Pull up a throne this Thursday and prepare to be regaled when a new collection of stories from the groundbreaking anime Ranking of Kings assumes the throne! Premiering Thursday, April 13 at 11 a.m. PDT on Crunchyroll, Ranking of Kings: The Treasure Chest of Courage will reveal an untold tale from the adventures of Bojji, Kage and their companions.
Produced by WIT Studio (Spy X Family, Attack on Titan) and based on the manga by Sousuke Toka, Ranking of Kings is a coming-of-age fantasy epic about a young prince, born deaf and so small of stature that no one respects him. But his kindness, diligent spirit and remarkable abilities shine through when he befriends an unlikely outcast and begins his journey to climb the ranking of kings.
Series directors Yousuke Hatta and Makoto Fuchigami return to the helm for The Treasure Chest of Courage, alongside writer Taku Kishimoto. The series features music by Mayuko. The Japanese voice cast features Minami Hinata and Ayumu Murase as Bojji and Kage. The English dub is led by Emily Fajardo and SungWon Cho.
Ranking of Kings is available to stream on Crunchyroll.
The lizard king of Hollywood has already won over audiences around the world in his diminutive super-kawaii form, now the lovable kaiju is back on screens in Chibi Godzilla Raids Again. The new anime based on the popular kids’ book character premiered in Japan on April 1 and made its North American streaming debut today.
The 13 x 2’40” series centers on the quirky and hilarious exchanges between pint-sized monsters from the Godzilla universe. Fans will find Chibi Godzilla (voiced by Tokyo Anime Award-winning Code Geass star Jun Fukuyama) living on Monster Island, when suddenly, the appearance of Chibi Mechagodzilla (Yoshitsugu Matsuoka) shakes things up for all monsters. As shown in the series teaser, Chibi Godzilla will be joined by a large cast of new and familiar chibi characters.
In the debut episode, “Chibi Godzilla of Monster Island,” A little robotic monster washes up upon the shore and is given an extra warm greeting by a very special local. Who, or what, awaits him in this strange new land…?
The Japanese voice cast also features Takuya Eguchi as Chibi Ghidorah, Rie Takahashi as Chibi Mothra, Hiro Shimono as Chibi Rodan, Fumihiko Tachiki as Chibi Hedorah, Miyuki Sawashiro as Chibi Biollante, and Reina Ueda & Akari Kito as the Shobijin. Sumi Shimamoto, voice of Nausicaä in Hayao Miyazaki’s Nausicaä and the Valley of the Wind, narrates.
Chibi Godzilla Raids Again! is produced by TOHO with animation by Pie in the Sky studio. The series is written and directed by Taketo Shinkai (Aware! Meisaku-kun) with character design by Chibi Godzilla creator Chiharu Sakazaki; animation producers are Junichi Endo and Yuji Nikaido.
Cheerful little Chibi Godzilla was first introduced in Sakazaki’s 2018 children’s book Do Your Best, Chibi Godzilla! Since its debut, Chibi Godzilla has been featured in two additional picture books and a music video. There was also a short-form 3D-animated web series, I’m Home! Chibi Godzilla, which ran for two seasons from 2020 to 2021.
Watch the first episode of Chibi Godzilla Raids Again on TOHO’s official Godzilla YouTube channel. New episodes debut weekly on Mondays.
Today, Comedy Central announced its partnership with Yes, And… Laughter Lab to launch the all-new digital series The Drawing Board, which will highlight the work of rising new voices in animation. The first short premiered today (Tuesday, April 11) across Comedy Central Animated social platforms, with additional content rolling out in the coming weeks.
The first featured creators in the program will include Maddie Brewer, Noah Cutwright and the trio Xano Cuervo, Mario Garza & Daniel Napoli.
The program aims to broaden animation opportunities in the comedy field for underrepresented talent, with a focus on BIPOC, immigrants, Muslims, LGBTQ people and women, and to reinforce Comedy Central’s commitment to using its platforms to help develop inclusive voices in the world of animation. Yes, And… Laughter Lab (YALL; yesandlaughterlab.com) helped identify several of these creators, to showcase new and necessary voices for the Comedy Central audience and the industry at large.
Comedy Central has been a sponsor of YALL’s incubation lab for diverse comedic writers, animators and performers since its founding in 2019. Since then, Comedy Central has worked with a number of YALL creators including comedian/animator Joey Clift, and the team behind the Comedy Central digital series Momo’s Amerika (Ayman Samman, Abdallah Nabil, & Yusef Zeidan).
Maddie Brewer (maddiebrewer.com) wants to make weird movies for the weirdos of the world. She is a freelance director, animator, illustrator, and writer based in Los Angeles. She grew up in Wrigleyville, in Chicago, and she’s influenced by the time she spent there wandering around thrift stores, going to local shows and hitting up the Golden Nugget diner in the middle of the night. She’s passionate about creating funny, surreal worlds and her strange and character-centric storytelling aims to highlight the comedy inherent in being alive. She’s worked with clients such as Bento Box, Adult Swim, VICE, Blink Inc, Grin Machine, Augenblick, Nickelodeon and more.
Noah Cutwright (noahcutwright.com) is an award-winning cartoonist and director. Cutwright grew up in Baltimore, Maryland, and attended The Cleveland Institute of Art to earn his BFA in Animation. He has previously worked for various companies such as Cartoon Network Studios, Adult Swim and Disney, and is a co-founder of Imaginex Animation Studios, LLC, an animation studio that has produced work for various clients, notably, Niles Abston’s animated short film, The Opener, which Cutwright also directed.
In 2018, his film, Floyd was a semi-finalist in the 45th Student Academy Awards and received various other awards and nominations. Cutwright is also the creator of the award-winning comic strip and web series The Carsons, which recently raised over $16,000 on Kickstarter to fund an independently produced half hour pilot episode, written and directed by Cutwright, which is currently in production.
Xano Alexander Cuervo (xanostudios.com) is a Latin American writer/director born and raised in Miami. His short film The Risk Takers was awarded the Grand Jury Award by The New York International Film Festival and Best Episodic at the Hollywood Reel Independent Film Festival among many others. His animated series Capitan Churro was selected as a showcase winner for Yes, And… Laughter Lab. His next project is the action-thriller feature film Restoration Night.
In 2020 Cuervo co-launched Latin Hollywood Group. In addition to his filmmaking career, Xano has also worked in post-production for clients like Apple, Meta, Honey (acquired by PayPal), ESPN, Warner Brothers and many others.
Mario Garza (mariodoeskoolshiit.com) is a Mexican writer & director based in L.A. His work focuses on coming-of-age stories that tackle acceptance and validation in controversial, unexplored worlds inspired by his nomadic adventures. His latest projects include writing and & directing his first feature film in Spain, shooting a Warner Bros. Discovery proof of concept teaser for his second feature film, signing a development deal for an episodic series about truffle dealing and developing an animated project for Comedy Central.
Garza’s work has earned him accolades at Oscar qualifying festivals such as Slamdance, Filmquest, Laliff, HollyShorts, Oaxaca Film Festival and London Film Festival, among many others. He has lived all around the globe while creating big budget advertising campaigns for brands like Meta, Nike and Apple featuring Hollywood actor Dwayne Johnson, football superstar Neymar Jr, Latin Grammy Winner Becky G and Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker Morgan Neville.
