Animation Magazine

Author: Mercedes Milligan

  • ‘Thomas & Friends’ Steams Ahead with New Deals

    ‘Thomas & Friends’ Steams Ahead with New Deals

    From the busy floor of MIPCOM in Cannes, Mattel Creations has announced a raft of new international deals for hit kids’ franchise Thomas & Friends, including broadcast, home entertainment and digital partnerships for TV series and movies in Asia, Europe and LatAm.

    Following the unprecedented Chinese theatrical release of Thomas & Friends: Sodor’s Legend of the Lost Treasure earlier this year, the Thomas & Friends TV show has been picked up in the country by state broadcaster, China Central Television, LeEco, China Mobile and Air Media. A Thomas & Friends channel recently launched on online video portal Youku, with over 3 billion people reached in China across all Thomas & Friends digital platforms.

    Elsewhere in Asia new broadcasters include NHK (Japan), Global TV (Indonesia), GMA (Philippines), KBS (S. Korea), TVNZ (New Zealand) and TVB (Hong Kong). These gains are mirrored worldwide, with broadcast deals for Thomas series and specials inked by ABC TV (Australia), Channel 5 (UK), Minimini (Poland), Next (South Africa) and RTE (Ireland).

    In the UK, where the show first broadcast 32 years ago, Thomas & Friends is moving to a new pay TV home on Cartoonito starting in 2017, relocating from Nickelodeon Junior. Cartoonito will begin airing season 20 early in the year, followed by The Great Race special at Easter.

    Thomas & Friends: The Great Race is also heading to theaters in the UK, Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Mexico and, for the first time, over 70 cinemas in Italy.

    And a new agreement with Universal Pictures Home Entertainment in Europe will bring Thomas & Friends specials to home video in Benelux, Greece, Turkey and Czech Republic. The deal also includes home distribution of season 20 in Italy, France, Malta, Switzerland, Monaco, San Marino, Vatican, Luxembourg, Andorra and French-speaking Belgium.

    Thomas & Friends
    Thomas & Friends
  • ‘P. King Duckling’ Takes Wing in Sweden, Finland

    ‘P. King Duckling’ Takes Wing in Sweden, Finland

    UYoung and Little Airplane Productions’ animated series P. King Ducking (52 x 11, kids 2-7) has been picked up by Nordic broadcasters SVT (Sweden) and YLE (Finland).

    These national pubcaster acquisitions follow the show’s sale to Disney Junior in the US, where it will premiere later this year. Disney Junior has also picked up P. King Duckling for many global territories, including Latin America, India, Korea and Southeast Asia.

    P. King Duckling follows the adventures of an extremely intrepid (but slightly hapless) young duck and his two best friends, Chumpkins and Wombat. Though they live in the rural community of Hilly Hole, P. King and pals have adventures all over the world — from redecorating the Eiffel Tower in Paris to turning China’s Great Wall into a Great Waterslide.

    Created by Emmy-winning producer Josh Selig of Little Airplane in collaboration with James Chen Gu, General Manager of UYoung Animation, with both serving as executive producers. The series is directed by Eddy Bo Fan (Creative Director, UYoung). UYoung holds global TV and licensing rights.

    P. King Duckling
    P. King Duckling
  • SND Picks Up Global Rights to ‘Jungle Bunch’ Movie

    SND Picks Up Global Rights to ‘Jungle Bunch’ Movie

    France-based SND has picked up worldwide rights to The Jungle Bunch – The 3D Movie, a new feature adventure based on the fast growing animated franchise. The movie is currently in production at TAT Productions, co-produced by France 3 Cinema, Master Films and SND, which will handle worldwide sales and French distribution. Delivery is expected for Spring 2017.

    The Jungle Bunch TV series has sold to more than 200 territories, with top broadcasters including France Television, Rai (Italy), Clan (Spain), Super RTL (Germany) and ABC (Australia) on board. The property has also inspired a strong licensing program worldwide, with toys, CDs/DVDs, publishing, apparel, back-to-school and more.

