Netflix today unveiled the official trailer for its Saturday Morning All Star Hits! (or S.M.A.S.H.!) — an adult animation/live-action series which morphs the millennial childhood nostalgia into a darkly comedic fever dream. The series is slated to debut Friday, December 10.
The eight-episode odyssey hails from co-creators/exec producers Kyle Mooney (Saturday Night Live) and Ben Jones (Stone Quackers, The Problem Solverz), Creative Director of Bento Box Entertainment.
Synopsis:Saturday Morning All Star Hits! is an adult animated and live-action hybrid series celebrating all that is 80s and 90s television. Wildly irreverent and slightly disturbing, twin hosts Skip and Treybor (Kyle Mooney) take us on a trip through the Saturday Morning cartoon experience.
The series is a Broadway Video and Universal Television production, with animation by Fox-owned Bento Box. Executive producers are Lorne Michaels, Andrew Singer, Katy Jenson (Broadway Video); Scott Greenberg and Joel Kuwahara (Bento Box); Dave McCary; and Scott Gairdner.
Tiger Aspect Kids & Family, part of Banijay Kids & Family, has secured a development deal for bestselling picture book series What the Ladybird Heard. The books are created by award-winning partnership Julia Donaldson (author) and Lydia Monks (illustrator). The deal covers the option to create a preschool animated series and is the first animated series development for Donaldson and Monks — regular collaborators whose books have sold over 10 million copies.
The development of the animated series will be overseen by Tom Beattie, MD of Tiger Aspect Kids & Family, who will also executive produce.
“Having read these books to my kids, with the brilliant rhyming verse and following the bumpy trail across every page looking for the ladybird, time and time again, I’m honored to be working with Julia and Lydia to bring this brilliant story to screen,” said Beattie.
Benoît Di Sabatino, CEO, Banijay Kids & Family, said, “It is an honor and a great responsibility to develop a series based on such a creative and successful book series with the creators.”
What the Ladybird Heard is published in the U.K. by Macmillan Children’s Books and is the first of four titles. The series has sold over 4 million copies and has been translated into 24 languages worldwide. The latest book, What the Ladybird Heard at the Seaside, was released in paperback in 2021 and spent three weeks at the top of the Preschool and Picture Book Nielsen bestseller charts.
A much-loved modern classic that has been a part of kids’ and parents’ lives since it was first published in 2009, the fantastically funny stories feature a clever ladybird (or ladybug to U.S. English speakers) who said never a word, but the ladybird saw, and the ladybird heard. With her animal friends on the farm, the Ladybird always manages to out-fox the crafty duo, Hefty Hugh and Lanky Len and their cunning plans.
The series is the third best-selling picture book brand in the U.K. this year (Nielsen, 2021), after Peppa Pig and The Gruffalo. What the Ladybird Heard was live on stage this summer at the Palace Theatre, London, and is now on a nationwide tour.
“I am thrilled that my What the Ladybird Heard series of books is to be adapted for screen by Tiger Aspect Kids & Family,” commented Donaldson. “I’m sure that Lydia Monks’s characterful pictures of the clever little ladybird, the farmyard animals and the comical thieves will translate brilliantly into animation, and I can’t wait to see them all on my television.”
Monks added, “Lots of Tiger Aspect Kids & Family’s programs are family favorites in my house, so I couldn’t be more delighted to be working with Tom and the team. I’m sure our little ladybird will be in safe hands, and I can’t wait to see what she sees and hears next!”
Belinda Ioni Rasmussen, MD, Macmillan Children’s Books, said, “We launched the first What the Ladybird Heard adventure at Macmillan Children’s Books in 2009 and from the beginning we knew that Julia’s clever ladybird and her brilliant story, combined with Lydia’s characterful and bright artwork, would be a story that families would take to their hearts. The continued sales and growth of the brand since then has been testament to this. We couldn’t be more pleased that Tiger Aspect Kids & Family is now going to develop the ladybird and bring her adventures in a new way to children and families.”
Rights were acquired for Julia Donaldson from Emily Hayward-Whitlock of the Artists Partnership in association with the Caroline Sheldon Literary Agency and for Lydia Monks from and for Lydia Monks by Hilary Delamere and Tanya Tillett at The Agency.
All distribution will be handled by Zodiak Kids & Family Distribution.
Multi-BAFTA-winning producers Tiger Aspect Kids & Family have created iconic animated series including Charlie and Lola and Mr Bean. They work in live action and animation, from preschool to family content, with other selected credits including Aliens Love Underpants (Sky Kids) and Tinga Tinga Tales (CBeebies/Disney Junior).
Julia Donaldson, Children’s Laureate 2011-2013, is one of the U.K.’s best-loved writers for children. Her books with illustrator Axel Scheffler, including The Gruffalo, Room on the Broom and Zog, have sold over 75 million copies, and other distinguished illustrators with whom she has worked include Nick Sharratt, Rebecca Cobb, Emily Gravett, Helen Oxenbury, David Roberts and Charlotte Voake. The TV films of The Gruffalo and Room on the Broom have been nominated for Oscars, and she was awarded a CBE in the New Year’s Honours List 2018. Her books have been translated into over 100 languages across the globe.
Lydia Monks is a multi-award-winning bestselling author and illustrator who has collaborated on several books with Donaldson, including Sharing a Shell, The Singing Mermaid and Princess Mirror-Belle. Monks’s other quirky and colorful picture books include Aaaarrgghh, Spider! and I Wish I Were a Dog, both published by Egmont. as well as the Twit Twoo School series published by Macmillan Children’s Books.
Banijay Kids & Family, the dedicated production, distribution and sales division for children’s programming at Banijay, is a global leader in the children’s entertainment industry, producing a wide range of animation and live action series, digital content and entertainment formats for children worldwide. With offices in Paris and London led by CEO Benoit Di Sabbatino, Banijay Kids & Family is made up of three production companies: Zodiak Kids and Family, Monello Productions and Tiger Aspect Kids & Family.
During a ceremony on Thursday, November 25 hosted by Festival Director Steve Henderson, Manchester Animation Festival (MAF) unveiled the winners of the 2021 Industry Excellence Awards and Film Awards. Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s animated documentary Flee, exec produced by Riz Ahmed and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, has won the Festival’s first ever Best Feature Film award following unanimous decision from the jury who said of the film: “Once you’ve seen Flee, there’s no arguing with the quality of work on display in it’s craft, it’s deeply emotive story, and it’s incredible art design.”
Earlier this year, MAF introduced the feature film category aiming to showcase the skills of international filmmaking talent across four dedicated titles. This year, short films for children were also eligible for an award (Supported by BBC Children’s), highlighting some of the best family friendly short films from across the globe.
This year’s Film Awards, which is the Festival’s international film competition,also have categories for Best Short Film, Best Student Film, Best Commissioned Film and special mentions of films that highly impressed the judges this year. You can read more about each jury here.
The Industry Excellence Awards, which recognize individuals working in industry in the fields of scriptwriting, storyboarding, character design and character animation have been judged by Mark Oswin, Kenneth Anderson, Althea Aseoche and Kevin Spruce.
The Manchester Animation Festival trophies and Industry Excellence Awards were crafted by master model makers Mackinnon and Saunders, who have brought some of the world’s best known animated characters to life — fromBob the Builder, Postman Pat and Fifi and the Flowertots, to Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride and Wes Anderson’s Fantastic Mr. Fox.
Manchester Animation Festival Awards
“We were delighted to return our Festival competition to cinemas, bigger and better than before with the inclusion of our Feature Film Competition that showcases the breadth of amazing animated features made internationally and our Shorts Films for Children category that presents all ages with a warm and welcoming break from the sometimes stale diet of online kids content,” said Henderson. “We’re happy to add these to our existing Short, Student, Commissioned and Audience Awards. It was a thrill seeing audiences once again bask in the glow of the big screen as they sampled the very best that the world of animation has to offer.”
“We were also excited to be able to showcase some incredible talent as part of our Industry Excellence Award, which once more prove that our animation industry is producing incredible talent working on amazing projects,” the Festival Director added.
MAF Industry Excellence Award Winners
2021 Industry Excellence Awards
Scriptwriting:
WINNER: Sophie Dutton for Hey Duggee “The Pet Badge”
Alan Robinson & Alex Collier for School of Roars
Alex Collier for It’s Pony “Locked Out”
Ciaran Murtagh & Andrew Barnett Jones for The Rubbish World of Dave Spud
Storyboarding:
WINNER: Graeme Young for It’s Pony
Arly Jones for Absolute Love
Jonathan Mortimer for New Signs for Animation
Justin Quinlan for Lisey’s Story – Main Title Sequence
Character Design:
WINNER: Daniel Amar for Sunrise
Greg McLeod for Circle Square
Mark Pyper for The Retro Squad
George Crosbie for Milo
Character Animation:
WINNER: Philip Ward for Obki
Ben Keohane for Milo
Aman Gupta for BirdBox
Sue Guy for Squib: When All of This Is Over
My Favorite War
2021 MAF Film Award Winners
Best Feature Film Winner: Flee | Director: Jonas Poher Rasmussen
Jury Statement: “This was a unanimous decision for the jury, once you’ve seen Flee there’s no arguing with the quality of work on display in it’s craft, it’s deeply emotive story, and it’s incredible art design. It’s a story that we’ve heard before in documentary and feature, but told so personally and so intimately, with a level of craft that is both masterful in itself whilst also serving the story, it’s rare to see story and animation working so harmoniously and for that reason it is our clear winner.” (Read more.)