Daniel Napoli (a.k.a. DaniNaps) is an animator, story artist and digital media designer. Having grown up on cartoons and video games, it’s his dream come true to be making animated content for a living. He got his start on short form, gag-oriented animations, and has worked with many studios, organizations and individuals throughout a varied career. Since then, he’s accrued experience in building and managing creative teams, most recently, acting as design lead and animator on a short for Sesame Street, 7 Busy Beavers, creative director on educational presentation The Fast-Track to Net Zero and creative lead on original videogame IP Muffins On Stream.
The latest in a long line of bumbling everyman heroes is ready to save the day (fingers crossed) in Mulligan, a new adult animated comedy series coming to Netflix from the Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and 30 Rock squad of Robert Carlock, Sam Means and Tina Fey. Premiering exclusively on the streamer on May 12, the 2D post-apocalypse romp features a voice roster of true comedy survivors, announced today.
Check out the first look video and characters pics for Mulligan below!
Synopsis: After Earth is destroyed by an alien attack, a rag-tag band of survivors has to start society over from scratch. It’s an opportunity to learn from humanity’s past mistakes and get things right this time. Or make the same mistakes all over again. Probably the second one.
Mulligan is co-created by executive producers Carlock and Means, who serve as co-showrunners. Executive producers also include Fey, David Miner, Eric Gurian, Scott Greenberg and Joel Kuwahara. The series is produced by Universal Television (a division of NBCUniversal Content Studios) in association with Little Stranger, Inc., Bevel Gears, 3 Arts Entertainment and Fox-owned Emmy-winning animation studio Bento Box Entertainment.
The series regular voice cast features:
Nat Faxon is “Matty Mulligan” – A working class everyman from Boston, Matty single handedly saved Earth from the alien invasion, but now he’s in way over his head as the leader of (what’s left of) humanity. The only thing he wants more than to be loved by everyone is to win over Lucy, but both will require him to actually think about someone other than himself for once.
Chrissy Teigen is “Lucy Suwan” – Lucy had a whirlwind romance with Matty during the attack, so she’s now the de facto First Lady. Except they just met and it turns out they have nothing in common. A beauty queen who believes deeply in the America you see in beer commercials, she wants to use her newfound influence to actually help fix the world, if she can just figure out how.
Tina Fey is “Dr. Farrah Braun” – Dr. Braun is a Military super-scientist and single mom. She’s still trying to “have it all” as a working mother, but is still being dismissed as just a “female scientist” in a world that really shouldn’t have time to bother with that stuff.
Sam Richardson is “Simon Prioleau” – Simon is the only surviving historian and one of Matty’s top advisers, even though Matty thinks he’s a useless nerd. Desperate to save what’s left of human history before it disappears, he’s also eager to take this new opportunity to reinvent himself as a confident cool guy. It’s not working, though. No one is buying the fedora.
Dana Carveyis “Senator Cartwright LaMarr” – The self-appointed Vice President, LaMarr is a simpering, scheming, political animal who is anxious to rebuild everything just the way it was, when guys like him were in power. He is forced to contend with both Matty’s apathy and Lucy’s empathy in order to govern the way he wants to, but his power is dependent on Matty’s popularity, so he has to continue to prop him up. For now.
Phil LaMarr is “Axatrax” – A dignified general, Axatrax is the only alien survivor of the invasion and is now a prisoner of the intellectually inferior humans who defeated him. Imprisoned in the White House bowling alley, he becomes an unlikely “shoulder” to cry on for Matty, but he may just be buying time until he can signal for a second invasion.
Kevin Michael Richardson is “TOD-209” – TOD-209 is a military cyborg developed for the Pentagon by Dr. Braun, but deployed to fight the aliens before he was fully ready. He now spends his days trying not to break things and remembering snippets of his human past. Was he a musician?!
Ayo Edebiri is “General Scarpaccio/Jayson Moody” – “General Scarpaccio” was an aimless teenager, Jayson Moody, before he found a Marine general’s uniform on a corpse and put it on. He’s now the head of the Joint Chiefs, which means he gets to do cool stuff like shoot guns and fly helicopters.
Daniel Radcliffe is “King Jeremy” – Jeremy Fitzhogg is the party-boy son of an English Lord who was working in the British Embassy when the aliens attacked, but everyone in America thinks he’s smart because of his accent. And when he realizes he’s the last surviving British citizen, he declares himself King.
Ronny Chieng is “Johnny Zhao” – Johnny Zhao is a Hong Kong billionaire who spent the attack partying with models on his yacht. After coming ashore in D.C., he teams up with LaMarr to try to make money matter again in a world that doesn’t need it.
Mainframe Studios (ReBoot, Team Zenko Go, The Guava Juice Show) has announced a partnership with top gaming entertainer and streamer Nick Eh 30 for a new animated series entitled Endurathon, to be produced in Epic Games’ Unreal Engine 5. The collab unites Mainframe’s animated storytelling expertise with the gaming cred of Nick Eh 30, a popular personality in the arena with more than 30 million followers across social networks.
Billed as eSports meets American Ninja Warrior,Endurathon brings viewers into a world where next-level VR game environments unfold in physical terrain that’s terra-formed to match what the players see. No controllers, no avatars — just a test of strength and skills as the players compete in a battle royale Tournament divided into five connected Quests.
The story follows 14-year-old Colton and best friend Deeci, who get the chance of a lifetime to compete in Endurathon, but as newcomers they’re clear underdogs against four experienced teams that include Colton’s arch-rival Ricky. Although they’re determined to prove they belong, Colton’s obsession with crushing Ricky alienates Deeci and threatens their dream of winning it all.
The series balances conflict with positive messaging around teamwork, friendship and how the road to winning is paved by practice and determination.
The inaugural season — Curse of Darkness — is a fully-realized game world within the series. The teams must advance through five challenging Realms to defeat fearsome Realm Bosses on their way to a final showdown with uber-boss Aewulf to restore the Prism of Light and lift the Curse of Darkness. It takes both the athletic ability and wits of the teen players to win the battles and overcome the obstacles while discovering who they can trust — with more than just winning on the line.
Endurathon is created by Mainframe Studios’ President & CCO Michael Hefferon and writer Larry Raskin. Hefferon and Raskin will executive produce with Nick Eh 30 and Mainframe’s SVP Content Gregory R. Little.
“We wanted to create relatable character-driven stories that are anchored in the exciting world of eSports and gaming,” says Hefferon. “There are over 3 billion gamers in the world, and 92% of our target audience are avid gamers, evenly split between male and female. Nick Eh 30 brings an authenticity to Endurathon‘s eSports experience that speaks directly to that audience.”
Nick Eh 30 [c/o Mainframe Studios]The series targets the 8-14 year old audience with top celebrity streamers in recurring and cameo appearances, featuring Nick Eh 30 as one of two Casters delivering play-by-play commentary for Endurathon: Curse of Darkness.
Nick Eh 30 — formally Nicholas Amyoony — is known as the ‘good guy’ of gaming for positive outlook and family-friendly content, which has won him “extra points” with parents comfortable enough to let their kids watch him. The Canadian was among the first streamers to pick up Fortnite and ride it to a major career, now streaming to 4.3 million followers on Twitch and 7.7 million subscribers on YouTube.
“So many kids dream of becoming professional gamers, and I consider myself one of the lucky few that get to live that dream. I’m really excited to expand into narrative storytelling and Endurathonis the perfect next step,” says Nick. “Characters like Colton and Deeci show that teamwork and a positive approach can win even in the cutthroat and competitive world of eSports.”