    Synopsis:

    Meet the Jungle Bunch! Led by the tiger-striped kung fu penguin Maurice and surrounded by his adoptive son Junior, a tiger-striped kung fu …goldfish; Gilbert, the brainy tarsier; and Miguel, the punchy gorilla. As they just defeated the latest menace to the jungle – evil baboons – they face Igor, the koala… Years ago Igor’s evil plan to blow the jungle came to a halt when he faced the Champs – the original heroes of the jungle, led by Natasha the tiger, Maurice’s adoptive mother. Now Igor wants revenge. The Champs and The Jungle Bunch have to unite forces…

    The Jungle Bunch - The 3D Movie
    The Jungle Bunch – The 3D Movie
  • ‘Pio Rocks!’ Takes the Stage AT MIPJunior

    ‘Pio Rocks!’ Takes the Stage AT MIPJunior

    Rai Com — the commercial arm of Italian pubcaster Rai — alongside Planeta Junior, DQ Entertainment and Gruppo Alcuni presented a special event at MIPJunior on Sunday in order to introduce their new 3D CG-animated comedy, Pio Rocks! – The Series. The project is inspired by YouTube hit “Pulcino Pio,” which has a channel subscription total of over 1.9 million and has more than 1.5 billion video views.

    Pio Rocks! – The Series revolves around Pio’s life at school at Highnote High, a school like any other, except every class is about music! With plenty of challenges, betrayals, friendships forged forever and ex-friends you swear you’ll never speak to again… Pio Rocks! is a comedy about friendship, growing up, achieving goals and acceptance. Being a kid, in other words.

    Production on the 52 x 11 series will begin in January, with the first 26 episodes due in April of 2018. Pio Rocks! Is the first animation co-production led by Rai Com, and the project’s creative team includes head writer Romain Van Liemt (Angelo Rules) and character designer Pedro Bascon (Pocoyo).

    Rai Com is handling worldwide sales, except Iberia, France, Greece, CEE and Turkey, covered by Planeta Junior. Both companies will handle the UK and Latin America.

    Pio Rocks! - The Series
    Pio Rocks! – The Series
  • Glowberry Teases ‘Mom Hurries Home’ at MIP

    Glowberry Teases ‘Mom Hurries Home’ at MIP

    Multimedia kids’ content producer Glowberry — part of Ukraine’s FILM.UA Group — is presenting a teaser for it first 2D animated series, Mom Hurries Home: City Adventures, at the FILM.UA MIPCOM stand R7.L12. Aimed at preschoolers, the 26 x 3 first season is currently in production at Animagrad Animation Studio, with delivery expected in 2018.

    Mom Hurries Home: City Adventures is a comedy adventure following the daily life of a modern family living in a big city, struggling to balance family values with the hectic lifestyle of hard-working parents. After work, Mom and Dad always hurry home — sometimes overcoming incredible obstacles and solving complex puzzles in order to spend time with their 5-year-old son, Alex.

    The series aims to help kids be more confident and able to tolerate their parents being busy with other things. The show is inspired by the successful book Mommy Hurries Home, which was published in Ukraine in 2010 and became quite popular, followed by an interactive app which was well received in Ukraine, Russia and Europe. Recently, Rightol Media, brand agent for China, reached a deal with a local publisher to bring the book to Chinese-speaking territories.

    Mom Hurries Home: City Adventures
    Mom Hurries Home: City Adventures
  • Kabillion Snags Classic ‘My Little Pony,’ ‘Transformers’ Toons

    Kabillion Snags Classic ‘My Little Pony,’ ‘Transformers’ Toons

    Girls-targeted on-demand network Kabillion Girls Rule announced it will carry the original 52-episode My Little Pony animated series from Hasbro, effective immediately. Additionally, the Kabillion network has secured on-demand rights to the first 26 episodes of Transformers Animated, which will begin airing later this month.

    The new content arrives on the heels of a recently finalized agreement with Cox Communications — the third-largest cable company in the US — to add Kabillion and Kabillion Girls Rule VOD networks to all Cox Advanced TV subscriber offerings nationwide. The Cox deal, already in action, brings Kabillion’s US reach to over 57 million homes.

    Kabillion is currently the only independently-owned company ranked among the US Top 10 Kids Free On Demand TV Networks. President David Di Lorenzo announced the Hasbro show deals in LA on Monday.

    My Little Pony follows the adventures of Clover Bloom, Posey, Surprise, Ribbonglory and their friends in mystical Ponyland. The Ponies make their home in Paradise Estate, living a peaceful life filled with song and games. However, not all of the creatures of Ponyland are so peaceful, and the My Little Pony crew often find themselves threatened by witches, trolls, goblins and all the other beasts.

