Italian production company Atlantyca Ent., which owns rights to the popular children’s book property Geronimo Stilton, has teamed with Canada’s 9 Story Ent. and France’s Moonscoop Prods. to co-produce an animated series based on the worldwide kid lit hit created by Atlantyca chairman Pietro Marietti.
Published in Italy by Edizioni Piemme and in the U.S. by Scholastic, the Geronimo Stilton books follow the adventures of a mouse who lives in New Mouse city on Mouse Island. Credited as the author of the books, Geronimo writes for The Rodent’s Gazette and manages to get into capers with his younger sister, Thea Stilton, his cousin, Trap Stilton, and his favorite nephew, Benjamin Stilton. Since debuting in May of 2000, the Awrad-winning books have sold more than 14 million copies in Italy alone, and have been translated into 29 languages.
Atlantyca, 9 Story and Moonscoop plan to initially produce 26 half hours of the animated series, which will be available for presales at MIPCOM 2007 in Cannes. The three companies will also share in the international distribution rights for the property. Television and home video rights for all English-speaking territories are held by 9 Story, while Taffy Ent., which manages distribution for Moonscoop, will distribute the series in French-speaking territories. Atlantyca retains rights in Italy and the rest of the world, and will handle North American distribution in conjunction with 9 Story.
Marietti tells us Atlantyca is in a good spot by having one foot in the publishing industry and the other in the animation licensing business, which he says is cutting-edge for an Italian company. He goes on to say that it was easy to find co-production partners for the Geronimo Stilton series because the children of many execs are fans of the books. The company plans to launch more properties first as publishing ventures and eventually develop them into animated shows. More information on Geronimo Stilton is available at www.geronimostilton.com.
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