Banjo The Woodpile Cat, a rarely seen 1979 animated film created by Don Bluth and other former Disney animators, is set to find a wider audience through several home video and TV agreements struck by Monster Distributes at MIPTV in Cannes. The recently restored half-hour movie generated significant interest from international buyers at the market.
Banjo is the story of a rebellious kitten who gets into trouble at home and runs away from his owners’ Utah farm by catching a ride on a truck headed to Salt Lake City. Bluth and his team worked on the film during nights and weekends while working at Disney and eventually left the studio to finish it and make the feature-length adventure The Secret of NIMH. Banjo enjoyed a brief theatrical run, followed by a network television debut in 1982. VHS copies can be found, but it was never released on DVD prior to the restoration.
Monster secured pan-Scandinavian DVD and publishing rights sale to Sun Tower, a television sale to M-NET in Africa and a DVD rights sale to Entertainment Unlimited for South Africa. The film has also been sold to DR in Denmark and RTE in Ireland, with Bowline taking all rights for Eastern Europe.
DR Denmark has also picked up rights to Monster’s animated kids’ series Lifeboat Luke, and Kids’ Ten Commandments and Paws and Tales have been sold to TVP Poland. Other deals inked at MIPTV include a sale of the new non-dialogue animated series Gazoon to Voxel Licensing for Eastern Europe, and a DVD rights sale to Entertainment Unlimited for South Africa. Innova Distribution picked up internet and IPTV rights to the show for Russia, CIS and Baltic States. In addition, Aerosvit and Air Malta have acquired Jungle Beat for their airline channels.