The long-awaited return of Adult Swim’s Metalocalypse arrives with a nationwide tour of the series’ on-screen band DETHKLOK, to be followed this year with a full-length original film, written and directed by Brendon Small, Metalocalypse: Army of the Doomstar, a companion soundtrack and Dethalbum IV will also arrive this year.
DETHKLOK will kick off their 29-date national tour on August 30 with Japanese kawaii metal pioneers BABYMETAL as co-headliners and virtuoso guitarist Jason Richardson as support.
“It’s very surreal having so much new Metalocalypse & DETHKLOK this year with the trifecta of the tour, movie and album,” said Small. “I’m so excited to get on the road with the powerful BABYMETAL, and to celebrate all the hard work that team Metalocalypse and DETHKLOK put in over the last two years and beyond!”
The “BABYKLOK” tour will include appearances at Blue Ridge Rock Festival in Virginia, Louder Than Life in Louisville and Aftershock in Sacramento. Full list of tour dates below.
Metalocalypse: Army of the Doomstar, an original full-length movie written and directed by Small, who created the original 2006 series Metalocalypse with Tommy Blacha and produced by Titmouse, Adult Swim and Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment.
The film, begins after the heroic rescue of Toki Wartooth; DETHKLOK frontman Nathan Explosion finds himself traumatized in a brutal professional and romantic flat-spin, all while he is tasked with fulfilling the prophecy and confronting the ultimate songwriting challenge to save the planet. Can Nathan Explosion look beyond his brutally damaged ego to save his band, stop the Metalocalypse, and finally face the ultimate evil: Salacia?
The film stars Brendan Small, Tommy Blacha, Victor Brandt, Grammy Award-winning musician Stephen “Thundercat” Bruner, Danish musician King Diamond, Mark Hamill (Batman: The Animated Series, The Machine), Kirk Hammett (Metallica), Jon Hamm (Confess, Fletch; Top Gun: Maverick), Scott Ian (Anthrax), Amy Lee (Evanescence), Malcolm McDowell (A Clockwork Orange), Juliet Mills (Passions), Laraine Newman (Saturday Night Live), Raya Yarbrough (Metalocalypse: The Doomstar Requiem – a Klok Opera) and Livia Zita (2022 winner – Society of Voice Arts and Sciences Award).
Fans can also anticipate the release of two full-length albums this year. WaterTower Music will release both the film soundtrack, Metalocalypse: Army of the Doomstar (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) as well as Dethalbum IV around the launch of the film. Meanwhile, fans can summon DETHKLOK now by streaming old and new music with the Metalocalypse: Dethklok Complete Collection playlists.
THE BABYKLOK TOUR 2023:
Wed-Aug-30-23 Houston, TX 713 Music Hall
Thu-Aug-31-23 Dallas, TX South Side Ballroom
Sat-Sep-02-23 Orlando, FL Orlando Amphitheater
Sun-Sep-03-23 Atlanta, GA Coca-Cola Roxy
Tue-Sep-05-23 Nashville, TN Nashville Municipal Auditorium
Wed-Sep-06-23 Cleveland, OH Agora Theatre
Fri-Sep-08-23 Pittsburgh, PA UPMC Events Center
Sat-Sep-09-23 Wallingford, CT Toyota Oakdale Theatre
Sun-Sep-10-23 Alton, VA Blue Ridge Rock Festival
Tue-Sep-12-23 Philadelphia, PA The Mann Center
Thu-Sep-14-23 Boston, MA MGM Music Hall at Fenway
Fri-Sep-15-23 New York, NY Hammerstein Ballroom
Sun-Sep-17-23 Sterling Heights, MI Michigan Lottery Amphitheatre
Mon-Sep-18-23 Toronto, ONT RBC Echo Beach
Wed-Sep-20-23 Grand Rapids, MI GLC Live at 20 Monroe
Thu-Sep-21-23 Chicago, IL Byline Bank Aragon Ballroom
Sat-Sep-23-23 Louisville, KY Louder Than Life Festival
Sun-Sep-24-23 Milwaukee, MN The Rave/Eagles Club
Mon-Sep-25-23 Minneapolis, MN The Fillmore
Wed-Sep-27-23 St. Louis, MO Saint Louis Music Park
Thu-Sep-28-23 Omaha, NE Steelhouse Omaha
Sat-Sep-30-23 Denver, CO Fillmore Auditorium
Sun-Oct-01-23 Salt Lake City, UT The Complex
Tue-Oct-03-23 Vancouver, BC PNE Forum
Wed-Oct-04-23 Seattle, WA WaMu Theater
Sat-Oct-07-23 Sacramento, CA Aftershock Festival
Sun-Oct-08-23 Las Vegas, NV Pearl Theater at Palms Casino Resort
Tue-Oct-10-23 Phoenix, AZ Arizona Financial Theater
Wed-Oct-11-23 Los Angeles, CA YouTube Theater
Netflix today announced a series order for a new untitled animated series set within the Duffer Brothers’ Stranger Things universe and developed by Flying Bark Productions (Marvel’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, Marvel’s What If…?) and Daytime Emmy-winning executive producer Eric Robles (creator of Fanboy & Chum Chum).
“We’ve always dreamed of an animated Stranger Things in the vein of the Saturday morning cartoons that we grew up loving, and to see this dream realized has been absolutely thrilling,” the Duffer Brothers commented. “We couldn’t be more blown away by what Eric Robles and his team have come up with — the scripts and artwork are incredible, and we can’t wait to share more with you! The adventure continues…”
The series is executive produced by The Duffer Brothers on behalf of Upside Down Pictures, Shawn Levy and Dan Cohen on behalf of 21 Laps, and Eric Robles on behalf of Flying Bark Productions. Additional details to be announced.
Star Wars Celebration in London offered up a hefty bounty for fans on the hunt for exciting new animated content set in the Lucasfilm universe. Panels featuring filmmakers and cast from Star Wars: The Bad Batch, Star Wars: Visions Volume 2, Star Wars: The Clone Wars and more offered updates, including a new trailer and full cast list for Visions, the official trailer and first two episodes of Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures and orders for Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi Season 2 and The Bad Batch Season 3 (Finale).
On Saturday, host Krystina Arielle, executive producer James Waugh and showrunner Michael Olsen welcomed fans of all ages to a special screening of Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures. The screening began with the debut of the trailer, followed by a Q&A with Waugh and Olson. Dee Bradley Baker, the voice of a youngling named Nubs, surprised fans by introducing the screening using the voice of the animated Jedi youngling.
Set 200 years before The Phantom Menace, during the High Republic era, the animated series follows Jedi younglings as they study the ways of the Force, explore the galaxy, help citizens and creatures in need and learn valuable skills needed to become Jedi along the way. The series also stars Jamaal Avery, Jr. as Kai Brightstar, Juliet Donenfeld as Lys Solay, Emma Berman as Nash Durango, Jonathan Lipow as RJ-83, Piotr Michael as Master Yoda, Trey Murphy as Taborr Val Dorn and Nasim Pedrad as Master Zia.
Produced by Lucasfilm in collaboration with Wild Canary for Disney+ and Disney Junior, Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures is executive produced by Lucasfilm’s Waugh, Jacqui Lopez and Josh Rimes. Olson (Puppy Dog Pals) is showrunner and executive producer. The show releases on Disney+ and Disney Junior, where available, on May 4.