Special Mention: My Favorite War | Director: Ilze Burkovska-Jacobsen
“We found My Favorite War to be another incredibly personal story from an under-represented part of the world, depicting experiences that none of us had seen before on film, in an accessible, entertaining way. For that reason we felt it deserved a special mention.” (Read more.)
Navozande, The Musician
Best Short Film Winner: Navozande, The Musician | Director: Reza Riahi
Jury Statement: “Navozande, the Musician is an exquisitely captivating film. We were entranced by its handcrafted visuals and hypnotic-like score. This beautiful and heartbreaking tale feels timeless, both aesthetically and in its message of the enduring nature of love.” (Read more in the January ’22 issue of Animation Magazine.)
Special Mentions:Affairs of the Art (d: Joanna Quinn) + All Those Sensations in My Belly (d: Marko Djeska)
“A special mention goes to Affairs of the Art by Joanna Quinn for its brilliantly entertaining portrait of obsession, artistic perseverance and stuffed beetles.(Read more.) Another special mention goes to All Those Sensations in My Belly by Marko Dješka for its vivid and highly expressive depiction of someone’s journey to find love and the space to be themselves.”
BusLine35A
Best Student Film Winner: BusLine35A | Director: Elena Felici
Jury Statement: “Visually and narratively rooted in the mundanity of everyday life, BusLine35A ponders the question, ‘What happens when we see something terrible happening, and fail to act?’ Ratcheting up a creeping sense of dread with a spectacular deftness of touch, Felici has created an unassuming but truly unforgettable and effective piece of work.”
Special Mention: My Grandmother Is an Egg | Director: Wu-Ching Chang
Save Ralph
Best Commissioned Film Winner: Save Ralph | Director: Spencer Susser
Jury statement: “The film touched the jury in many different ways. Aside from the fact that it is an artistically perfect animated film, it tackles a non-human subject of animal testing in a sensitive, humane and profound way. And this is rare in animation films. The way the main character, Ralph the rabbit, unfolds his life as an animal, who works every day as a ‘tester’ for cosmetic productsin the film is the ideal way of depicting the magnitude of the problem and conveying the message against animal testing.” (<a href=”https://www.dev.animationmagazine.net/wordpress/shorts/stop-mo-save-ralph-spot-delivers-a-star-powered-message-from-humane-society/“>Read more.</a>)
Special Mention: What Really Happened During the Attica Prison Rebellion | Director: Tomás Pichardo Espaillat
“The Jury would like to give a special mention to the film What Really Happened During the Attica Prison Rebellion for highlighting a significant and universal story of claiming human rights with an interesting animation technique and powerful narrative pace.”
MAF Film Award Winners
Best Children’s Film(Sponsored by BBC Children’s) Winner: Blue Curry | Creators: Magali Dunyach, Chien-Ju Hung, Jimin Jung, Vajra Pancharia, Léa Pietrzyk This award was decided by Into Film’s Youth Advisory Council.
Audience Award Winner: Night of the Living Dread | Director: Ida Melum This award was decided by the MAF audience members.
MAFter Dark Audience Award Winner: Tales from the Multiverse | Creators: Magnus Møller, Mette Tange & Peter Smith This award was decided by the audience who attended the MAFter Dark event.
The full program of this year’s MAF can be found online here. MAF 2021 runs November 14-30; more information and ticketing available at www.manchesteranimationfestival.co.uk.
Our annual ho-ho-haul of notions to delight, inspire and spoil the toon fans and animation artists on your Nice list. (We’ll leave what to do with the Naughty list up to you…)
A Little Golden Book: Encanto | Magical Casa Madrigal
Encanto for the Whole Family. Unwrap the creative magic of Disney’s latest feature withThe Art of Encanto ($42, chroniclebooks.com). Young readers will be enchanted by theLittle Golden Book($6). Or, gather around the Magical Casa Madrigal playset from Jakk’s Pacific ($80) and create your own fantastical family adventure.
Machiavelli Plush | Here We Go Luca water bottle
Lovely Luca! Pixar’s sweet summer splash has inspired many bei regali. The Here We Go stainless steel water bottle ($25) makes a great gift for your loved ones and sea creatures everywhere by cutting down on plastic/ We also love the snuggly, sassy 7″ Machiavelli plush ($17). [shopdisney.com]
The Art of Maya and the Three
The Art of Maya and the Three. Journey into the lush artistic jungle of the Netflix event series with creator Jorge R. Gutierrez as your guide in this oversize hardcover (foreword by voice star Zoe Saldaña). [Dark Horse Books, $40]
Cartoon Saloon’s Irish Folklore Trilogy
Cartoon Saloon’s Irish Folklore Trilogy. Magic, fantasy and Celtic mythology come to life in this gorgeous Blu-ray collection of the studio’s Oscar-nominated Wolfwalkers,Song of the Sea and The Secret of Kells. [$65, ships Dec. 14, store.gkids.com]
Neon Genesis Evangelion Collector’s Edition
Neon Genesis Evangelion Collector’s Edition. Hideaki Anno’s acclaimed sci-fi saga is collected in a deluxe 11-disc Blu-ray set packed with extras. [$60, shoutfactory.com/shop]
Coraline LAIKA Studios Edition
LAIKA Studios Edition. HD remasters of Coraline, The Boxtrolls,ParaNormanand Kubo and the Two Strings, loaded with exciting new special features. [$23 each, shoutfactory.com/shop]
Rick and Morty X Wrangler sweatshirt and denim jacket
Rick and Morty X Wrangler. This second team-up collection includes gender-neutral pieces rocking never-before-seen designs. [wrangler.com]
Felix the Cat X Neil Barrett “Haha” tee
Felix the Cat X Neil Barrett. Tees, sweatshirts and accessories for the casualsartorialist with a $285 t-shirt budget. [neilbarrett.com]
The Boss Baby
Boss Baby Cameo. Fans of DreamWorks hit flicks will love a personalized message from the celebrity app’s first animated member! [$20, cameo.com/bossbaby]
Wacom Cintiq Pro 16
Wacom Cintiq Pro 16. The latest edition delivers its most natural pen-on-screen performance yet, improved ergonomics, 4K resolution, vivid color and nifty accessories to customize your ideal creative experience. [$1,500, wacom.com] (Bargain option: The Wacom One and Intuos now come bundled with Celsys Clip Studio Paint PRO.)
Moho Debut 13.5
Moho Debut 13.5. A quick, affordable ($60) way for aspiring animators to bring their stories to life and their develop skills before graduating to Moho Pro ($400), used by studios like Cartoon Saloon. [moho.lostmarble.com]
Mobile Edge Scanfast Onyx Backpack & Professional Backpack
Mobile Edge ScanFast Bags. With in-person events returning, it’s the perfect time to up your travel game with a TSA compliant laptop bag. The Professional Backpack ($120) is made of durable ballistic nylon, while the streamlined Onyx ($100) boasts a SafetyCell computer protection compartment and faux-croc accents. [mobileedge.com]
Etat Libre d’Orange – The Ghost in the Shell
Etat Libre d’Orange – The Ghost in the Shell. Give the otaku cyberpunk in your life a whiff of luxury with this cyborg-inspired scent! (Available in a $4 sample size for a schmancy stocking stuffer.) [$58-$98, us.etatlibredorange.com]
LaPierre Shrek-ish polish collection
LaPierre Cosmetics Shrek-ish Collection. Embrace your inner ogre icon with eight character-inspired, cruelty-free nail polish shades. [$15, lapierrecosmetics.com]
Riff-Rock Ash (Sing 2)
Sing 2: Riff-Rock Ash. Rock out with this interactive 12″ plush, featuring five modes and light-up hair. [Tomy, $30, amazon.com]
My Neighbor Totoro Ramen Bowl
My Neighbor Totoro Ramen Bowl. The subtle leaf pattern and matching chopsticks that stay secure thanks to the clever rim design make this perfect for Ghibli fans of all ages and clumsiness levels. [$19, hottopic.com]
Imaginext MinionBot (The Rise of Gru)
Imaginext MinionBot. Bring The Rise of Gru to life with this action-packed playset (including banana launcher). [Fisher-Price, $65, target.com]
Pokémon 25th Anniversary Celebrations Elite Trainer Box
Pokémon 25th Anniversary Celebrations Elite Trainer Box. Mark a quarter century of monster-battling with this epic TCG collection, featuring a parade of famous and Legendary Pokémon from the franchise’s history. [$90, amazon.com]
Demon Slayer Complete Box Set. Volumes 1-23 of the sensational manga by Koyoharu Gotouge all in one beautiful package. [VIZ Media, $200]
Mega Construx Castle Grayskull
Mega Construx Castle Grayskull. Craft a 3,500-piece puzzle palace fit for the Masters of the Universe, complete with secret doors, working Jawbridge and six micro action figures. [$275, amazon.com]
Want more ideas? Check out past installments of Stuff We Love covering our favorite home entertainment, publishing and just plain neat picks from the past year.
From Universal and DreamWorks Animation, Fast & Furious: Spy Racers Homecoming embarks on its ultimate mission to save the world when the final season debuts on Netflix onDecember 17. Recurring guest stars returning to the final season include Paul “Big Show” Wight, Danny Trejo, Jimmy Tatro and Similce Diesel. The Season 6 trailer debuted with the date announcement.
