Atomic Cartoons Hangs Ten with Sony’s ‘Surf’s Up’ Animated Series Adaptation

Thunderbird Entertainment Group Inc. announces that its animation studio, Atomic Cartoons, will be developing and intends to produce Surf’s Up: The Series, a new animated comedy show based on the hit film Surf’s Up from Sony Pictures Animation.

The animated series will be written by Lienne Sawatsky, Dan Williams and John Hazlett, who are also the trio behind popular animated children’s series’ The Guava Juice Show and have written on many other children’s series. All three will also serve as the series’ showrunners. Jennifer Twiner McCarron, CEO and Chair of Thunderbird Entertainment; Joel Bradley, President of Atomic Cartoons; and Aaron Behl, Senior Vice President of Originals at Atomic Cartoons, will serve as executive producers, with Kitty Walsh, Executive Director of Development at Atomic Cartoons, as a co-executive producer. Rick Mischel serves as executive producer for Sony.

“Our team at Atomic is thrilled to be working on Surf’s Up: The Series and for the opportunity to introduce these adored characters to the small screen, reaching new and existing fans of the iconic animated film,” said Twiner McCarron, who is also the CEO of Atomic in addition to Thunderbird.

“Lienne, Dan and John are passionate about only two things in life — penguins and surfing,” adds Behl. “It was undeniable that they were the write team (pun intended) to adapt Surf’s Up as a hilarious animated series.”

Based on Sony Pictures Animation’s 2007 film Surf’s Up, which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, Surf’s Up: The Series is being developed as an 11-minute animated comedy for kids ages six to nine. The show follows an over-confident teen penguin named Flip who teams up with a group of zany young surfers on his quest to become a surf legend. Things, of course, go spectacularly wrong and the wipeouts are epically embarrassing but together, Flip and his friends will build their own surf community on Pen Gu Island. The series will also feature the return of popular characters from the original Surf’s Up film including Cody Maverick, Big Z and Chicken Joe.

“We’re excited to be partnering with Atomic and their long history of bringing great intellectual property to series animation. Surf’s Up is iconic and we look forward to a whole new audience getting to know these characters,” said Mischel.

The series will be marketed internationally to secure additional distribution partners and consumer products. This series would be the latest addition to the Thunderbird library, joining other owned IP series including Super Team Canada, Mermicorno: Starfall and The Last Kids on Earth, among others.

atomiccartoons.com