    Transformers Animated begins after the Autobots won the great war for Cyberton against the Decepticons. An Autobot maintenance crew, led by Optimus Prince and consisting of other Autobots (Rachet, Bulkhead, Prowl and of course Bumblebee) discover the legendary Allspark buried on an asteroid. The Autobots take the Allspark back to their ship, but are soon confronted by a crew of Decepticons led by the notorious warlord Megatron.

    My Little Pony
    My Little Pony
  • Daily News Bytes

    Daily News Bytes

    VIDEO: Star Wars Rebels “The Last Battle”
    Captain Rex returns in an all-new episode that finds Ezra, Kanan, Zeb and Chopper captured by a unit of old battle droids determined to fight one last battle, premiering Oct. 22 at 8:30 p.m. on Disney XD.

    Japanese Animation Turns 100 and Remains a Vital Force in Film, Television
    Mark Schilling extolls the MIPCOM ’16 Country of Honor’s “spirit of imagination” over the last century, from early local shorts to global hits like Spirited Away.

    Watch Pokemon: The First Movie on the Big Screen
    Catch Mewtwo Strikes Back in over 200 Cinemark theaters (plus the classic short film Pikachu’s Vacation) at an Oct. 29 matinee or Nov. 1 evening show!

    Porter Robinson to Release First-Ever Anime, Shelter the Animation
    American music producer is creating an animated interpretation of his collaboration with French songwriter Madeon thanks to Japanese studio A-1 Pictures — out Oct. 18.

    ZDF Enterprises Sells Package of 280 Episodes of Children’s Television to AMC Networks International Central Europe
    Peter Pan, H20, Sherlock Yack and more head to Minimax and Megamax channels across the region. ZDF has also sold stop-mo series Scream Street to Discovery Kids LatAm.

    Star Wars Rebels
    Star Wars Rebels
  • Neil deGrasse Tyson Cameos in Halloween ‘Regular Show’ Special

    Neil deGrasse Tyson Cameos in Halloween ‘Regular Show’ Special

    Internationally renowned science whiz and pop culture icon Neil deGrasse Tyson will be appearing as his cartoon-ified self in an all new spooky special for Regular Show. The astrophysicist, cosmologist, author and science hypeman will join Mordecai, Rigby and the rest of the gang from the Emmy-winning Cartoon Network series in the sci-fi influenced “Terror Tales of the Park VI” when it premieres Thursday, Oct. 27 at 8 p.m. ET/PT.

    The frightful fun doesn’t end there, however. That evening will also premiere new episodes of The Powerpuff Girls, Uncle Grandpa, Teen Titans Go!, The Amazing World of Gumball and CN’s newest animated series, Mighty Magiswords.

    October 27 new episode lineup:

    The Powerpuff Girls
    The Powerpuff Girls

    The Powerpuff Girls “The Squashening” – 5:30 p.m. (ET/PT)

    To escape a monster, the girls have to tell him a scary story.

    Teen Titans Go!
    Teen Titans Go!

    Teen Titans Go! “Halloween vs Christmas” – 6 p.m. (ET/PT)

    When Santa tries to take over Halloween, it’s up to the Titans and a few ghouls to stop him.

    Mighty Magiswords
    Mighty Magiswords

    Mighty Magiswords “Flirty Phantom” – 6:30 p.m. (ET/PT)

    Lost in Transylberia, the Warriors come to a haunted house for help and meet a young ghost lady inside that wants to spend the rest of her afterlife with Prohyas!

    The Amazing World of Gumball
    The Amazing World of Gumball

    The Amazing World of Gumball “The Scam” – 7:30 p.m. (ET/PT)

    At Halloween show and tell, the class isn’t buying Gumball’s story about Gargaroth the Devourer until Carrie fakes a terrifying haunting. The kids convince the school to hire them as ghost exterminators and take their payment in Halloween candy. But when it turns out Gargaroth is real, suddenly Gumball is expected to be the town’s savior.

    Uncle Grandpa
    Uncle Grandpa

    Uncle Grandpa “Costume Crisis” – 7:45 p.m. (ET/PT)

    Uncle Grandpa makes improvements to a kid’s Halloween costume.