S6 synopsis: The Spy Racers meet their match in a mysterious villain who steals their spy tech, sending them on their most dangerous international mission yet. In a race against time, the team traverses Europe from the Swiss Alps to Berlin only to find themselves back home in Los Angeles for an epic showdown. And it’s going to take the entire Toretto family to save the world one last time.
Pokémon Evolutions
The Pokémon Company International revealed a mid-series trailer for Pokémon Evolutions, the new animated limited series created to celebrate 25 years of the global entertainment franchise (pokemon.com/25). This eight-episode series takes fans on a journey through all the known regions of the Pokémon world explored in the popular core video games since their launch 25 years ago. Featuring the regions in reverse chronological order to their original discovery, each episode brings a fresh perspective to familiar Pokémon tales. So far, fans have been taken back to Galar, Alola, Kalos and Unova. The remaining four episodes will feature Sinnoh, Hoenn, Johto and Kanto.
Fans can catch up on the first four episodes of Pokémon Evolutions in preparation for the return of the series on December 2,exclusively on the official Pokémon YouTube channel and Pokémon TV:“The Champion” featuring the Galar region, “The Eclipse” featuring the Alola region, “The Visionary” featuring the Kalos region and “The Plan” featuring the Unova region. Upcoming episodes are:
Thursday, December 2 — “The Rival” featuring the Sinnoh region
Thursday, December 9 — “The Wish” featuring the Hoenn region
Thursday, December 16 — “The Show” featuring the Johto region
Thursday, December 23 — “The Discovery” featuring the Kanto region
Supa Strikas: Rookie Season
YouTube Originals announced its collaboration with Moonbug Entertainment in partnership with UNICEF for the premiere of Supa Strikas: Rookie Season out of the U.K., along with the release of the official trailer. This prequel to the global hit soccer series, Supa Strikas, consists of 12 episodes, with the first six launching December 3 on The Supa Strikas YouTube Channel and the YouTube Kids app. The six remaining episodes will roll out in early 2022 and will also be available then in Brazilian Portuguese, Spanish, German and Russian catering to the brand’s global audience.
Supa Strikas: Rookie Season is the original story of star striker Shakes, and how he made it to the world’s greatest soccer team, the Supa Strikas! This prequel series that has its roots with a comic-book classic launched in South Africa in 2001, uncovers some earth-shattering revelations for fans including the mystery of Shakes’ missing father and how his biggest on-field nemesis was once his best friend.
During a global fan event, Netflix and Riot Games confirmed a second season of hit animated event series, Arcane, based on the videogame smash League of Legends. Created by Christian Linke and Alex Yee, produced by Riot, animated by Fortiche Productions and exec produced by Christian Linke, Marc Merrill, Brandon Beck, Jane Chung, Thomas Vu. Hailee Steinfeld (Vi), Ella Purnell (Jinx) and Katie Leung (Caitlyn Kiramman) will reprise their voice roles. The rest is under wraps!
“We’re beyond happy about the positive response to Arcane‘s first season and are working hard with the creative wizards at Riot and Fortiche to deliver our second installment,” said co-creators Linke and Yee.
According to top10.netflix.com, Arcane was the No. 1 English-language series on Netflix for the week of Nov. 15-21, racking up 38.4 million hours of viewing.
Netflix also revealed its new release schedule for the month of December. Animation highlights include the new Aardman holiday special, Shaun the Sheep: The Flight Before Christmas (Dec. 3), CentaurworldSeason 2 (Dec. 7), Aussie animal adventure Back to the Outback (Dec. 10), Hilda and the Mountain King (Dec. 30) — plus the VFX fantasy and horror of The Witcher Season 2 (Dec. 17)
Additional Netflix original toons coming soon:
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: STONE OCEAN (12/1) The legacy of the Joestar family continues with Jolyne as she and her companions take on new Stand users behind the bars of Green Dolphin Street Prison.
Kayko and Kokosh S1 & 2 (12/1) Two Slavic warriors do everything in their power to defend the village of Mirmiłowo from the evil order of Knaveknights.
Jurassic World Camp CretaceousSeason 4 (12/3) The campers leave Isla Nublar behind, only to wash ashore on strange new terrain that’s crawling with threats — and closely guarded secrets.
Go Dog Go Season 2 (12/7) Adventurous pups Tag and Scooch are going everywhere this season, from exciting places all around Pawston to the bright lights of Chew York City!
Saturday Morning All Star Hits! (12/10) Wildly irreverent and slightly disturbing, this adult animation, live-action hybrid celebrates the campy Saturday morning shows of the ’80s and ’90s.
StarBeam: Beaming in the New Year (12/14) Summersette’s biggest baddies join forces on New Year’s Eve to battle Zoey and the Beam Team. But cool cousin Zara powers up to help save the day!
Aggretsuko Season 4 (12/16) Retsuko turns up the volume to stop Haida from making the biggest mistake ever when a sly new company president takes the office to a new extreme.
STAND BY ME Doraemon 2 (12/24) Nobita travels to the future to show his beloved grandma his bride, but adult Nobita has fled his own wedding. Can he ever be a good husband to Shizuka?
Seal Team (Dec. 31) Fearless seal Quinn assembles a squad of misfit recruits to stand up to ruthless sharks with razor-sharp teeth and reclaim the open sea.
Centaurworld
This month, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Barbie in the Nutcracker, Mattel is bringing the magic of Barbie to your home this holiday season. As part of this iconic anniversary, Mattel will be livestreaming the final act from Barbie in the Nutcracker on loop on YouTube until December 27 to allow families to relive this fan-favorite film together.
Over the last 60+ years, Barbie has evolved from a fashion doll to a cultural icon and emerged as a relatable character and role model, sharing her own story and unique perspective with the world. This month marks two decades of Barbie content, which has come to 36 specials and countless episodic and YouTube series so far. Today, Barbie is the #1 girls toy brand on YouTube, with over a billion views in 2021. Mattel is continuing to expand the Barbie content universe in innovative ways, with Greta Gerwig, Noah Baumbach and Margot Robbie set to star in a feature film, an unscripted competition series, Barbie Fashion Battle, and multiple more projects in development.
Yoko
Global kids and family content distributor Jetpack Distribution has signed 14 new deals with VOD) and linear platforms across the globe for 964 hours of TV series from its burgeoning catalogue of kids’ character driven shows. The deals are heavily focused on VOD rights and are testament to the growing demand for VOD content from both platforms and audiences worldwide. The following European networks have paid for rights for a selection of hit animated shows.
Discovery Italy bought both linear and SVOD rights for pre-school animation Yoko (S1-3).
C+ in France renewed the PTV and SVOD rights for Talking Tom & Friends (S1-3) and licensed both rights for Kitty Is Not a Cat S1.
Kidzone TV (Baltics, Middle East and North Africa) is taking pay TV and SVOD rights for Dennis & Gnasher: Unleashed! S1 and pay TV rights for Kazoops, The Sisters S2, Talking Tom & Friends S1-3, Talking Tom Heroes and Talking Tom Minis.
Minimax bought pay TV and VOD rights across Central Eastern Europe for Oswaldo and Marsupilami S1-3.
JimJam bought the Pay TV and VOD rights for Daisy & Ollie S3-4 for their pan-Europe feed.
Pop (U.K.) acquired the free-to-air and FVOD rights for Rainbow Butterfly Unicorn Kitty.
NRK in Norway is taking the free-to-air and FVOD rights for Welcome to Cardboard City.
The following VOD networks across the globe have paid for the rights to air a further selection of animated series across all age groups:
HBO Max in Latin America acquired the SVOD rights for Chuggington S6, Talking Tom & Friends S4-5, Talking Tom Heroes and Talking Tom Minis S1-4.
Semillitas pay TV channel and SVOD services in U.S., Central America and Caribbean Flix Latino and Pinguinitos picked up the rights for Chuggington S2-3.
Lingopie, educational app for language learning based on TV content to learn languages, took rights for The Sisters S1 (German and Italian), Wolf S1 (German and Italian), Talking Tom and Friends (Italian) S3-5 and Yoko S1 (Italian).
Toon Goggles in the U.K., U.S.A. and Canada bought the AVOD and SVOD rights for Boj, Daisy and Ollie S1-2, Emmy & GooRoo, Kitty Is Not a Cat, My Petsaurus S1-2, Talking Tom & Friends S4-5 and Yoko S1.
Tet Sia in Latvia takes the SVOD rights for Talking Tom & Friends S3-5 and Dennis & Gnasher: Unleashed! S1-2.
Kartoon Channel in the U.S. and Canada bought the AVOD and SVOD rights for Boj, Kitty Is Not a Cat S2 and Yoko S1.
Indonesia’s Mola TV bought the SVOD rights for Emmy & GooRoo S1-2 and is renewing Wolf S1-2.
Boris & Rufus
Boris & Rufus has now been released in more than 80 countries since its original release in Latin America on Disney XD in 2018. In January 2021, a new season of the series was released, which Disney Channel Russia started broadcasting in August 2021. UYoung also recently picked it up for Mainland China, and Genius Brands International licensed the series for its Kartoon Channel! in the U.S. and Canada. Additional sales include Amazon Prime Video, Blim TV, Canela, Pluto and Vix, as well as LATAM Airlines. The series is distributed worldwide by Pacotinho Filmes, led by Brazilian Executive Ana Paula Silva, in collaboration with Circular Media, a Uruguayan company founded by Nicolás Valdés.
