13","slug":"disappointment-as-netflix-halts-tunga-film-by-zim-born-godwin-jabangwe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/disappointment-as-netflix-halts-tunga-film-by-zim-born-godwin-jabangwe","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Disappointment\u2019 as Netflix halts \u2018Tunga\u2019 film by Zim-born Godwin Jabangwe"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Zimbabwe. <\/strong><\/span>GLOBAL streaming giant Netflix is shutting down two film projects that were in pre-production, one of them the musical \u2018Tunga\u2019 by US-based Zimbabwean creator Godwin Jabangwe.<\/p>\n<p>Sources close to the project told NewZimbabwe.com Friday that the team was disappointed over the announcement as \u201cmany people had lost their jobs\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>The development is the result of an ongoing restructuring of Netflix\u2019s animation unit after the company announced plans to cut costs by some $300 million earlier this year.<\/p>\n<p>The other cancelled project, a film titled \u2018Escape From Beverly Hills\u2019, will be put back on the open market while \u2018Tunga\u2019 goes back into development.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEssentially, (for Tunga) this means the project is not dead,\u201d sources told NewZimbabwe.com.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNetflix owns the project and still intend to make it; we hope that continues,\u201d the sources added when asked whether the film could be taken elsewhere.<\/p>\n<p>Netflix won a four-way bidding battle for Jabangwe\u2019s animated family adventure back in 2019 for a reported a mid-six figure guarantee, retaining him as a writer on the project.<\/p>\n<p>Commenting on what was his first sale, Jabangwe said at the time; \u201cI never dreamed that a story set in Zimbabwe, on the streets that I grew up playing soccer with a homemade ball, would get made.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m thrilled to be working with Netflix to bring Tunga to life and grateful to Imagine Impact for helping me take the strand of an idea and weaving it into a tale that I truly hope the world will love.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The film, which is inspired by Shona mythology, tells the story of a young girl named Tunga, who \u2013 after the death of her father \u2013 must venture to a mythical lost city where her people\u2019s spiritual elders can teach her how to summon the rain and save her village from a long-enduring drought.<\/p>\n<p>Accompanying Tunga is her animal totem Zuze \u2014 a wooden figurine that comes to life as a trouble-making honey badger \u2014 who Tunga must learn to trust and work with in order to complete her journey.<\/p>\n<p>Jabangwe discovered screenwriting while working eight hour shifts in a community college library.<\/p>\n<p>He had left Zimbabwe for the United States with one suitcase and a copy of To Kill A Mockingbird. He later graduated the UCLA screenwriting MFA programme.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <a href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\">Zimbabwe<\/a> Follow <a href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/\">Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Zimbabwe. GLOBAL streaming giant Netflix is shutting down two film projects that were in pre-production, one of them the musical \u2018Tunga\u2019 by US-based Zimbabwean creator Godwin Jabangwe. Sources close to the project told NewZimbabwe.com Friday that the team was disappointed over the announcement as \u201cmany people had lost their jobs\u201d. The development is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":84775,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,5],"tags":[1493,2189,19],"class_list":{"0":"post-84776","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-all-news","8":"category-culture-and-art","9":"tag-africa-press","10":"tag-africa-press-zimbabwe-2","11":"tag-zimbabwe"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.1 (Yoast SEO v24.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>\u2018Disappointment\u2019 as Netflix halts \u2018Tunga\u2019 film by Zim-born Godwin Jabangwe - zimbabwe<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"GLOBAL streaming giant Netflix is shutting down two film projects that were in pre-production, one of them the musical \u2018 ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/disappointment-as-netflix-halts-tunga-film-by-zim-born-godwin-jabangwe\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u2018Disappointment\u2019 as Netflix halts \u2018Tunga\u2019 film by Zim-born Godwin Jabangwe\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"GLOBAL streaming giant Netflix is shutting down two film projects that were in pre-production, one of them the musical \u2018 ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/disappointment-as-netflix-halts-tunga-film-by-zim-born-godwin-jabangwe\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"zimbabwe\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-10-14T07:21:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-10-14T12:48:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2023\/10\/sm_1697268945.703716.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"522\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/disappointment-as-netflix-halts-tunga-film-by-zim-born-godwin-jabangwe\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/disappointment-as-netflix-halts-tunga-film-by-zim-born-godwin-jabangwe\",\"name\":\"\u2018Disappointment\u2019 as Netflix halts \u2018Tunga\u2019 film by Zim-born Godwin Jabangwe - zimbabwe\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/disappointment-as-netflix-halts-tunga-film-by-zim-born-godwin-jabangwe#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/disappointment-as-netflix-halts-tunga-film-by-zim-born-godwin-jabangwe#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2023\/10\/sm_1697268945.703716.