HIT Ent. has announced development of Angelina Ballerina: The Next Steps, a new CG-animated incarnation of the popular 2D children’s television show. Thirteen/WNET New York and Nick Jr. U.K. have come on board as co-production partners, with SD Ent. handling physical production under exec producer Karen Barnes from HIT Ent.
Based on the classic Angelina Ballerina books by author Katharine Holabird and illustrator Helen Craig, Angelina Ballerina: The Next Steps follows eight-year-old Angelina as she embarks on the next stage in her life at a new school where she’ll experience new forms of music and dance. The show will also introduce fans to Angelina’s new home in a neighborhood on the other side of Chipping Cheddar, new friends and a new teacher, Miss Mimi.
‘After 25 successful years in publishing, we are excited to be celebrating Angelina Ballerina’s anniversary with a fresh, new CG-animated look,’ says Lenora Hume, exec VP of production and programming for HIT Ent. ‘This style of animation allows us to move Angelina in a much more fluid way so that young fans can follow [her] steps in many more genres of dance, as well as traditional ballet.’
Angelina Ballerina: The Next Steps is slated to debut in the fall of 2009 and will air weekly on PBS KIDS in the U.S. and Nick Jr. in the U.K. The new series has been packaged as a set of 40 30-minute episodes for PBS and 80 12-minute
installments for Nick Jr. U.K.