Created by Brazill’s Belli Studio, the series tells the story of Boris, a cranky dog, and Rufus, an excitable ferret who believes himself a dog. They belong to Enzo, a teenager in love with his neighbor, Jennifer, who owns an internet-famous cat, the insufferable Leopoldo. When the owners are not around, the animals stop behaving like pets; they use electronic devices, access the “interpetnet” (the animals’ web), play video games and get involved in all sorts of shenanigans. The conflicts between Boris’ and Rufus’ personalities, plus their encounters with fantastic beings and items, lead to great adventures that can go far beyond the “real” world.
Ernest and Célestine – The Collection
Emmy Award-winning French animation production and distribution company Dandelooo announced pre-sale deals for Season 2 of the charming, pre-school series Ernest and Célestine – The Collection (26 x 13’), based on the cult books by Belgian author and illustrator Gabrielle Vincent and the César-winning, Oscar-nominated animated feature. Onboard for S2 are France TV, TV5 Monde, TVP (Poland), RTP (Portugal), DR (Denmark), Ceska TV (Czech Republic), RTBF (Belgium), CLS (Russia), HRT (Croatia), LTV (Latvia), RTVS (Slovenia), YLE (Finland) and RTS (French-speaking Switzerland).
Produced by Folivari (France) and Melusine (Belgium), the new episodes will be available in April 2022. The series follows the thrilling adventures of a big eccentric bear and a mischievous little mouse. S2 will introduce three new characters and focus on Célestine and her mice friends.
Hopster Learning
Sandbox Kids, the leading provider of digital subscription content services for children and families worldwide, has launched Hopster Learning, an educational entertainment channel for preschoolers, on Prime Video Channels in the United States. Hopster Learning brings together educational shows, songs and nursery rhymes from all over the world in a safe and ad-free environment. The channel is already available via PVC in the U.K., France, Italy, Netherlands and Spain. Hopster Learning is also available in the U.S. through select Pay TV/OTT services such as Comcast Xfinity, Roku, DISH and Sling TV.
The new channel focuses on children’s social emotional learning with programs such as Pingu, teaching kids how to interact positively with others, and Love Is Love, which encourages inclusivity and diversity through music. Hopster Learning also has a robust selection of curricular programming, such as British animations Numberblocks and Alphablocks, teaching kids numeracy and literacy skills, respectively, and The Fixies and Messy Goes to Okido, which are fun, science-themed shows that introduce children to STEM subjects.
Anime fans and collectors will find must-have treasures in Heritage Auctions’ Art of Anime and Everything Cool II Animation Art Signature Auction Dec. 10-13. The event will feature more than 700 anime lots, including items from legendary anime properties, among them Akira, Dragon Ball Z, Sailor Moon and, of course, Studio Ghibli.
There are dozens of pieces from Ghibli in this auction, among them production cels from masterpieces, including My Neighbor Totoro (1988), Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989) and Princess Mononoke (1997) — works from the Oscar-winning studio co-founder Hayao Miyazaki, a man film critic Matt Zoller Seitz once called “arguably the most innovative and accomplished mainstream animation auteur after Walt Disney himself.” Miyazaki’s work is currently on display as part of the opening exhibitions for the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles.
“The success of our June Animation Art auction, which brought $2.1 million, and our sale in August that reached $4.5 million spotlight the surging demand for top lots in this category, and this event is full of them,” said Jim Lentz, Heritage Auctions Vice President and Director of Animation & Anime Art. “This auction is an incredible event with more than 700 anime-specific lots from a wide array of exceptional artists, an absolute treasure trove that serious collectors can not afford to miss.”
The sale is Heritage’s fourth of the year and the first to span four days – an event made necessary by the deluge of outstanding offerings among the more than 1,500 lots that will cross the block.
My Neighbor Totoro – Satsuki and Totoro Production Cel Setup (Studio Ghibli, 1988) Heritage Auctions
Hayao Miyazaki & Studio Ghibli
Highlights of the items up for auction from the acclaimed Japanese director include a production cel setup from My Neighbor Totoro, featuring a desperate Satsuki looking to the forest spirit Totoro for help, is a rare offering from this beloved film that essentially established Studio Ghibli as the modern animation benchmark. This scene, from the 1:18:03 mark, is as memorable as any in the film. Any work featuring Totoro is scarce and highly coveted, which explains why bidding was up to $14,000 – well beyond its $10,000 estimate – with more than two weeks left before the live auction. Another piece from the film sure to spark a bidding war is an outstanding production cel featuring the weird and wonderful Catbus.
On the subject of buses, fans can look to a production cel setup and animation drawing from Kiki’s Delivery Service, in which the title character narrowly dodges traffic on her first day in a new bustling coastal city. This offering contains something of an Easter egg, too, for fans of the filmmaker and his studio: Look closely at the bus, and you can see it features a charming detail easily missed in the film, a logo that says “Studio Ghibli.”
An original drawing of Nausicaä, princess of the Valley of the Wind, by the hand of Miyazaki himself, is exceptionally special and undeniably rare. Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind was his second animated feature after The Castle of Cagliosto, and while it was made before Miyazaki co-founded Studio Ghibli, it is widely considered part of the Studio Ghibli canon. This piece is also signed by Miyazaki and dated August 4, 1987.
Akira – Kaneda Production Cel (Tokyo Movie Shinsha, 1988) Heritage Auctions
Akira
Considered the seminal Japanese manga and later adapted as an animated theatrical film in 1988, Akira is a classic in any medium. Set in a dystopian future in the aftermath of a nuclear disaster and war, the vast story deals with corruption, rebellion and a struggle for what’s best for society. The anime sale features a nice pile of production cels from the 1988 film, including cels that feature the red motorcycle frequently seen in the press materials for the film (estimate: $10,000+). This is a chance to own a piece of a mainstream breakthrough that changed how the world saw manga.
Other Akira lots include, but are not limited to:
Akira Kaneda Production Cel (Tokyo Movie Shinsha, 1988) (estimate: $10,000+)
Akira Kaneda Production Cel and Animation Drawing (Tokyo Movie Shinsha, 1988) (estimate: $5,000+)
Akira Kaneda Production Cel (Tokyo Movie Shinsha, 1988) (estimate: $5,000+)
Akira Tetsuo Production Cel Setup and Animation Drawing (Tokyo Movie Shinsha, 1988) (estimate: $1,500+)
Dragon Ball Z – Group Shot Publicity Cel with Key Master Background (Toei Animation, c. 1989-90) Heritage Auctions
Dragon Ball Z
Originally released in the mid-1980s as a manga, the Dragon Ball franchise (especially with its Dragon Ball Z entry) is known as one of the biggest and most regarded anime franchises of all time. With a series and films, there is a long list of hit properties from this umbrella. Nearly 100 production cels and animated drawings featuring the artwork from Toei Animation are a major component of this auction. From group shots to action shots to individual shots, there is plenty of variety to choose from.
Top Dragon Ball Z choices include, but are not limited to:
Dragon Ball Z Goku Pan Production Cel with Master Background and Animation Drawing (Toei Animation, c. 1989-96) (estimate: $5,000+)
Dragon Ball Z Group Shot Publicity Cel with Key Master Background (Toei Animation, c. 1989-90) (estimate: $5,000+)
Dragon Ball Z Gohan Production Cel with Production Background and Animation Drawing (Toei Animation, c. 1989-96) (estimate: $2,500+)
Dragon Ball Z Gohan Production Cel and Animation Drawing (Toei Animation, c. 1989-96) (estimate: $2,500+)
Sailor Moon R – Sailor Mercury, Sailor Moon & Sailor Jupiter Production Cel Setup (Toei Animation, c. 1993-94) Heritage Auctions
Sailor Moon
Known as the quintessential “magical girl” manga, the Sailor Moon franchise started in the 1990s and remains one of the best examples of Shōjo manga. Almost 60 lots in this auction contain production cels and animated drawings of a vast array of action shots from the property.
Top Sailor Moon lots include, but are not limited to:
Sailor Moon Sailor Scouts Publicity Cel (Toei Animation, c. 1992-96) (estimate: $1,000+)
Sailor Moon R Sailor Mercury, Sailor Moon and Sailor Jupiter Production Cel Setup (Toei Animation, c. 1993-94) (estimate: $1,000+)
Sailor Moon Sailor Chibi Moon and Sailor Moon Production Cel Setup (Toei Animation, c.1992-97) (estimate: $1,000+)
Neon Genesis Evangelion – Eva Unit 01 Production Cel with Production Background and Animation Drawing (Gainax, c. 1995-96) Heritage Auctions
Neon Genesis Evangelion
A Japanese mecha anime television series animated and produced by Gainax and Tatsunoko and directed by Hideaki Anno, Neon Genesis Evangelion was set 15 years after a worldwide cataclysm in the futuristic city of Tokyo-3. Teenaged Shinji was recruited by his father, Gendo, to the organization “Nerv” to pilot a massive bio-machine mecha named “Evangelion” against adversaries known as “Angels.”