Later that day, fans were treated to a panel celebrating the 15th anniversary of the Emmy Award-winning seriesStar Wars: The Clone Wars. Moderated by Amy Ratcliffe, the panel included executive producer Dave Filoni, VP Animation Production Lucasfilm Animation Athena Portillo, sound editor Matthew Wood and art director Kilian Plunkett, as well as cast members Dee Bradley Baker, Ashley Eckstein, Matt Lanter and James Arnold Taylor as they reminisced on how the series came to be.
Filoni ended the panel with the announcement that he had so much fun creating the first season of Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi, a second season is currently in production.
On Monday, there was a panel for the acclaimed series Star Wars: The Bad Batch, which just wrapped its second season as the Bad Batch continued their journey navigating the aftermath of Order 66 and the rise of the Empire.
Host Amy Ratcliffe welcomed The Bad Batch executive producer and supervising director Brad Rau, executive producer and head writer Jennifer Corbett, executive producer Athena Portillo, actors Dee Bradley Baker, who voices The Bad Batch, and Michelle Ang, the voice of Omega, to discuss highlights from the second season.
Executive producers Rau, Corbett and Portillo announced that the show will return for a third and final season in 2024 to finish telling this part of the story. Fans in the room were treated to a special Season 3 teaser, sharing a sneak peek at what is to come including the return of Ming-Na Wen’s fan-favorite bounty hunter, Fennec Shand.
To close out Star Wars Celebration’s animation panels, on Monday afternoon there was a Star Wars: Visions panel. The panel was filled with an abundance of reveals ahead of the series’ May 4, release — including first story details for all nine shorts, the full cast list, the trailer and key art.
The second anthology will continue to push the boundaries of Star Wars storytelling, with nine new shorts from nine studios from around the globe. Employing an array of animation styles from a variety of countries and cultures, the Volume 2 offers a dynamic new perspective on the storied mythos of Star Wars.
To kick off the panel, host Amy Ratcliffe introduced executive producers of the Emmy-nominated series, Josh Rimes, James Waugh and Jacqui Lopez, who discussed the success of the show’s first season and its unique concept featuring a collection of animated shorts that stretches beyond any one form of animation and serves as a broader framework for Star Wars storytelling.
The Vol. 2 cast list includes:
“Screecher’s Reach”: Eva Whittaker
“I Am Your Mother”: Maxine Peake, Charithra Chandran
“Journey to the Dark Head” (English Dub): Ashley Park, Eugene Lee Yang
“The Bandits of Golak”: Suraj Sharma
“The Pit”: Daveed Diggs
“Aau’s Song”: Cynthia Erivo
After revealing the cast, Ratcliffe introduced the series’ filmmakers, who took to the stage in groups of three to reveal the first details about each of their shorts:
Rodrigo Blaas, writer/director of El Guiri’s “Sith” from Spain
Paul Young, director of Cartoon’s Saloon’s “Screecher’s Reach” from Ireland
Gabriel Osorio, writer/director of Punkrobot’s “In the Stars” from Chile
Magdalena Osinska, director of Aardman’s “I Am Your Mother” from the United Kingdom
Hyeong-Geun Park, director of Studio Mir’s “Journey to the Dark Head” from South Korea
Julien Chheng, director of Studio La Cachette’s “The Spy Dancer” from France
Milind Shinde, founder of India’s 88 Pictures and executive producer of “The Bandits of Golak”
LeAndre Thomas, writer/director/executive producer of “The Pit”
Arthell Isom, founder of D’ART Shtajio and executive producer of “The Pit”
Nadia Darries and Daniel Clarke, co-directors of Triggerfish’s “Aau’s Song” from South Africa
Panelists shared how they incorporated their country’s history and culture into their stories and created original characters that fit into the Star Wars galaxy and cast local talent to bring these characters to life. At the end of the panel, attendees were also treated to a surprise early screening of Aardman’s short “I Am Your Mother.”
More information about all of the animation announcements out of Star Wars Celebration can be found at StarWars.com.
This Friday, April 7, audiences can meet a very funky animated family in Mummies, available for Digital purchase through Warner Bros. Home Entertainment. Created by a team of pedigreed Spanish animation pros, the PG comedy centers on a peculiar Egyptian clan whose secret existence is no longer under wraps…
Synopsis: The film follows the fun adventures of three ancient Egyptian mummies who live in an underground secret city, hidden in ancient Egypt. The trio includes a princess, a former charioteer, and his younger brother, along with their pet baby crocodile. Through a series of unfortunate events, the mummies end up in present-day London and embark on a wacky and hilarious journey in search of an old ring belonging to the Royal Family, which was stolen by the ambitious archaeologist Lord Carnaby.
The Warner Bros. Pictures release features an English-language voice cast including Joe Thomas (The Inbetweeners, White Gold), Eleanor Tomlinson (The Nevers, Jack the Giant Slayer, The Illusionist), Santiago Winder (The Hope Rooms), Celia Imrie (The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again), Dan Starkey (Doctor Who), Hugh Bonneville (Paddington, Downton Abbey, Notting Hill), singer-songwriter and record producer Shakka and Sean Bean (Game of Thrones, The Martian, The Lord of the Rings).
Mummies is directed by Juan Jesuìs Garciìa Galocha (a.k.a. “Galo”), who makes his feature film debut following his work as art director on films such as Tad: The Lost Explorer and its sequel The Secret of King Midas. The script was co-written by Jordi Gasull and Javier Barreira, Goya winners for Best Screenplay for Tad: The Lost Explorer. Emmy-winning screenwriter Ricky Roxburgh (Tangled: The Series) supported the English-language adaptation of the script.
Gasull, winner of three Goya Awards for Best Animated Film for Tad: The Lost Explorer, Capture the Flag and Tad: The Lost Explorer and the Secret of King Midas, is also the film’s producer. Pedro Solis, writer/director of the Goya-winning animated short film Strings, is behind the film as head of Core Animation Studio.
The film’s music is composed by Goya winner Fernando Velazquez, who has frequently collaborated with acclaimed Spanish director, J.A. Bayona. The film features three original songs, including “I Am Today,” “New Song” and “Ring Song.” The latter features lyrics by writer/producer Jordi Gasull.
Warner Bros. Pictures presents a 4 Cats Pictures, Anangu Grup and Moomios Movie AIE production with the participation of Atresmedia Cine and Movistar Plus+ and the collaboration of Atresmedia and TV3.
Viva Kids is off to the races with its latest animated feature release, Rally Road Racers, which just launched off the starting line with its official trailer. The L.A.-based distributor will open the pic, previously known as Silk Road Rally, in theaters across the U.S. on May 12.
In the spirit of screwball comedies like Cannonball Run, Rally Road Racers is a fast-paced animated comedy that reminds us that it’s not the size of the competitor that matters, it’s the size of the dream. Revving up the fun, the CG-animated adventure features familiar tunes such as “Take on Me” by A-Ha, “Bad to the Bone” by George Thorogood, “The Ballroom Blitz” by Sweet and “Going the Distance” by Cake.
Rally Road Racers
Synopsis: Zhi, a rookie race car driver, gets the opportunity to compete against the reigning champion of the rally car circuit. With help from a former driver-turned-mechanic, Zhi must overcome treacherous terrain, rival racers, and unexpected obstacles to prove he has what it takes to be the next great racer.
Written and directed by Ross Venokur (Charming), Rally Road Racers features the voices of Jimmy O. Yang (Patriots Day), J.K. Simmons (Whiplash), Chloe Bennet (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.), Lisa Lu (Crazy Rich Asians),Catherine Tate (Monster Family), and John Cleese (Trolls).
