Orion and the Dark is a 2024 American animated fantasy adventure comedy film directed by Sean Charmatz and written by Charlie Kaufman.
Plot[]
Orion is an elementary school boy with a seemingly never-ending list of anxieties and irrational fears, such as bullies, the ocean, cell phone radiation, murderous gutter clowns, falling off tall buildings and the fear of being rejected by his school crush, Sally, at an upcoming planetarium field trip. But of all his fears, the thing he's the most afraid of is what he confronts on a nightly basis: the Dark. One night Orion becomes startled by a sudden blackout and, when he frantically curses the dark, the embodiment of his worst fear appears before him, having grown irritated of hearing Orion complain about him, and offers to help the reluctant boy conquer his fears by showing him the benefits of darkness.
During their travels, Dark introduces Orion to his other associates; Sleep, Insomnia, Quiet, Unexplained Noises and Sweet Dreams. The others scold Dark for bringing Orion, knowing too well of his neuroticism. Dark is able to convince them to let him tag along to witness their work, to which they reluctantly agree. As they travel Dark shows Orion what each of the night entities do. Quiet removes surrounding sounds, bringing nothing but silence; Sleep induces people to sleep; Insomnia induces anxiety in those who are sleeping, waking them up in the night; Unexplained Noises makes various noises outside homes; and Sweet Dreams creates dreams. However things start to go wrong when Orion, due to his own anxiety, interferes with the other entities' jobs. Eventually, Orion warms up to Dark and they start to become friends, and the young boy helps the night entities in their tasks. During a break in China, Orion learns that Dark has a nemesis named Light, who brings daylight in the mornings while Dark brings night-time in the evenings.
Continuing their journey, Orion inadvertently remarks that Light seems much more preferable to Dark, as Light makes him feel safe and warm. Feeling dejected, the night entities abandon their night time duties in favour of working during the day. Angry and saddened that the others have abandoned him, Dark stops mid-flight and he and Orion perch on a mountain top. A guilty Orion pleads with Dark to move before Light passes through him and disintegrates him. Dark doesn’t move and as Light passes through him he vanishes, abandoning Orion. Now alone, Orion sits on the mountain top which he realizes is actually the back of a flying turtle, consumed with guilt over what he has done.
Orion, now laying on the beach, is met by a young girl Hypatia who promises to help him put things right. Reciting a poem she has written based on the story so far the night entities are drawn to the beach, having witnessed the chaos that endless daylight brings without night time to keep the balance. Hypatia points out that Dark isn't necessarily gone as he is a literal embodiment of Orion's worst fear: All he needs to do is sleep and dream about Dark. With Sweet Dreams' help the two children enter Orion's subconscious and successfully summon Dark, however the reunion is cut short when the closet door opens revealing a black hole that sucks Dark in. Orion, finally learning to let go of his fears, jumps in to save his friend. The night entities realise that the only way to save them all is to wake Orion up, but all their attempts fail until Quiet sucks all sound from the area and softly tells Orion it is time to wake up. Dark re-manifests, restoring the natural order of the world and returning the children to Orion's house before bidding them farewell. This leaves them with a problem, Hypatia reveals that she is from the future 20 years and with no way to return home. The story is resolved as a boy named Tycho arrives in a time machine to return Hypatia to her proper place.
The story ends again, and is revealed as an adult Hypatia telling the story to her son, Tycho. Finishing the story, Hypatia goes outside to say goodnight to her father and mother, the now much older Orion and Sally, as the scene cuts back to the start of the film with a young Orion and Sally gazing at the stars on the Planetarium field trip.