Top Neon Genesis Evangelion lots include, but are not limited to:
Neon Genesis Evangelion Eva Unit 01 Production Cel with Production Background and Animation Drawing (Gainax, c. 1995-96) (estimate: $12,500+)
Neon Genesis Evangelion Eva Unit 01 Production Cel (Gainax, 1995) (estimate: $2,500+)
The End of Evangelion Eva Unit 02 Production Cel Setup (Gainax, 1997) (estimate: $1,000+)
Neon Genesis Evangelion Misato Katsuragi Opening Title Sequence Production Cel Setup and Animation Drawing Group of 3 (Gainax, c. 1995-96) (estimate: $2,000+)
Speed Racer Production Cel with Production Background (Tatsunoko Productions, c. 1967-68) Heritage Auctions
Speed Racer
Also known as Mach GoGoGo, Speed Racer is a Japanese television show about auto racing. Originally serialized in Shueisha’s 1966 Shōnen Book that originally was released in tankōbon book form by Sun Wide Comics and later re-released in Japan by Fusosha. It was adapted into anime by Tatsunoko Productions and aired from April 1967 to March 1968. In the United States, the program aired on ABC.
The sale includes six Speed Racer lots, including but not limited to:
Speed Racer Speed Racer Production Cel with Production Background (Tatsunoko Productions, c. 1967-68) (estimate: $2,500+)
Speed Racer Trixie and Spritle Racer Production Cel (Tatsunoko Productions, c. 1967-68) (estimate: $1,000+)
Other top properties in the sale include Astro Boy, Ghost in the Shell and Cowboy Bebop, the latter now a live-action Netflix series starring John Cho.
For images and information on everything in the auction, visit HA.com/7267.
Illumination Entertainment has raised the curtain on the final trailer for Sing 2, inviting audiences to come along with the familiar animal stars and their new friends as they discover “the bigger the dreams, the bigger the journey.” In this spot, fans get a glimpse of the crazy stage show numbers dreamed up for the movie and get to know some of the new characters joining in the music-packed animated experience. The next chapter in the hit franchise arrives in theaters on December 22, through Universal Pictures.
When theater manager Buster Moon (Matthew McConaughey) sets his eyes on debuting a new show in glamorous Redshore City, he and his cast — including harried mother Rosita (Reese Witherspoon), rocker Ash (Scarlett Johansson), earnest Johnny (Taron Egerton), shy Meena (Tori Kelly) and, of course, provocateur Gunter (Nick Kroll) — have to sneak their way into the world-famous Crystal Entertainment offices, run by ruthless mogul/gangster Jimmy Crystal (Bobby Cannavale). In a desperate attempt to get his attention, Gunte and Buster quickly promise their new show will star rock legend Clay Calloway (Bono), and must set out to retrieve the reclusive star who has been out of the spotlight for 10 years.
The voice cast also features Grammy-nominated artist Halsey as Porsha, Crystal’s daughter who snatches the lead role in the show from Rosita; Pharrell Williams, Letitia Wright, Eric André and Chelsea Peretti.
Sing 2 is written and directed by returning filmmaker Garth Jennings, produced by Illumination founder and CEO Chris Meledandri and by Janet Healy. The sequel combines dozens of hit songs from pop to rock, K-pop to Latin, and from artists including Billie Eilish, Drake, U2, The Weeknd, Prince, Taylor Swift, BTS, Cardi B, Bad Bunny, J Balvin, Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello.
Read all about the movie in the January ’21 issue of Animation Magazine, available soon!
Warner Bros. Animation has dropped the first official trailer for furry feature outing DC League of Super-Pets, starring and produced by Dwayne Johnson (the voice of Krypto the Super-Dog), written & directed by Jared Stern (The LEGO Batman Movie). The spot introduces the surprising herd of super-powered pets who step up to save the day when the Justice League is put out of commission.
In DC League of Super-Pets, Krypto the Super-Dog and Superman (John Krasinski) are inseparable best friends, sharing the same superpowers and fighting crime in Metropolis side by side. When Superman and the rest of the Justice League are kidnapped, Krypto must convince a rag-tag shelter pack — Ace the hound (Kevin Hart), PB the potbellied pig (Vanessa Bayer), Merton the turtle (Natasha Lyonne) and Chip the squirrel (Diego Luna) — to master their own newfound powers and help him rescue the superheroes.
Previous descriptions of the flick referred to the pets by their respective Justice League superhero affiliations, but DC League of Super-Pets now appears to be a pre-pet-adoption origin story for these crime-fighting critters.
The voice also features Kate McKinnon (Ferdinand), Marc Maron (Joker), Thomas Middleditch (Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie), Ben Schwartz (Sonic the Hedgehog) and Keanu Reeves (the Matrix and John Wick films).
DC League of Super-Pets
Stern, a veteran writer/consultant on the LEGO movies, makes his animated feature film directorial debut, directing from a screenplay he wrote with frequent collaborator John Whittington, based on characters from DC, Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. Stern’s creative team includes production designer Kim Taylor (The LEGO Ninjago Movie) and editors David Egan (Game Night, Vacation) and Jhoanne Reyes (Teen Titans GO!, Young Justice). The music is by Steve Jablonsky (Transformers films).
Warner Bros. Pictures Presents A Seven Bucks Production, DC League of Super-Pets. The film is produced by Patricia Hicks, Dwayne Johnson, Dany Garcia, Hiram Garcia and Jared Stern. The executive producers are John Requa, Glenn Ficarra, Nicholas Stoller, Allison Abbate, Chris Leahy, Sharon Taylor and Courtenay Valenti.
The film will be released by Warner Bros. Pictures in theaters internationally beginning 18 May 2022 and in North America on May 20, 2022.
Royals Next Door, a new animated children’s series produced by Finnish-Spanish studio Pikkukala, together with Ireland’s Ink and Light and Belgium’s Walking the Dog, premiered on RTÉ on Monday, November 22. The 52-episode comedy series for kids 7-12 is created by Veronica Lassenius and written by an all-female team of writers, and tells the story of a royal family who decide to downsize and lead a normal life.
The production of the series was delayed by COVID-19 and the project was completed by crew working remotely across the four countries.
Royals Next Door focuses on a royal family that moves out of their castle and into the suburbs to keep in touch with the times and show everyone they are just like normal people. For 13-year-old Princess Stella, this is a dream come true, as she has always wanted to live a regular life, go to a real school and just blend in.
Following its Irish premiere on RTÉ, the series will be aired to an international audience, including Spain (Radiotelevisión Española), Finland (YLE) and Belgium (Ketnet). Royals Next Door will be broadcast on RTÉ2 every weekday at 07.40 hours and 16.05 hours.
“We have loved every minute of making this series, which makes us laugh every day,” said series producer Tamsin Lyons, founder of Ink and Light. “We can all identify with Princess Stella’s challenge to fit in at school while still staying true to herself, even if we might not go to quite the extremes she does! We faced a huge number of challenges during the production and we had to adapt our plans. The show was created by really talented artists working from home.”
Royals Next Door
Eimear O’Mahony, Executive producer for RTÉ Young Peoples, added, “Royals Next Door is a great new addition to our slate for RTÉ Kids. It’s especially important for our older audience as it deals with a family being outsiders, and how Stella and her family deal with that in a fun way. Our older audience are adjusting to changes in their lives, be it new schools or groups of friends and it is really important for them to see people dealing with change being reflected on our screens.”
Royals Next Door features a seasoned ensemble cast of Irish voiceover actors including Paul Tylak, Cathy Belton, Dermot Magennis, Thommas Kane Byrne and Aileen Mythen. The cast is led by real-life siblings Sophie and Erin O’Brien, who play Princess Stella and Princess Molly.
Andrew Byrne, Television Manager, Screen Ireland, commented, “We are delighted to support Royals Next Door and the talented work of Ink and Light and the broader creative team. Reaching and connecting with younger audiences is an important part of our support and creative investment. We very much look forward to seeing the adventures of Stella and family translate with children across Europe in the coming months.’’
The series is supported by Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland, Belga Production, Belga Film Found, Creative Europe – Media Programme of the European Union, Institut Català De Les Empreses Culturals, Instituto De Crédito Oficial, Business Finland Audiovisual Incentive, Finnish Film Foundation, Screen Flanders, Vaf/ Media Fund and the Government of Ireland.
Award-winning French distributor Dandelooo is handling international distribution for Royals Next Door.
The critically lauded Sony Pictures Animation feature The Mitchells vs. the Machines, released by Netflix earlier this year, is making its home entertainment debut next month. Directed by Mike Rianda, co-directed by Jeff Rowe and produced by Phil Lord & Christopher Miller (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse), the visually radical family road trip flick arrives on Digital, Blu-ray and DVD on December 14, complemented by over two hours of new content — including an all-new short and Katie Mitchell’s extended cut!
Synopsis: An old school father (voiced by Danny McBride) and his plugged-in, filmmaker daughter (Abbi Jacobson) struggle to relate as their family embarks on a road trip to her new college. Their drive is interrupted by a machine apocalypse that threatens to tear these unlikely heroes apart unless they can find a way to join forces and save humanity. The voice cast also features Maya Rudolph, writer-director Mike Rianda, Eric André and Olivia Colman, with special guest grunts by Doug the Pug.
The Mitchells vs. the Machines (Blu-ray + DVD)
Bonus features:
Katie’s Cabinet of Forgotten Wonders: Take a rare look inside Katie Mitchell’s filmmaking process as she gives you an exclusive look into how the movie was made.
Katie-Vision!