Viva Kids saw both critical and box office success earlier this year with the release of the animated indie The Amazing Maurice. The film featured the voices of Emilia Clarke and Hugh Laurie and premiered at this year’s Sundance before playing wide in approximately 2,000 theaters.
Just in time for Spring Break, a fresh batch of new Looney Tunes Cartoons episodes debut today on HBO Max. The Warner Bros. Animation series stars beloved Looney Tunes characters in hilarious new shorts that bring back the classic animation’s beautifully crafted, gag-driven stories.
Executive produced by Pete Browngardt (Uncle Grandpa) and Sam Register (Teen Titans Go!). The voice cast includes Eric Bauza (Bugs Bunny/Daffy Duck/Tweety/Marvin the Martian), Bob Bergen (Porky Pig), Jeff Bergman (Elmer Fudd/Sylvester), Fred Tatasciore (Yosemite Sam) and Candi Milo (Granny), Michael Ruocco (Beaky Buzzard).
Looney Tunes Cartoons “The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea”
New Season 5 episodes launching today:
Ep. 163 “Skyscraper Scrap/Balloon Salesman: Feeling Down/The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea” — Sylvester chases a sky-high snack. Daffy’s business feels the effects of inflation. Taz is on a cargo ship, handle with care.
Ep. 164 “Crumb and Get It/Bugs Hole Gags 2: Mini Bugs/Construction Obstruction” — When Porky and Daffy fight, birds win. Elmer’s an outdoorsman. Bugs’ hole is a hot property.
Ep. 165 “Yosemite Samurai/Bugs Hole Gags 2: Bees Nest/Dummies in the Dark” — Yosemite Sam is big in Japan. Elmer should BEE more careful. It’s lights out for Porky and Daffy.
Looney Tunes Cartoons “Pain Rent”
Looney Tunes Cartoons “Nest Effort”
Looney Tunes Cartoons “Feather of the Bride”
Ep. 166 “Pain Rent/Nest Effort” — Bugs’ new roommate is a BIG problem. Daffy builds a nest in Elmer’s satellite dish.
Ep. 167 “Feather of the Bride/Daffy Magician: Pick A Card/Bugs Hole Gags 2: Rattlesnakes” — Foghorn Leghorn must charm his future father-in-law. Daffy does a card trick. Elmer finds a scaly surprise.
Ep. 168 “Poolside Pest/Put the Cat Out: Inside Out/Bulls-eye Bunny” — Daffy helps Elmer relax at the pool. Sylvester won’t let Porky sleep. Bugs helps Yosemite Sam put on a knife throwing show.
Looney Tunes Cartoons “Baloon Salesman: All the Balloons”
Looney Tunes Cartoons
“Bulls-eye Bunny”
Ep. 169 “Auto Birdy Shop/Daffy Traffic Cop Stop: Phone Booth/Eyes Wide Fudd” — Tweety drives Sylvester crazy. Daffy runs a-fowl of the law. Elmer faces a trying trial.
Ep. 170 “Livin’ the Daydream/Duck Hunting Gag: Holograms/Fake it ‘Til You Bake It” — Ralph Phillips’s daydreams get out of hand. Elmer falls victim to a high-tech hoax. Petunia is cooking up trouble.
Ep. 171 “Funny Book Bunny/Balloon Salesman: All the Balloons/Kitty Krashers” — Elmer’s an artist. Daffy’s business is full of hot air. Porky adopts the wrong kitten.
AfroAnimation, the largest annual summit featuring diverse, BIPOC and underrepresented animators, announced today its first in-person event will take place in Burbank, California from April 26-27. The summit, which last year welcomed roughly 5,000 virtual guests from around the world, will be held in the Los Angeles Marriott Burbank Airport Hotel and Convention Center.
The 3rd Annual AfroAnimation Summit brings together a diverse coalition of 60+ industry speakers, including Academy Award winners, studio executives and recruiters from the U.S., Canada, the U.K., the Caribbean, Nigeria and South Africa, to discuss ways to increase inclusion and representation in the animation industry.
Kemp Powers and Peter Ramsey, two distinguished directors from Sony Pictures Animation’s Spider-Verse film franchise, along with the creators and directors of the upcoming Disney+ Original African sci-fi anthology Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire, headline a powerful collection of industry speakers featured at AfroAnimation in 2023. During the in-person summit streamed live around the world, major Hollywood animation studio executives and recruiters will work to increase industry pathways for diverse creatives and connect, hire, network with and celebrate diverse talent.
“We created AfroAnimation in 2021 to help increase diversity in the animation industry and the response globally has been overwhelming,” said Keith White, Founder, AfroAnimation. “We’re proud to bring together a global team representing the entertainment industry this year, featuring a dynamic group of speakers, movie studio sponsors and awardees.”
This year’s event includes an awards ceremony honoring independent creators from around the world and panels covering myriad topics including, “The Pathway to a Career in Animation,”“Being Black in Animation” and “Increasing Storytelling by Women in Animation and Beyond.” It will also feature screenings of the year’s most anticipated animation film releases and the AfroAnimation Indie Short Film Awards honorees.
Returning studio partners include Netflix, DreamWorks Animation, Warner Bros. Animation, Nickelodeon, Sony Pictures Animation, Sony Imageworks, WildBrain, Titmouse Inc., Triggerfish Animation, and Disney Television Animation. Participating groups with a similar mission include ASIFA-Hollywood, American Film Showcase, Women in Animation, LatinX and Kickstarter.
“I am delighted by the growth of AfroAnimation this year. With the help of our sponsors and studio partners, we are doing our part to build a global animation community that reflects the world at large,” said Rio Cyrus, Co-Chair, AfroAnimation. “This is exactly why we embarked on this mission.”
DC animation fans got an exciting first look at some upcoming superhero action in the new teaser trailer for My Adventures with Superman this morning! The series debuts this summer on Adult Swim and HBO Max this summer.
The show, produced by Warner Bros. Animation, and based on characters from DC, follows the action-packed, comedic and romantic adventures of Superman and Lois Lane. The series stars Jack Quaid as the voice of Clark Kent, Alice Lee as the voice of Lois Lane and Ishmael Sahid as the voice of Jimmy Olsen.
My Adventures with Superman is a serialized coming-of-age story catching up with 20-somethings Clark Kent, the bright and driven Lois Lane and their best friend Jimmy Olsen as they begin to discover who they are and everything they can accomplish together as an investigative reporting team at the Daily Planet.
The story follows Clark as he builds his secret identity as Superman and explores his own mysterious origins. Lois, on her way to becoming a star reporter, teams up with photographer Jimmy Olsen to break the stories that matter. All the while, Clark and Lois are falling in love … as Lois gets closer and closer to uncovering his secret identity! Our trio share adventures, take down bad guys, stumble over secrets, and discover what it means to be heroes in their own right.
Sam Register (Teen Titans Go!)serves as executive producer. Jake Wyatt (Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus) and Brendan Clogher (Voltron: Legendary Defender) are on board as co-executive producers and Josie Campbell (She-Ra and the Princesses of Power) as co-producer.
Fans of cult-hit animated comedy Clone High, created by blockbuster hitmakers Phil Lord and Chris Miller (Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, The LEGO Movie, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse) and Bill Lawrence (Ted Lasso,Scrubs), finally get a glimpse of the highly-anticipated refresh coming to HBO Max this spring. The streamer unveiled the official teaser trailer, following the WonderCon debut of first-look images and cast announcements.