    Regular Show
    Regular Show

    Regular Show “Terror Tales of the Park VI” – 8 p.m. (ET/PT)

    In Regular Show‘s sixth installment of “Terror Tales,” the guys gather in the house on the Dome and tell scary Halloween stories just like ol’ times, only this Halloween, the stories have an extra terrifying, science fiction twist.

  • Gaumont, AGE Team to Relaunch ‘Herself the Elf’

    Gaumont, AGE Team to Relaunch ‘Herself the Elf’

    American Greetings Entertainment — the IP and outbound licensing division of American Greetings Corp. — and leading European kids’ entertainment producer Gaumont Animation have partnered up to deliver a new 52 x 11 animated series based on AGE’s classic ’80s brand, Herself the Elf.

    “We at Gaumont Animation are very proud to be partnering with AGE. “Herself the Elf is a beautiful, high-concept, character-driven property to which we can both contribute creative magic that will result in something extraordinary,” said Nicolas Atlan, President of Gaumont Animation. “We are confident Herself the Elf will have stunning, ownable attributes unlike anything else in the marketplace.”

    The long-term agreement will see the companies co-develop, co-produce and co-distribute the new show. AGE will take the lead on worldwide consumer products with an eye to echoing its successful relaunches of library brands like Care Bears. AGE and Gaumont will share global distribution duties, and the deal includes an option to produce additional episodes, with AGE retaining ownership of the IP.

    The original Herself the Elf franchise was created by American Greetings’ “Those Characters from Cleveland” unit, and spawned a popular line of dolls, as well as books, records and animation.

    Herself the Elf
    Herself the Elf
  • UPHE Snags Exclusive ‘Barbie’ SVOD Rights from Mattel

    UPHE Snags Exclusive ‘Barbie’ SVOD Rights from Mattel

    Mattel Creations has announced a new deal granting Universal Pictures Home Entertainment Content Group exclusive worldwide SVOD rights to the Barbie movie catalog for the next seven years. The raft of titles includes this fall’s new release, Barbie: Star Light Adventure and next spring’s Barbie: Video Game Hero. The deal, effective immediately, was announced at MIPCOM.

    “As part of our ubiquitous content strategy, we want to ensure fans can watch Barbie content on multiple platforms whenever they want, so we are delighted to bring Barbie to SVOD platforms around the world maximising the distribution power and expertise of UPHE Content Group,” said Justin Richardson, Vice President Global Content Distribution & Strategy for Mattel Creations.

    UPHE and Mattel already have a strong relationship, with the former holding international theatrical distribution rights to animated made-for-DVD Barbie content, as well as home entertainment and digital rights to the Monster High franchise.

    Barbie remains a high performing brand, with the latest offerings have performed well on both linear and digital platforms — more than 1 million subscribers on YouTube. Last month, Barbie broke the Top 50 Most Viewed YouTube Channel in the US rankings, according to Tubefilter. To date, more than 140 million Barbie films have been sold worldwide, and 30 full-length movies have been released.

    Barbie
    Barbie
  • Daily News Bytes

    Daily News Bytes

    Animation Nights New York: Date Change for Oct Cine
    This month’s screening event will take place Wed., Oct. 26, with selections including Chloe Alliez’s All Their Shades, Mehdi Khoramian’s Switchman, Maria Stanisheva’s Father and Mikey Hill’s Orchestra.

    VR Review: Allumette
    Penrose Studio’s new immersive animation previewed at Tribeca earlier this year, and is now available as a PlayStation VR title (also on HTC Vive and Oculus Rift).

    VIDEO: Rising Sun Pictures VFX Demo Reel October 2016
    Check out the Aussie studio’s explosive work from Game of Thrones Season 6, X-Men: Apocalypse, The Legend of Tarzan, and more.

    Amazon India Acquires Rights for Animated Content for Kids ahead of Prime Video Launch
    A new deal with Green Gold Animation gives exclusive streaming rights in India for popular kids’ series Super Bheem, Chhota Bheem, Mighty Raju and more.

    Corsets and Charactes: An Interview with Dirty and Flirty Animation Creator Ashlee Miller
    NSFW: These are NOT your mama’s princesses! But they ARE fantastically creative burlesque takes on some of your favorite Disney characters.