Dumb Robots Trailer
The Original “Mitchells” Story Pitch
The Furby Scene – How? Why?
PAL’s World
The Mitchells vs. the Machines: Or How a Group of Passionate Weirdos Made a Big Animated Movie: Go inside the story of The Mitchells vs the Machines and meet a group of first-time filmmakers & talented cast who banded together to take a collective risk on making a unique, original, and totally off-the-wall film about an everyday, epic, world-saving family!
How to Make Sock Puppets: Katie Mitchell opens the door to her film school. Learn how to make sock puppets who could be extras in your next short film!
How to Make Katie Face Cupcakes: Enjoy making cupcakes only a mother could love.
Blu-ray exclusives:
Dog Cop 7: The Final Chapter: Katie Mitchell is back and creating the most hilarious film of her young career – check out an all-new mini-movie, Dog Cop 7: The Final Chapter. In a world where the holidays are being haunted by the Candy Cane Kidnapper, there is only one Dog with the skills to solve the case.
Katie’s Extended Cinematic Bonanza Cut! Prepare to witness Katie’s director’s cut, an extended version of the original film with over 40 minutes of deleted scenes.
Eight Bonus Scenes: Get more Mitchells with over 20 minutes of Deleted & Extended Scenes.
Disney Television Animation has named two new Vice Presidents of Development, who will be integral to guiding the flow of toon content to key linear and streaming outlets.
Elizabeth Waybright Taylor (Photo: Disney/Craig Sjodin)
Elizabeth Waybright Taylor has been promoted to the post. She will oversee a team that identifies and steers new animated Disney Channel content for kids 6-11 and families. A Disney employee for 11 years, she was most recently Executive Director, Development, Disney Television Animation. She reports to Emily Hart, SVP Animation Development, Disney Branded Television.
“Elizabeth’s decade of experience at TVA and her passion for creator-driven projects makes her the ideal executive to lead our development slate for Disney Channel,” said Hart. “She has an eye toward curating character-driven comedies and is a strong partner and ally to talent — a true champion of their creative vision. I’m delighted to see her take on this leadership role with the development team!”
Taylor has shepherded a steady stream of projects through development, including the acclaimed cartoon shorts The Wonderful World of Mickey Mouse and the Annie Award-winning series Amphibia, Kiff and the recently announced Primos. She joined Disney TVA in 2010 as an assistant on the Development team and, as the studio grew, she was promoted into roles of greater responsibility: coordinator (2012-14), manager (2014-16), director (2016-2020) and executive director (2020-2021). Prior to Disney, she worked in animation production at Nickelodeon and was an independent event planner and florist. A native of Syracuse, New York, Taylor has a Bachelor of Arts in film studies from Emerson College.
Lisa Fragner (Photo: Disney Branded Television/Danny Weiss)
At the same time, Lisa Fragner has newly joined Disney TVA as VP Development, adding more depth to the animation studio’s senior ranks as it helps fuel the rapidly expanding content slate for Disney+. In her new role, which is based in New York, she also reports to Hart. Fragner was most recently VP and Head of Development for Blue Sky Studios (a division of The Walt Disney Studios) from 2003-21.
“Strong creative executives are the key to our success in the marketplace. Lisa has deep experience in the animation industry, and her acute creative and business sense — especially as a longtime mentor of creator talent from underrepresented groups — is a hand-in-glove fit with our commitment to world-class storytelling,” commented Meredith Roberts, SVP & General Manager, Television Animation, Disney Branded Television. “Emily’s team has demonstrated formidable talent and ability to collaborate across the Company, and I have confidence that we will continue to meet our ambitious goals.”
Fragner has a proven track record of leadership results and creative storytelling capability for all audience sectors. At Blue Sky, she steered several creator-driven feature films from concept pitch to greenlight, including Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who!, Rio, Spies in Disguise and Nimona. She also secured the rights to several feature film properties for 20th Century Fox Animation and Fox Family feature divisions, including the animated Confessions of an Imaginary Friend and the live-action Better Nate Than Ever.
In addition to producing Blue Sky’s “Pitch Fest” for short and feature films, Fragner steered multiple diversity and inclusion initiatives within key creative roles and the development executive team. Her producer credits include The Hebrew Hammer (Sundance 2003) and Death of a Dynasty (Tribeca Film Festival 2003). Fragner earned degrees in history and theater from Stanford University and is a member of Stanford Alumni in Entertainment and its mentoring program, BEAM/Stanford Career Education. She is also affiliated with The Animation Project, Women in Animation, ASIFA, The Animation Industry Council and the New York Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment/Made in NY.
Nathalie Girard
Former senior lead compositor and comp supervisor at Industrial Light & Magic Nathalie Girard is joining Emmy-winning Montreal studio Rodeo FX (Game of Thrones, Lovecraft Country, WandaVision; rodeofx.com)as Senior Head of 2D, returning to Canada after more than a decade in the U.S. Over the last 18 years, Girard specialized in compositing and continuously explored new software and solutions to stay ahead of the curve. She trained herself on Autodesk’s Flame very early on and was one of the first few women at ILM to be trained on Nuke, developing a unique set of skills.
In addition to working on Oscar-nominated movies The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, War of the Worlds, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, Transformers and Iron Man, Girard also supervised ILM’s first theme park project at Universal Studios, The Transformers. Bringing the two-year, VES Award-winning project to fruition was a completely new endeavor for the company and the ride is now found in every Universal Studios park worldwide. She was also behind the Oscar- and BAFTA-winning Warner Bros. animated feature Happy Feet.
As Head of 2D, Girard will develop new workflows and technologies and lead the department onto the industry’s cutting edge. She will continue to build a talented, agile and creative team which will push Rodeo FX further as the established studio moves beyond its first 15 years of operation. “I was so impressed by Rodeo, by the projects and the team,” Girard said. “It’s a long way from California, but this is where it all started for me and I’m already feeling right at home.”
Silver Spoon has augmented their real-time animation and VP capabilities with new production team hires. The appointments follow the studio’s plans to expand operations to Los Angeles in addition to their New York base, as the company continues to grow and innovate in real-time production. The virtual production boom during the pandemic saw Silver Spoon support projects such as the Super Bowl, CBS’s March Madness and Fox’s avatar singing show Alter Ego.
Tao Li
Tao Li joins as Director of Technology and Innovation after over a decade’s experience in audiovisual programming. After starting out in technical programming roles on cruise ships, Li then worked across the board in entertainment, from cultural establishments such as the MET Museum and theatre productions in Broadway to audio-visual (AV) rental companies. Before joining Silver Spoon, Li worked under Lucid Creative as the Director of Technical Productions, mounting concert shows with artists like Madonna, Shakira, Fleetwood Mac and Childish Gambino. Drawing from technical capabilities across visual mediums, Tao will ensure that Silver Spoon remains cutting-edge in its implementation of new technologies across their real-time productions.
“I’m excited to be joining Silver Spoon and diving deeper into the emerging industry of virtual production and real-time content,” said Li. “I believe Silver Spoon’s work will continue to set us apart as industry leaders while developing new capabilities and technologies — and hope to deliver some industry firsts in the process!”
Matthew Houstle
Silver Spoon’s new Lead Systems Designer, Matthew Houstle, joins the team after a decade in the live entertainment industry. Having worked as a disguise programmer on many award-winning Broadway shows, Houstle’s project highlights in his career include Beetlejuice: The Musical, and recently working on projection mapping the Brooklyn Bridge for a New York City Covid Memorial Ceremony. Houstle recently worked as an AV Technologist designing AV systems at NBBJ | ESI Design. In the new role, Houstle’s aim is to expand Silver Spoon’s capacity in audio-visual entertainment in an exciting emerging strand of the industry.
“We are in a magical time of innovation and expansion in the augmented reality space, and Silver Spoon is right at the front of it all. I’m excited to grow and learn with Silver Spoon, and contribute my skills, ideas and passion to this world,” Houstle commented.
Poppy and Branch will return for another technicolor, tuneful adventure soon, with Universal Pictures announcing a third Trolls movie from DreamWorks Animation will arrive November 17, 2023. No details on where the story will take our upbeat heroes or the creative team were revealed; however, it is likely that Trolls World Tour director Walt Dohrn will return to the helm in light of his overall deal with the studio.
Trolls 3 will get the big screen treatment with a 17-day exclusive theatrical window before arriving on PVOD. The previous outing, Trolls World Tour, enjoyed breakout success going straight to home audiences during the COVID-19 theatrical shutdown last year, earning over $100 million from digital rentals (on top of $47M in worldwide box office). This move led to a row between Universal and AMC Theaters, with other cinema chains joining in, and sparked debate about how to deal with exclusivity windows and related agreements during the pandemic. The sequel did enjoy a small big screen run in drive-in theaters across the U.S.
The franchise kicked off with 2016’s Trolls, directed by Mike Mitchell and co-directed by Dohrn from a script by Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Burger (inspired by the popular Good Luck Trolls dolls), introducing the super-positive Princess Poppy (Anna Kendrick) and curmudgeonly paranoiac Branch (Justin Timberlake). Released by 20th Century Fox, the glittery musical grossed $346M in worldwide box office and earned four Annie Award nominations as well as Best Original Song nods from the Oscars, Golden Globes and Critics’ Choice Awards for “Can’t Stop the Feeling!” — which won the Grammy for Song Written for Visual Media.