Logline:Clone High is set at a high school for clones of historical figures. After a high school that was secretly being run as an elaborate military experiment to clone the greatest minds in history was put on ice, the clones have been thawed out 20 years later to resume the experiment with new clone classmates — all while navigating a new set of cultural norms and overly dramatic teen relationships.
https://youtu.be/hvQUTfsnXY4
From MTV Entertainment Studios, Clone High executive producers include Lord, Miller, Lawrence, Erica Rivinoja (South Park, Borat: Subsequent Moviefilm) and Erik Durbin (Last Man on Earth, AmericanDad!).
Returning stars include Will Forte as Abe and Nicole Sullivan as Joan; executive producers Phil Lord as Scudworth and Chris Miller as JFK and Mr. B; Christa Miller voicing Candide Sampson (voice of Cleo in the 2002 series); Donald Faison as George Washington Carver; and Judah Miller as Scangrade.
Principal Scudworth (Phil Lord) sets the mood during “saxual education week” in ‘Clone High’
New voice actors joining are Ayo Edebiri as Harriet; Mitra Jouhari as Cleo; Vicci Martinez as Frida; Kelvin Yu as Confucius; Neil Casey as Topher Bus; Jana Schmieding as Sacagawea; Sam Richardson as Wesley; Mo Gaffney as Ms. Grumbles; Al Madrigal as Frederico; Danny Pudi as Dr. Neelankavil; Emily Maya Mills as Ethel Merman; Michael Bolton as Michael Bolton, Mandy Moore as Mandy Moore, Ian Ziering as Ian Ziering; Steve Kerr as Steve Kerr; Jeffrey Muller, Kyle Lau, Dannah Phirman and Danielle Schneider.
L-R: Frida Kahlo, Abe Lincoln (Will Forte), JFK, Joan of Arc, Harriet Tubman, Cleopatra and Confucius stand in front of The Grassy Knoll as it burns in ‘Clone High’
Absent from the announced cast and characters is Gandhi, voiced by Michael McDonald in the original series. The depiction of the esteemed Indian activist’s party animal teen clone led to a protest outside MTV’s New Delhi office, Miller told
Peppa Pig and all her animal friends are ready to celebrate Easter with their young fans with a series of holiday-themed episodes this weekend! From Entertainment One (eOne), Hasbro’s global entertainment studio, the special Peppa Pig episodes will air April 8-9, following the adventures of the Easter Bunny, Miss Rabbit, Rebecca Rabbit and Peppa Pig as they celebrate spring and nature, hunt for Easter eggs and jump in muddy puddles all spring long.
Peppa Pig Marathon Episodes:
Season 2, Episode 8: The Long Grass/Dentist/Nature Trail/Rebecca Rabbit/School Bus Trip
Season 3, Episode 3: Polly’s Boat Trip/Grandpa at the Playground/The Fire Engine/Funfair/Delphine Donkey
Season 3, Episode 6: Spring/Miss Rabbit’s Helicopter/Baby Alexander/Grampy Rabbit’s Lighthouse/Miss Rabbit’s Day Off
Season 7, Episode 1: Parachute Jump/Miss Rabbit’s Taxi/Playing Pretend/Scooters/George’s Racing Car
Season 7, Episode 4: Easter Bunny/Spring/Rebecca Rabbit/Mummy Rabbit’s Bump/Garden Games
Season 7, Episode 9: Rescuing Miss Rabbit!/Peppa’s Diary/Playing Golf/Creepy Crawly Safari/Buried
Season 8, Episode 4: Mandy Mouse/Recorders/Miss Rabbit’s Relaxation Class/Painting/Tidying Up
Peppa Pig
The Peppa pep squad will also be delighted to find some of the new Hasbro toys based on the TV series in their Easter baskets (or for any occasion). The following goodies for kids ages three and up are available for purchase now at most major retailers:
Peppa’s Kids-Only Clubhouse (Approx. Retail Price: $49.99)
Preschoolers and Peppa fans ages 3 and up are sure to feel like real members of Peppa’s Club when they’re playing with the Peppa’s Kids-Only Clubhouse playset. Inspired by the location from the show, the playset features a moveable wall depicting stop and bakery backdrops. Place a figure on the hotspot to hear clubhouse sounds and phrases from the show! What will Peppa and her friend Rebecca be pretending today?
Peppa’s Family Car (Approx. Retail Price: $22.99)
Buckle Up! The Pig family is hitting the road in their trusty red car. Inspired by the iconic vehicle seen on the Peppa Pig show, Peppa’s Family Red Car comes with Mummy Pig and Peppa Pig figures to ride inside, with room for 2 more. Kids can imagine they’re out buying cookies for Daddy Pig and little brother George! This toy vehicle features rolling wheels for push-to-roll play, and a trunk that opens and closes. When kids press on the car’s steering wheel, they’ll hear music from the show, horn noises, as well as laughter and snorts. It’s always a fun ride in the Pig family’s red car! Peppa’s Family Red Car toy can latch onto the back of the Peppa’s Family Motorhome vehicle for an even more OINKTASTIC TIME! (Sold separately. Subject to availability.)
Peppa’s Family 4-Figure Pack (Approx. Retail Price: $13.49)
Get ready for everyday adventures with Peppa’s Family set! Mummy Pig, Daddy Pig, little brother George, and Peppa Pig are ready for all kinds of adventures in their iconic colorful outfits. Inspired by the show, these toys can spark little piggies’ big imaginations! Kids can recreate scenes from the show or invent new adventures of their own with the 4 poseable, 3-inch scale figures.
Joe Earley has been named President, Direct-to-Consumer, Disney Entertainment, effective immediately, it was announced today by Co-Chairmen Alan Bergman and Dana Walden. Earley, who most recently served as president of Hulu, will lead Disney Entertainment’s streaming efforts including Disney+ and Hulu, reporting to Bergman and Walden. Earley succeeds Michael Paull, who is leaving the company after six years.
Earley joined Disney in January 2019 to oversee Disney+ marketing and operations in the leadup to its hugely successful November launch that year, adding responsibility for content curation in 2021 as the service expanded to dozens of markets worldwide. He was named President of Hulu in January 2022. In his new role, he will work closely with content teams around the company to continue to expand the company’s streaming efforts, and drive impactful and resonant programming and engagement offerings. In addition, he will continue leading Hulu until a successor is identified.
“Helping launch Disney+ was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and Hulu has been inspiring and rewarding,” said Earley. “I’m incredibly grateful to Dana and Alan for their confidence and the opportunity to lead both of these incredible teams during this time of transformation across the streaming landscape.”
Earley previously served as President of The Jackal Group, leading its television, film, commercial theater and digital divisions, including productions ranging from Tidying Up with Marie Kondo to the MGM animated feature film The Addams Family. He served as a Fox executive for over two decades, joining in 1994 as a senior publicist and rising through the ranks at Fox Broadcasting to become President of Marketing & Communications and then COO of Fox Television Group. Earley began his entertainment career in production and development with producer Gale Anne Hurd and spent several years in Media Relations at HBO before moving to Fox.
A member of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences and the Producers Guild of America, Earley holds a B.A. in mass communications from UCLA.
Kristy Scanlan
Emerging animation and games outfit Saffronic has begun its global expansion with the hire of Los Angeles-based Kristy Scanlan as Senior Vice President of Business Development. Scanlan brings her vast experience in both animation and games to Saffronic, having previously held senior business development roles at Mainframe Studios and Technicolor.