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-10-14T07:21:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-10-14T12:48:13+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#\/schema\/person\/2e02b5816e71b1149d79877f669a85e4\"},\"description\":\"GLOBAL streaming giant Netflix is shutting down two film projects that were in pre-production, one of them the musical \u2018 ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/disappointment-as-netflix-halts-tunga-film-by-zim-born-godwin-jabangwe#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/disappointment-as-netflix-halts-tunga-film-by-zim-born-godwin-jabangwe\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/disappointment-as-netflix-halts-tunga-film-by-zim-born-godwin-jabangwe#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2023\/10\/sm_1697268945.703716.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2023\/10\/sm_1697268945.703716.jpg\",\"width\":800,\"height\":522,\"caption\":\"\u2018Disappointment\u2019 as Netflix halts \u2018Tunga\u2019 film by Zim-born Godwin Jabangwe\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/disappointment-as-netflix-halts-tunga-film-by-zim-born-godwin-jabangwe#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"\u2018Disappointment\u2019 as Netflix halts \u2018Tunga\u2019 film by Zim-born Godwin Jabangwe\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/\",\"name\":\"zimbabwe\",\"description\":\"\u0623\u062e\u0628\u0627\u0631 \u064a\u0648\u0645\u064a\u0629 \u0639\u0644\u0649 \u0645\u062f\u0627\u0631 \u0627\u0644\u0633\u0627\u0639\u0629\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#\/schema\/person\/2e02b5816e71b1149d79877f669a85e4\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"\u2018Disappointment\u2019 as Netflix halts \u2018Tunga\u2019 film by Zim-born Godwin Jabangwe - zimbabwe","description":"GLOBAL streaming giant Netflix is shutting down two film projects that were in pre-production, one of them the musical \u2018 ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/disappointment-as-netflix-halts-tunga-film-by-zim-born-godwin-jabangwe","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"\u2018Disappointment\u2019 as Netflix halts \u2018Tunga\u2019 film by Zim-born Godwin Jabangwe","og_description":"GLOBAL streaming giant Netflix is shutting down two film projects that were in pre-production, one of them the musical \u2018 ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/disappointment-as-netflix-halts-tunga-film-by-zim-born-godwin-jabangwe","og_site_name":"zimbabwe","article_published_time":"2023-10-14T07:21:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-10-14T12:48:13+00:00","og_image":[{"width":800,"height":522,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2023\/10\/sm_1697268945.703716.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/disappointment-as-netflix-halts-tunga-film-by-zim-born-godwin-jabangwe","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/disappointment-as-netflix-halts-tunga-film-by-zim-born-godwin-jabangwe","name":"\u2018Disappointment\u2019 as Netflix halts \u2018Tunga\u2019 film by Zim-born Godwin Jabangwe - zimbabwe","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/disappointment-as-netflix-halts-tunga-film-by-zim-born-godwin-jabangwe#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/disappointment-as-netflix-halts-tunga-film-by-zim-born-godwin-jabangwe#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2023\/10\/sm_1697268945.703716.jpg","datePublished":"2023-10-14T07:21:00+00:00","dateModified":"2023-10-14T12:48:13+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#\/schema\/person\/2e02b5816e71b1149d79877f669a85e4"},"description":"GLOBAL streaming giant Netflix is shutting down two film projects that were in pre-production, one of them the musical \u2018 ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/disappointment-as-netflix-halts-tunga-film-by-zim-born-godwin-jabangwe#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/disappointment-as-netflix-halts-tunga-film-by-zim-born-godwin-jabangwe"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/disappointment-as-netflix-halts-tunga-film-by-zim-born-godwin-jabangwe#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2023\/10\/sm_1697268945.703716.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2023\/10\/sm_1697268945.703716.jpg","width":800,"height":522,"caption":"\u2018Disappointment\u2019 as Netflix halts \u2018Tunga\u2019 film by Zim-born Godwin Jabangwe"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/disappointment-as-netflix-halts-tunga-film-by-zim-born-godwin-jabangwe#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"\u2018Disappointment\u2019 as Netflix halts \u2018Tunga\u2019 film by Zim-born Godwin Jabangwe"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/","name":"zimbabwe","description":"\u0623\u062e\u0628\u0627\u0631 \u064a\u0648\u0645\u064a\u0629 \u0639\u0644\u0649 \u0645\u062f\u0627\u0631 \u0627\u0644\u0633\u0627\u0639\u0629","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#\/schema\/person\/2e02b5816e71b1149d79877f669a85e4","name":"cfeditoren"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84776","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84776"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84776\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84775"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}