HBO Max is ready to sleigh the holidays with its seasonal Max Original adult animated series, Santa Inc., from Lionsgate Television and Seth Rogen’s Point Grey Pictures. The streamer has officially unveiled the key art and first-look images and expletive-laden trailer for the project, announced in May 2020.
Santa Inc.
Starring co-creator Sarah Silverman as a disgruntled elf ready to shake up the white male hegemony of the North Pole, all eight stop-motion episodes drop Thursday, December 2.
Watch the not-for-kids Red Band trailer below (we warned you)…
https://youtube.com/watch?v=aEx_CBxNrXY
Santa Inc. centers on intrepid elf Candy Smalls (Silverman), who will do anything to be named as the first female Santa — even if she has to fight like a man to get it. The Series also features the voices of Rogen, Leslie Grossman, Gabourey Sidibe, Craig Robinson, Nicholas Braun, Maria Bamford and Joel Kim Booster.
A Lionsgate Television Production, the series is created and written by showrunner and executive producer, Alexandra Rushfield (Shrill, Parks and Recreation). Executive producers include Silverman and Amy Zvi; Rogen, Evan Goldberg, James Weaver and Joshua Fagen for Point Grey Pictures; Rosa Tran, Seth Green, John Harvatine IV, Matthew Senreich, Eric Towner and Chris Waters. Directed by Harry Chaskin.
Silvergate Media is readying the release of Hilda and the Mountain King — an epic 80-minute movie special which will launch exclusively on Netflix’ global streaming platform from December 30. Adapted from Luke Pearson’s sixth graphic novel in the Hilda series, Hilda and the Mountain King picks up where the shocking cliff-hanger ending of Hilda Season 2 left off: Finding Hilda stranded in troll country with the body of a troll.
In the movie, Hilda’s quest to change back into her human form and reunite with her mum and friends brings her deeper into the world of trolls: their customs, their cuisine, and their legends; namely the infamous Mountain King. Meanwhile, as tensions rise between the gathering trolls and the city of Trolberg, Hilda’s mum scours the mountainside desperate to find her daughter before the conflict erupts into a full blown war.
“We’re really excited to bring audiences a new feature length format with the release of Hilda and the Mountain King. The epic scope of the storyline gives us the opportunity to explore the full potential of Hilda’s fascinating mythical world and we think fans are going to love getting lost in the hidden depths of Trolberg this holiday season,” said Ron Allen, EVP Commercial at Silvergate Media.
Co-produced by Silvergate Media and Mercury Films, Hilda and the Mountain King is a triumphant end to a year filled with numerous critical accolades. The show’s second season was awarded two Daytime Emmys, including Outstanding Children’s Animated Series, plus three Annie Awards, including Best Animated TV Production for Children.
Silvergate is an international media company whose other award-winning productions include Octonauts, Peter Rabbit and Chico Bon Bon: Monkey with a Tool Belt for Netflix, and Sunny Day for Nickelodeon. The studio’s world-renowned content is created by its talented team of Executive Producers in New York, while its London-based commercial team builds global IP franchises via content distribution, consumer products, live entertainment and attractions partners, with China a particular area of expertise.
GKIDS has acquired the North American distribution rights for Fortune Favors Lady Nikuko (Gyoko no Nikuko-chan), the latest feature from the lauded Studio 4°C (Tekkonkinkreet). The producer-distributor will release the festival favorite theatrically early next year in its latest collaboration with the Japanese studio, having handled local distribution forChildren of the Sea, Mind Game, MFKZ, Genius Party and Genius Party Beyond.
Planned and produced by Japanese comedy legend Sanma Akashiya out of his love for the original novel by Kanako Nishi, and directed by the esteemed Ayumu Watanabe (Children of the Sea), Fortune Favors Lady Nikuko follows the lives of loud and boisterous single mother Nikuko and her quiet daughter Kikuko, whose otherwise quiet life in a small seaside village is frequently disrupted by her mother’s comedic antics.
“We’re thrilled to work with director Ayumu Watanabe and creative producer Sanma Akashiya on a film that puts their unique artistry and talents on full display,” said GKIDS’ President David Jesteadt. “Fortune Favors Lady Nikuko is a big-hearted coming-of-age story with unforgettable characters and a poignant mix of comedy and drama, that is sure to leave an impact on audiences here next year.”
Watanabe stated in the announcement, “To everyone in the United States! This is terrific news! I am very excited that this film will be shown to you all. Occasionally, I feel that I am inspired by the art that is American entertainment. I’m revealing this for the first time here, but back when Nikuko didn’t have a soundtrack or theme song, and I was planning out this film, there was a song I always listened to. I heard that a long time ago, Americans hummed this song to overcome predicaments. It’s a great story that makes you perceive the power of entertainment. It had a substantial influence on the spirit of this movie. It would be nice if that’s conveyed to you all! Many thanks to the excellent song from America, ‘On the Sunny Side of the Street’…”
Synopsis: Nikuko is a brash, jolly, scattered and passionate woman in an otherwise sleepy seaside town in northern Japan. She’s also the single mother of 11-year-old Kikuko, who is her opposite in many ways. Kikuko is a string-bean of a young girl, pensive, quietly curious, and methodical in how she approaches life in this small harbor town.
Nikuko embarrasses Kikuko as any mom of a preteen would, but Nikuko’s bold spirit makes her especially well-known in a town where Kikuko herself wants nothing more than to simply blend in. As Kikuko navigates the everyday social dramas of middle school, enhanced with touches of magical realism from her ever-present imagination, a shocking revelation from the past threatens to uproot the pair’s tender relationship.
Featuring the voices of Shinobu Otake, Cocomi and Natsuki Hanae, the film’s creative team also includes screenwriter Satomi Oshima, art director Shinji Kumra (Tekkonkinkreet, Children of the Sea, Dorohedoro), supervising animation director Kenichi Konishi (The Tale of the Princess Kaguya, Children of the Sea) and composer Takatsugu Muramatsu. Yoshimoto Kogyo Co. Ltd. is the production partner.
Big Bad Boo Studios announces the official greenlight of their new original, animated series Galapagos X with commissioning Canadian broadcasters TVOKids, SRC Radio-Canada, Knowledge Kids and TFO. Directed by Shabnam Rezaei, the new series focuses on climate change with relevant, exciting, and empowering stories.
“With Galapagos X, we hope to give kids fun stories, lots of comedy and practical, everyday tips on ways to prevent future environmental disasters from happening,” said Rezaei.
Galapagos X focuses on a group of four life science explorers and their blue-footed booby bird who come to the present from a future that has taken the wrong turn. Our heros Orchid, Zeph, Oshie and Rae set off on adventures to solve environmental problems.
Galapagos X
Galapagos X will be trekking new territory — both literally and figuratively — as Big Bad Boo will develop an interactive virtual reality component that sees its audience explore different ecosystems in addition to creating a traditional television series and digital storybook.
The series’ voice cast will feature Schitt’s Creek star Jennifer Robertson as the voice of power-hungry and oblivious Doc Crock.
Writer/director Chris Perry and animator Raf Anzovin have received an Epic MegaGrant from Epic Games which will be used to create a new animated short film titled Little Bird. A teaser trailer for the short was released today.
Featuring the voices of animation legends Phil LaMarr (Samurai Jack, Futurama) and Cree Summer (Rugrats, Inspector Gadget), Little Bird tells the story of a young astronaut trying to rescue her father.
“The story for Little Bird came to me in late 2019 when I had to be away from my kids due to work,” says Perry. “When I pitched it to Raf, he thought it would make a great next challenge for our ever-evolving stylized CG pipeline.”
Little Bird
Prior to Little Bird, the duo collaborated onMonkey Test, which features a stylized CG character easily mistaken for 2D due to its free-form gestural posing and cel-inspired lighting and shading. It was created using Anzovin’s custom “ephemeral” rigging system, with a stylized look created by rendering multiple passes and stitching them together carefully in compositing.
Excited to create a stylized look for Little Bird that’s infused with painterly qualities, Perry and Anzovin have enlisted the help of Jill Daniels (Infinity Train, Phineas and Ferb) as art director and associate producer on the short.
“We want every shot of Little Bird to be informed by the art of traditional painting. We’re talking color, composition, and even the presence of brush marks,” says Perry. “In Jill we’ve found a gifted artist who is excited to help us figure out how to bring a rich painterly sense into the 3D world of our short.”
Little Bird
In addition to producing the film, Perry and Anzovin are using the Epic MegaGrant to migrate their layer-based shading and lighting pipeline from an offline process into a fully real-time one within Epic Games’ Unreal Engine. They are writing two custom Unreal plugins to support this effort.
“We love innovating stylistically, but it’s super frustrating to manage all the layers going in and out of these different software platforms,” says Perry. “Unreal Engine allows us to render and composite our multiple passes in real time, without ever needing to write them out to disk. It turns a nightmare of asset management across multiple packages into a completely internalized process that’s easy to art direct and tweak.”
Little Bird
The team plans an open source release of their two plugins so other creatives can take advantage of their multi-layered approach within Unreal.
“Unreal Engine is known as a great tool for real-time photorealistic production,” says Anzovin, “and everyone wants the speed, but not everyone wants the photorealism. Our plugins allow us to produce animated content in Unreal that is infused with stylistic elements from 2D animation and painterly art, but without sacrificing all the advantages of real-time production. The shot-centric approach means that the process is going to feel very familiar to anyone coming from a background in conventional CG animation.”