    Animation Nights New York: Date Change for Oct Cine
    Animation Nights New York: Date Change for Oct Cine
  • Animation Voicing Co 3Beep Launches in NYC

    Animation Voicing Co 3Beep Launches in NYC

    3Beep, a provider of global animation voicing services, has officially launched in New York City, creating an innovative new resource for studios to keep up with the increasingly global nature of content creation. The creative services and media management studio brings together an experienced team of producers, writers, directors and voice over professionals to help bring foreign projects stateside and create maximum impact in the US market.

    Led by animation and post production industry veterans Charles Darby, Tim Werenko, Theresa Buchheister and Tom Wayland, 3Beep’s creative services go deeper than traditional dubbing. The 3Beep team collaborates on script adaption, voice over casting, celebrity casting, direction, music and song composition, recording, sound mixing, deliverables and more.

    Additionally, the media management team is proficient at preparing media for localization across global markets. 3Beep works with a select group of foreign vendors that share its aims for standout voice work, closed captions and subtitles.

    Already, 3Beep hs build a portfolio of nearly 500 TV episodes and seven feature films either completed or in production. Clients include Netflix, Rainbow, DQ, Wizart, Panama Grand Prix, Animagrad, ROI Visual, O Plus Media, Ori Animation, Shout! Factory, HuHu Studios, Foundland Pictures, Melnitsa and Mirsand.

    Charles Darby was previously COO at DuArt Film and Video for 13 years, with production credits including work for PBS, Turner Films, Nickelodeon, Woody Allen, Miramax, Warner Bros., Columbia/Tri-Star and New Line Cinema.

    Tim Werenko is a longtime animation producer, writer and director whose credits include Pokemon, Winx Club, World of Winx, Robocar Poli, Alisa Knows What to Do, Snow Queen 3, Nicky Tanner and Pixi Post, among many others.

    Theresa Buchheister’s resume includes voice directing for shows like Pokemon, Winx Club, Robocar Poli, Alisa Knows What to Do and the most recent Pokemon movie, Hoopa and the Clash of Ages. She is aso the award-winning director of over 1,000 audiobooks.

    Last but not least, director/producer/dubbing supervisor/VO talent Tom Wayland’s resume includes stints at DuArt, NYAV Post, Real Recording, Matlin Recording, Beatstreet Studios, Audioworks Producers Group, Central Park Media and 4Kids Entertainment.

    Learn more at www.3Beep.net.

    3Beep Co-Founders Tim Werenko (left) and Charles Darby (right)
    3Beep Co-Founders Tim Werenko (left) and Charles Darby (right)
  • Lionsgate Brings Home ‘The Wild Life’ in November

    Lionsgate Brings Home ‘The Wild Life’ in November

    Lionsgate has announced that the new animated family adventure The Wild Life — from the producers behind Shaun the Sheep Movie, Paddington and A Turtle’s Tale: Sammy’s Adventures — will arrive on DVD (SRP $29.95), Blu-ray Combo Pack ($34.99) and On Demand on November 29.

    The Wild Life is a talking animal tale that kicks off when Mak the parrot and his island friends discover a mysterious creature washed up on their shore: a human castaway named Robinson Crusoe. When savage cats invade their island paradise, Robinson teams up with his new creature compatriots to defend their home.

    Special features for the home video release include The Wild Life Musical Adventure, and featurettes “A Wild World: Making The Wild Life,” “Meet the Characters” and “Tips for Your Trip.”

    The Wild Life is a production of nWave Pictures, Studiocanal and Summit Entertainment (a Lionsgate company).

    The Wild Life
    The Wild Life
  • ‘JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure’ Debuts on Adult Swim

    ‘JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure’ Debuts on Adult Swim

    This Saturday, October 15, anime fans can at last catch JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Phantom Blood on air as it makes its Adult Swim debut in the Toonami block, at 12:30 a.m ET/PT. VIZ Media is the master distributor for the multi-generational paranormal adventure series, and also publishes print and digital editions of the manga.

    JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure is based on the critically acclaimed Shonen Jump manga series by Hirohiko Araki, and follows the exploits of the Joestar family and its battle against evil down the generations.