“I am thrilled to be reuniting with many of my past colleagues from Technicolor, after accomplishing so much during our decade of collaboration, to embark on this new adventure with Saffronic,” Scanlan shared.
At Technicolor, Scanlan oversaw the business development for episodic animation and video games, growing the global games team to nearly 500 artists, and working with clients such as DreamWorks Animation, Nickelodeon, Disney TV Animation, Electronic Arts, Activision, Ubisoft, 2K and Warner Bros. Games. Prior to her business development roles, she spent 15+ years working in the development and production of live-action movies, longform animated content and location-based entertainment for brands like LEGO.
Scanlan is a former Co-President of Women in Animation, as well as a member of the Producers Guild of America and ASIFA Hollywood.
Manuela Lumb
Studio 100 Media recently announced the appointment of Manuela Lumb and Richard Rowe as Executive Producers. This comes at a time when the company is actively adding new content to its portfolio. Both will be charged with scouting and developing new projects and IPs for kids’ series in addition to identifying partners for co-development and co-production. Building on the company’s European slate, Lumb will focus on German-speaking countries while Rowe will concentrate on English-speaking territories.
Manuela Lumb’s extensive career in commissioning and producing multi-genre high-class content includes developing and producing Germany’s most successful preschool brand “KiKAninchen” for KiKA and “Löwenzähnchen” for ZDF, as well as developing live-action series for Nickelodeon. For many years, she was a commissioning editor at SWR and WDR (part of public broadcaster ARD) responsible for the famous Show with the Mouse series. Previously, she was Head of the Children’s Department at Studio TV.Film GmbH and Head of Development at Motionworks GmbH, developing animated series such as The Adventures of Young Marco Polo and hybrid feature film Coppelia (with Submarine).
Lumb will continue her longstanding work for Cartoon Media as host, chairperson and coach at the pitching and co-production events Cartoon Forum, Cartoon Movie and Cartoon Springboard.
Richard Rowe
With a career spanning more than 20 years, Richard Rowe has amassed impressive skills in identifying, commissioning, developing, and producing internationally successful live-action and animated content such as Inspector Gadget (WarnerMedia & WildBrain), Dorg Van Dango (Nickelodeon International, Cartoon Saloon & WildBrain) and The Zoo (BBC & WildBrain).
Rowe worked for many years for the Canadian independent entertainment company WildBrain/DHX Media as Director of International Co-Productions & Acquisitions on a variety of children’s projects. Before that, he was part of the Turner Broadcasting-Team as Director of Acquisitions & Original Series, overseeing acquisitions and original series for EMEA kids’ channels.
Steve Woo
Independent creative studio The Embassy has welcomed Steve Woo as Head of Studio. The established producer comes on board at a key time of expansion for the studio, with top tier advertising work for the likes of Academy Award winner Robert Stromberg and upcoming VFX on the Paramount/Disney+ series The SpiderWick Chronicles. In his new role, Woo will be facilitating The Embassy’s growth into Europe, with outposts in Spain and Nordic Europe coming soon.
Woo began his career producing and directing features, TV and commercials, while always holding VFX as a passion. In 2004, he started a VFX studio in Taiwan, and was later hired as Head of Studio in China by Digital Domain, helping to manage their global studios. Eventually, he moved to Digital Domain’s Vancouver studio, and more recently to Netflix-owned Scanline VFX.
William Laban
Framestore’s London Advertising announced the appointment of VFX Supervisor William Laban. With over 10 years’ industry experience, the role marks a welcome return for Laban, who kick started his VFX career as a runner at Framestore, before working his way up to Technical Director, Commercials. In 2016 he joined MPC where he rose to VFX Supervisor, a role he later transferred over to The Mill.
With a host of notable projects under his belt, Laban’s creative highlights include Burberry “Open Spaces” and “Night Creatures” directed by Megaforce, Hennessy X.O “The Seven Worlds” directed by Sir Ridley Scott, John Lewis “Buster the Boxer” directed by Dougal Wilson, and BT “Broadband Nightmares” directed by The Sacred Egg.
Laban has won numerous awards, including two VES Awards, two Gold British Arrows and a Gold Cannes Lions.
The Kaboom Animation Festival (kaboomfestival.nl) held its 2023 awards ceremony on Saturday night in Amsterdam, closing out another energetic, colorful and creative edition. Award-winning shorts, features and student films walked away with Kaboom Awards and cash prizes to help fuel their next explosive projects.
Skinned
Taking the top prize for Best Short Film is the haunting and powerful stop-motion piece Skinned (Écorchée), from French director Joachim Hérissé and Komadoli studio (sales by Miyu Distribution). The film has picked up a number of international prizes from festivals such as Clermont-Ferrand, Sitges, Hiroshima Animation Season Festival and Animafest Zagreb.
In an old building, lost in the middle of the swamp, live two strange women, Siamese twins by one leg. At night, the Flayed has terrifying nightmares in which she sees her sister’s flesh covering her own body.
Kaboom described the film’s an exploration of an abusive relationship “that deeply affects the boundaries between the other and the self,” with “echoes of Cronenberg and Julia Ducournau.”
Kaboom Awards 2023 Winners
Best Short –Skinned by Joachim Hérissé (France; Komadoli)
Best Student Short – Goodbye Jérôme! by Adam Sillard, Gabrielle Selnet & Chloé Farr (France; Gobelins)
Best Documentary – The Heights by Alejandro Salgado (Spain; La Maleta Films)
Questbound: Forbidden Ventures of the Undead Soul
Best Dutch Short – Questbound: Forbidden Ventures of the Undead Soul by Owen Buckley & Alexander Bierling (Netherlands; HKU University of the Arts Utrecht)
Best Music Video – “How Many” – Mathieu Boogaerts by Bianca Scali (Germany; Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttemberg Animationinstitut)
Best VR – From the Main Square by Pedro Harres (Germany; Filmuniversitat Babelsburg Konrad Wolf)
Jamie Bolio Award – Ice Merchants by João Gonzalez (Portugal, France, U.K.; COLA, Wildstream, RCA)
Freedom Swimmer
Audience Award for Best Short – Freedom Swimmer by Olivia Martin-McGuire (Australia, France; No Thing Production, Sacrebleu Production)
Audience Award for Best Experimental Short – Fur by Zhen Li (U.S.; CalArts)
Audience Award for Best Commissioned Short – An End to War Enough by Simone Massi (Italy; Emergency ONG Onlus)
Audience Award for Best Children’s Film – Momo by Erik Verkerk & Joost van den Bosch (China, The Netherlands; iQIYI, Ka-Ching Cartoon)
Audience Award for Best Feature – Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman by Pierre Földes (France; Cinéma Defacto, Miyu Productions)
Nancy Award – Garrano by David Doutel & Vasco Sá (Portugal, Lithuania; Square Eyes)
Dublin-based distributor Monster Entertainment (monsterentertainment.tv) is heading to MIPTV (April 17-19) with several new animated series:
Storybud (15 x 5′), an RTE commission from Dublin’s Kite Entertainment, which recently won the RTS Award for Best Children’s Program, is a series of funny short stories based on well-loved fairytales and nursery rhymes for kids aged eight and over.