Chris Perry | Raf Anzovin self portrait | Jill Daniels
In addition to pushing boundaries on the rendering front, Anzovin used Little Bird to test out the latest version of the ephemeral rigging system. Developed for Autodesk’s Maya with Tagore Smith of Notional Pipe, the ephemeral system eschews conventional CG character animation concepts like hierarchical rigs and interpolated keyframes. Instead, the animator is given a set of tools that allow fast and fluid pose creation, and creates poses and in-betweens much as a traditional drawn animator would.
“The ephemeral approach removes a lot of the technical red tape that gums up the works for animators, and lets you work a lot faster and more loosely than the conventional CG animation process would allow,” says Anzovin. “It fits perfectly into a stylized production like Little Bird.”
Little Bird
Aliyah, the lead character in Little Bird, is the first character to be animated using the latest iteration of the system. Anzovin also leveraged Contour Rig Tools, an upcoming product from Notional Pipe, for its spline-based deformer.
The project’s progress is being tracked on Instagram (instagram.com/little_bird_animation), while Anzovin is chronicling some of the behind-the-scenes R&D work on his personal blog (justtodosomethingbad.com), covering ephemeral rigging and stylized real-time rendering in Unreal Engine.
The visual spectacles that have delighted streaming audiences in recent years are getting a boost at Netflix, with the platform/producer/distributor announcing its acquisition of acclaimed visual effects house Scanline VFX. Netflix will invest in Scanline’s pipeline, infrastructure and workforce and continue to support the pioneering work of its virtual production division, Eyeline Studios.
“From the interstellar landscape of Cowboy Bebop and the ravenous vampires of Blood Red Sky to the exploding underground reactor in Stranger Things 3, we want to surprise and delight our members by pushing the boundaries of visual effects. So we’re pleased to announce today our plans to acquire Scanline VFX, one of the most creative and innovative VFX studios in the world,” Amy Reinhard, VP of Studio Operations for Netflix, wrote in Monday’s blog post announcement.
Founded in 1989, Scanline is known for creating complex, photorealistic effects and expertise in virtual production. In addition to the above-mentioned Netflix titles, the studio is working to support creators’ visions with VFX for upcoming titles Don’t Look Up, The Gray Man, Slumberland, The Adam Project and Stranger Things 4. Beyond Netflix, Scanline has delivered groundbreaking work for a range of projects including Game of Thrones, Gozilla vs. Kong and Zack Snyder’s Justice League.
Scanline is currently led by trailblazing VFX supervisor Stephan Trojansky, whose proprietary fluid rending system Flowline won a Technical Achievement Oscar in 2008. The company has offices in Vancouver, Montreal, Los Angeles, London, Munich, Stuttgart and Seoul. (Learn more at www.scanlinevfx.com.)
Completion of the transaction, the terms of which were not revealed, is subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions. Netflix expects to close the deal in Q1 of 2022.
Netflix will continue to work with other studios around the world to fulfill VFX demands for its productions, and Scanline will continue to operate as a standalone business working with a variety of clients.
Entrepreneur Josh Jones has acquired the animated film and television rights to Groo the Wanderer, legendary cartoonist Sergio Aragonés’ beloved comics character, with the intent of producing the character’s first-ever animated entertainment via Jones’ Did I Err Productions company.
Groo the Wanderer, now in its landmark 40th year of publication, is the longest currently-running independent and “creator-owned” comic-book property — outlasting many of the companies that published it. The brainchild of Aragonés, who creates the stories along with wordsmith Mark Evanier, the Eisner Award-winning comic has been published by Dark Horse Comics since 1998.
Jones and his Did I Err partner Scott Nocas will serve as executive producers on the film and/or series, with Aragonés and Evanier. Did I Err is focused on partnering with creative talent who understand Aragonés’ vision and characters. Projects are being packaged for streaming services and global distribution, with Did I Err able to co-finance as needed.
“After drawing and living with Groo for so many years, so many comics, so many pages, you can imagine I have drawn Groo in every position imaginable,” Aragonés explains. “Mark and I wondered so many times how he — Groo, not Mark — would look animated. We studied what we have seen on the screen by different animators and laughed plenty. Now, I know that we are going in the right direction and I can assure the fans that they will love Groo the way Mark and I do.”
Groo the Wanderer follows the exploits of a barbarian warrior who is invincible in battle,
but negotiates his days with an I.Q. three points lower than a boulder. With his trusty canine sidekick Rufferto, he wanders an ancient land of mystery, magic and mayhem, looking only for a warm place to sleep, a few coins or a taste of cheese dip.
“I’ve loved Groo the Wanderer since I was eight years old, and to have the honor of bringing the character to on-screen life is, quite literally, a lifelong dream come true,” Jones says. “Sergio’s style, the characters, the world, and especially the humor have always appealed to me. I just want to help bring what I’ve loved for so long to the next generation!”
Mark Evanier (Photo: Gabrielle Muttone) | Josh Jones | Scott Nocas (Photo: Trish Allison Photography)
Jones’ wide portfolio of businesses go far beyond his role as the head of Did I Err Productions: The visionary entrepreneur also owns and operates Kill Capital, a hybrid VC firm and family office; Gondola Ventures, a transportation infrastructure firm; FlyCoin, a crypto rewards program; and Ravn Alaska and its sister airline Northern Pacific Airways. Jones became a Bitcoin proponent in 2010 and has built an outstanding reputation throughout the cryptocurrency industry as a prolific investor and technical expert. He also co-founded DreamHost, a popular web hosting provider, while an undergraduate at Harvey Mudd College. He is a founder of HMC INQ, an investment network offering mentorship and startup support to HMC students and alumni. He currently serves on the board of Represent.Us and The Aquarium of the Pacific.
Aragonés is the most honored cartoonist on the planet, having won every major award in the field, including the National Cartoonists Society’s Reuben Award and the Will Eisner Hall of Fame Award. His irresistible cartoons have appeared in MAD since 1963, including as the subject of “All-Sergio” special editions of the magazine. His artistic creations have been seen in DC Comics, Marvel Comics and just about every major publisher of funnybooks, and his work has been translated into more than 100 languages. Paperback collections of his work and graphic novels have sold into the millions.
Evanier is renowned for his writing in several mediums. The Los Angeles native has written comic books for the characters of The Walt Disney Studios, Warner Bros. Studios and Hanna-Barbera, and the three-time Emmy Award nominee’s robust resume of television writing for both live-action and animated series includes Welcome Back Kotter, That’s Incredible, Pryor’s Place, the Scooby-Doo franchise, Superman: The Animated Series, Thundarr the Barbarian, Dungeons & Dragons, Garfield & Friends and The Garfield Show. An assistant to comics legend Jack Kirby, Evanier honored his one-time employer in 2008 by writing a book entitled Kirby: King of Comics. Evanier has earned several Eisner Awards and was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award for Animation Writing by the Writers Guild of America.
Growing up a huge comic-book collector and Groo fan, Nocas has a long career investing in and launching media, consumer and education businesses. He has launched and produced content for next-generation platforms and communities with Xbox, Sony, Vuguru, Marvel creator Stan Lee, the Smithsonian Institution, the U.S. Army and many others. Nocas currently serves as Managing Director of Jones’ Kill Capital, and as a venture partner with NextGen Ventures — in addition to his producer role with Did I Err Productions.
In preparation for the anticipated production(s), the franchise’s website – Groo.com – has been refreshed, and fans can keep up with the latest Groo news and connect with fellow members of the Groo community on Twitter (twitter.com/OfficialGroo), Instagram (www.instagram.com/officialgroo), Facebook (www.facebook.com/Officialgroothewanderer) and YouTube (www.youtube.com/c/GrooTheWanderer).
Ron’s Gone Wrong from 20th Century Studios and Locksmith Animation – and Certified-Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes – starts streaming on Disney+ just in time for the holidays on December 15. Witness the crazy adventures between a B*Bot and his human best friend, as they discover self-acceptance and courage along the way. In addition to streaming on Disney+, the movie will be available to stream on HBO Max on December 15.
In Ron’s Gone Wrong, things go hilariously awry when Barney, a socially awkward middle-schooler, receives a malfunctioning, digitally connected device that’s supposed to be his “best friend out of the box.” In this action-packed animated story set against the backdrop of the social media age, a boy and his robot discover the wonderful messiness of true friendship.
The movie is directed by Sarah Smith and Jean-Philippe Vine and co-directed by Octavio E. Rodriguez. Julie Lockhart and Lara Breay produce with executive producers Sarah Smith, Peter Baynham and Elisabeth Murdoch. The movie is written by Smith and Baynham, with music by Henry Jackman.
The voice cast roster features Jack Dylan Grazer as Barney Pudowski, Zach Galifianakis as Ron, Olivia Colman as Donka Pudowski, Ed Helms as Graham Pudowski, Justice Smith as Marc Wydell Rob Delaney as Andrew Morris, Kylie Cantrall as Savannah Meades, Marcus Scribner as Alex, Ricardo Hurtado as Rich and Thomas Barbusca as Jayden.
The movie will also be available on Blu-ray and at all digital stores such as Apple TV, Prime Video and Vudu with exclusive bonus features.
Read more about Ron’s Gone Wrong in Animation Magazine‘s feature story from the November ’21 issuehere.