    In the anime series, the Aztecs – the people of the sun – once prospered in ancient Mexico. They had a bizarre stone mask that brought eternal life and the power of a domineering ruler to he who wore it, but at some point, the mask disappeared without a trace. Years later, in the late 19th Century, when men’s lifestyles and outlooks on life were quickly changing, Jonathan Joestar (JoJo) and Dio Brando meet, and the stone mask binds them to a rather curious fate…

    Jojo's Bizarre Adventure
    Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure
  • SIGGRAPH Winner ‘Borrowed Time’ Debuts Online

    SIGGRAPH Winner ‘Borrowed Time’ Debuts Online

    Andrew Coats and Lou Hamou-Lhadj’s computer animated short film Borrowed Time has launched online via Vimeo — unsurprisingly, as a Vimeo Staff Pick — along with a new featurette about the film. Borrowed Time made a big splash as the Best in Show winner at the 2016 SIGGRAPH Computer Animation Festival this summer, and among its accolades was just named Best Short of the Spark Animation Festival (Oct. 21-23, Vancouver).

    In Borrowed Time, a weathered Sheriff returns to the remains of an accident he has spent a lifetime trying to forget. With each step forward, the memories come flooding back. Faced with his mistake once again, he must find the strength to carry on.

    Borrowed Time has been selected for over 50 festivals and won 13 awards in total. Three of these were Oscar qualifying wins: St. Louis Film Festival (Best Animated Short), Nashville Film Festival (Grand Jury Prize), and SIGGRAPH. The film also earned honors at the USA Film Festival, Fastnet Film Festival, Blue Plum Animation Festival, Brooklyn Film Festival, Animation Block Party, Woods Hole Film Festival, Skyline Indie Film Fest, Breckenridge Film Festival, Charlotte Film Festival and Spark.

    Directors Andrew Coats and Lou Hamou-Lhadj met in the Film program at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, working on each other’s shorts. After school, Hamou-Lhadj spend the next eight years as a character artist at Pixar, working on shorts and features including WALL-E, Toy Story 3, Partly Cloudy and Day & Night. Coats spent three years climbing the ladder at Blue Sky — animating on Horton Hears A Who!, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs and serving as character lead on Rio — before joining Pixar in 2010 and reuniting with Hamou-Lhadj, while working on Cars 2, Brave, Inside Out, et al. Back together, the friends finally put their finely honed skills to work in their directorial debut: Borrowed Time.

    Borrowed Time
    Borrowed Time
  • Serious Lunch Inks ‘Ronja’ Deals in US and Beyond

    Serious Lunch Inks ‘Ronja’ Deals in US and Beyond

    Serious Lunch has secured a raft of deals for the enchanting family adventure series Ronja, the Robber’s Daughter across multiple territories and platforms. Based on the book by Astrid Lindgren and directed by Goro Miyazaki, Ronja was produced by NHK, NHK Enterprises and Dwango in collaboration with Studio Ghibli and Saltkråkan, The Astrid Lindgren Co., with animation by Polygon Pictures.

    An English language version of the 26-episode title is in production in London (narrated by Gillian Anderson and starring Teresa Gallagher as Ronja), to launch on Amazon Prime Video in the US and UK this fall.

    The show has also been picked up by Universum in Germany, which will release four Blu-ray volumes in the run up to Christmas and hold a promotional cinema release. International broadcasters now onboard include Yowu (Spain), VRT (Belgium), Canal Once (Mexico) and Jeem TV (Middle East).

    Serious Lunch will be focused on meeting with partners for US home video and broadcast in Germany, France and Italy during the MIP markets in Cannes. Ronja has achieved critical acclaim (winning the Kids Emmy for Best Animation at MIPTV ‘16) and strong ratings on NHK BS, NHK Educational TV and SVT’s Barnkanalen. A global publishing and merchandising program is being launched.

    Synopsis:

    The story of a 10-year-old girl born on a stormy night in a mountain fort, surrounded by her parents and a loving band of robbers. She grows to be a strong and active girl, and discovers that the forest is both a beautiful and frightening place inhabited by strange creatures. She befriends the son of her father’s rival and so begins the drama of her friendship and family loyalties. We watch as she explores and understands these key factors in her life, and discovers that seemingly irresolvable choices can finally be made with the help of love and understanding.