Written by famous Irish comedians, the stories are reimagined with lots of silly twists. Refreshed tales like “Cinderella’s other Fella,” “The Elves and the Loo Maker” and “Humpty Mumpty” are read by well-known TV personalities including Baz Ashmawy. Each tale is brought to life with a dash of top-notch funky and colorful illustration
Ollie (52 x 4′) is a non-verbal preschool series from Belgium’s Lunanime, Ireland’s Ink and Light and Norway’s Storyline; already sold to ITV, YLE, Hop, CYBC, VRT, NRK, RTE, RTL Netherlands, RTBF and Eurokim.
In the middle of a busy city, in a peaceful forgotten park, you will find Ollie and his friends. A small owl, a little stork, a young frog and five tiny birds live and have exciting adventures. Small stories about big issues like discovery, friendship, being alone and the importance of the little things in life. Come at nightfall, when the city turns quiet and everybody goes to sleep. shh…
Tiny Toot (26 x 7′, children two to five) from Denmark’s Toolbox Film is due for completion by the end of the year, and has already been acquired by DR, YLE, SVT, NRK, RUV and RTE. Additionally, Carlsen has already published books based upon the upcoming series.
Tiny Toot is about three years old. She lives with her cat, Gato, her brother and her mum and dad … and then there’s Pixie, her little magician elf who lives in a mouse hole in the wall. Every morning Pixie invites Tiny Toot and Gato on a new adventure. They eagerly join him in his nut-chopper — and together they make friends with everyone they meet and learn new things about daily daytime life.
Each episode arouses the young viewers’ curiosity about the magical world that surrounds us — always in a reassuring gentle way. The stories end with the three friends returning home safely, so the world can carry on exactly as it’s supposed to.
Monster will also be highlighting newly completed series Fia’s Fairies, from Ireland’s Little Moon; Storytime with Ms B Booksy, from U.S.-based Driver Studios; Zizi and Hannibal, from South Africa’s Pixcomm; The Charlie Shepherd Show, from Brazil’s TV PinGuim; Noodle and Bun, from South Africa’s Polycat; and Once Upon My Story from Canada’s Maki Media.
Tummy Tom
Dutch sales agent Incredible Film (incrediblefilm.com) announced two charming young audiences titles on its animated slate for MIPTV 2023.
Tummy Tom (4 x 60’) is an animated film series based on the bestselling children’s books produced by Phanta Animation and BosBros. Tummy Tom is a funny, inquisitive, adventurous, and a slightly mischievous ginger tomcat. Together with his animal friends, he explores the world around him just like a preschooler would.
Tummy Tom first appeared on Sesamstraat (Dutch Sesame Street) in 1978, and Dutch publisher Gottmer started publishing Jet Boeke’s stories in 1983. Since then, millions of Tummy Tom books have been sold around the world. In 2018, Tummy Tom celebrated his 40th birthday. The first film in the series is Tummy Tom’s Teddybear, which is currently in production.
Pim & Pom
Pim & Pom (26 × 5’), a 2D-animated preschool series based on world famous works of art, also produced by Phanta Animation. Pim and Pom, two little cats, go on adventures in the fascinating world of art. Through the power of their imagination they explore paintings by famous artists like Vincent van Gogh, Johannes Vermeer, Rembrandt, Seurat and Renoir.
Made in the lively graphic style of the Dutch illustrator Fiep Westendorp, the series will serve as an introduction to the visual arts for young children. English and Latin American Spanish dubs are available.
Maari – Adventures at the Reef
ZDF Studios revealed a hefty lineup of scripted and unscripted content along with a range of junior titles to peruse at their MIPTV Stand (R7.D5). Animation highlights below; more details available at zdf-studios.com.
The colorful 3D animated series Maari – Adventures at the Reef (20 x 7’), aimed at preschoolers, has diversity and environmental protection as its core themes. Maari the squid has two very best friends: Tuts, a turtle, and Fin, a crab. Wherever there are problems in the Blue Bay Reef, the three of them are there, together with the little plankton Spotti. Up for adventures, they don’t shy away from putting things right. When dangerous human garbage continues to pollute the reef, the three find a way to get rid of it. Together they are unstoppable. Produced by bigchild Entertainment.
A geological and cultural-historical biography of the world revealing how nature shaped and influenced cultures, The Six Continents Revealed goes back over 200 million years.Featuring state of the art 3D animations, viewers are taken on a journey through time to experience drifting continental plates, sinking land masses, explosive volcanoes and raging storms. A Story House Productions for ZDF, in association with Arte and ZDF Studios.
Looney Tunes’ iconic, tornado spinning, unintelligibly grunting Tasmanian Devil is back with an all-new original family movie. Fans young and young at heart can enjoy a comedic and touching adventure that proves every misfit can be a hero, with the release of Taz: Quest For Burger, available to purchase Digitally on June 6.
Synopsis: After an outlaw abducts her father and steals their town’s food supply, a feisty adolescent Bandicoot named Quinn recruits The Tasmanian Devil to help her find the thief. Taz may be an ill-tempered rogue with a fearsome reputation, but he and Quinn will have to work together to track the criminal through the wilds of Tasmania and save her community.
The movie features the voice talents of Steve Blum as Taz, Hadley Gannaway as Quinn, Eric Bauza as Sid/Bandicoot Friend, Ian James Corlett as Dad/Bill, Ely Henry as Aristotle, Piotr Michael as Lou/Stan, Kevin Michael Richardson as Butch/Emo, Jon Luke Thomas as Ned/Sam, James Urbaniak as Rocky and Kari Wahlgren as Melanie/Koala.
Ryan Kramer (Looney Tunes Cartoons, Uncle Grandpa) directs from a teleplay by Bryan Condon (Aquaman: King of Atlantis, ThunderCats Roar). Mark Marek serves as producer. Sam Register serves as Executive Producer.
Produced by Warner Bros. Animation and distributed by Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment, Taz: Quest For Burger will be available to purchase Digitally (SRP $14.99) on June 6 from Prime Video, Apple TV, Google Play, Vudu and more. Pre-orders are now open.
Corus Entertainment’s kids’ content producer, distributor and licensor Nelvana has teamed up with Toikido, a London-based entertainment company specializing in digital design and toys, to develop a new animated kids series based on gaming IP Piñata Smashlings.
“Toikido is an innovative new company that has quickly achieved success turning popular gaming properties into toys and apparel for a global audience,” said Pam Westman, President of Nelvana. “Their first in-house IP, Piñata Smashlings, has already garnered massive hype ahead of its launch this summer and we can’t wait for fans of the brand to see the new character-driven series that will expand the amusing Piñataverse world and showcase its characters like they’ve never seen them before.”
Launching in 2023, Piñata Smashlings is home to hundreds of playful characters called, “Smashlings” — cheeky little creatures and playful Piñatas — who love to have fun and are always on the lookout for the Rainbow Whale who drops new Rainbow pods.
Piñata Smashlings will debut on Roblox this June, and plans are underway to launch ancillary productions such as toys, plush, apparel, homewares, publishing, magazines and animation.
“Building on the momentum of our achievements bringing successful gaming properties into toys and apparel, we developed Piñata Smashlings in-house as a truly immersive IP, and are pleased to add an animated series to our plans,” said Darran Garnham, Founder & CEO of Toikido. “Nelvana is known for its top quality development, production and distribution of premium kids’ content, and we couldn’t be more pleased to partner with them on the development of a playful new series that will further engage fans as they experience the ever-growing Piñataverse.”
Piñata Smashlings™ is a trademark of Toikido Ltd.
Contact nelvana.distribution@corusent.com for broadcast opportunities.
