New animated film follows the story of a teenage boy’s sperm on a quest to find the egg

It’s being labeled ‘Sausage Party meets Lord of the Rings’

Tommy Wirkola's new film Spermageddon is an animated musical about sex and conception told from the unique perspective of the spermatozoa.

Horror fans know Wirkola for his 2009 Scandinavian splatterfest Dead Snow, which introduced Nazi zombies on ski patrols into the world of cinema, and Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters, a campy, violent take on the Grimm’s fairy tale featuring Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton.

Spermageddon follows the adventures of two awkward teens, Jens and Lisa, who decide to have sex for the first time, and the related quest of Simon the Semen, two of Jens’ sperm, on a fateful journey to find Lisa’s egg.

Wirkola told The Hollywood Reporter: "I initially tried to get it set up in the U.S., and had a lot of fun meetings, with plenty of laughs, but every time it went up the ladder, there was an executive who said: ‘No, we’re not going to do that, we won’t go there.’

"So I thought, let’s see if we can make it in Norway, where there are really no restrictions on what you can do, and nobody telling you that this is too much."

Co-directed by Rasmus A. Sivertsen, the raunchy comedy premiered at the Annecy Film Festival last year.

There is a layer of sweetness to the story, particularly in its depiction of the inexperienced teens in their first sexual encounter.

Instead of R-rated adult animation, Spermageddon is aiming for a PG crowd, at least in Scandinavia.

Wirkola said: "I believe kids 12 and up should go see it, in Norway and in Scandinavia in general, this will get a 12+ rating.

"I know if I had seen a movie like this when I was that age, I would have loved it."

Silvertsen said: "Tommy and his team had the idea that this movie should look a bit like a family movie, have that cuteness, to sort of contrast with the content.

"A gritty, adult-animated version of this script would be a very different experience, and maybe not so funny. Tommy thought it was important that the film felt like a Pixar movie and we worked a lot to develop really appealing characters, who you’d want to follow on their adventure, cheering for them along the way."