    Ronja, the Robber’s Daughter
    Ronja, the Robber’s Daughter
  • Nelvana Scores ‘Super Wings’ & Shopkins’ Deals

    Nelvana Scores ‘Super Wings’ & Shopkins’ Deals

    Corus Entertainment’s Nelvana has announced new international partners for colorful kids’ brands Super Wings and Shopkins.

    Super Wings, co-produced by FunnyFlux Ent., Little Airplane Prod., Qianqi Animation, EBS and CJ E&M, has proven a hit with kids in France, where it has signed on AD Global for toys and Canal Toys for arts & crafts. Also on board to bring the adventurous jet plane to life in all new ways are Chausse Europ (shoes), Clementoni (puzzles, board games), D’Arpeje (wheeled toys), Famosa (ride-ons), Hemma (publishing), Pik and Roll (bicycles), Sahinler (bedding) and Sun City (apparel, gifts).

    Nelvana holds merchandise licensing rights for Super Wings in France and in North America (all categories excluding toys, handled by Auldey Toys – US and Imports Dragon – Canada). Auldey also distributes Super Wings toys in France.

    Nelvana Enterprises has also secured a number of deals for Shopkins — the cute, collectible toy brand that has expanded into a webseries and upcoming home video movie. Heading the menu of programs is a QSR campaign with McDonalds in France and Monaco, coming to Happy Meals in France this fall. Nelvana and brand owner Moose Toys have also named Megalicense International as sub-agent for Russia, the Commonwealth of Independent States, Ukraine, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

    Further Shopkins sign-ons are Bonbon Buddies (confectionery; France, Eastern Europe, Scandinavia), Corsair Toiletries (personal care; France, French-speaking Belgium and Switzerland), Ravensburger (puzzles; France, Italy, Spain), Sahinler (apparel; France, Monaco), The Cookie Company (jewelry, hair accessories, swimwear, underwear, sleepwear, cold-weather accessories, by Primark Products; Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg), and Trudeau (housewares; throughout Europe).

    Super Wings
    Super Wings
  • Cyber Group Expands into Features with ‘Iqbal’

    Cyber Group Expands into Features with ‘Iqbal’

    Cyber Group Studios has announced that it will officially launch its first animated feature film for distribution at MIPJunior: Iqbal, Tale of a Fearless Child. Based on the book by Francesco D’Adamo and developed with the sponsorship of UNICEF, the movie was released in France in August to critical acclaim.

    The film’s hero is Iqbal, an impish and joyful child who lives with his family in an impoverished village. When the local doctor prescribes expensive medicine to help his sick brother, Iqbal is determined to help, bravely travelling to the nearest city to raise the money. His plan goes awry and he is forced to work for an unscrupulous carpet manufacturer — and it will take immense courage to save himself and his fellow prisoners.

    Iqbal is based on the true story of Pakistani boy hero Iqbal Masih. The French-Italian project is a co-production of 2d3D Animation, Gertie and Montparnasse Productions.

    “We are thrilled to come to the market with such a beautiful and high quality movie appealing to the whole family, and to present our clients our first animated feature film,” said CGS’ new VP of Sales, Acquisitions & New Media, Raphaelle Mathieu. “It enhances Cyber Group Studios’ will to provide children and family buyers with the whole range of programs they might look for.”

    Iqbal, Tale of a Fearless Child
    Iqbal, Tale of a Fearless Child
  • Daily News Bytes

    Daily News Bytes

    BBC America Presents ‘Doctor Who: The Power of the Daleks’ in Theaters Nationwide
    BBC America and Fathom Events will present the animated adaptation of the (partially) lost sci-fi mini-series in theaters on November 14 — 50 years after the original broadcast.

    Watching This Short Animation Is Like Taking a Trip to the Mall in the ‘80s
    Gervais Merryweather’s Mall 84 is a colorful trip back in time, to a world of big hair, videogame arcades and record shops where the clerks actually wanted your business.

    Guy Ritchie to Direct ‘Aladdin’ Live-Action Movie for Disney
    Well, he’s in talks to do so, anyway. Dan Lin is producing through Lin Pictures, with Jonathan Eirich as exec producer, and a script by John August.

    Agent Carter Returning to TV on Avengers Animated Series
    Marvel Animation’s NYCC panel reveals that Hayley Atwell will voice Agent Peggy Carter in her animated debut in Avengers Assemble: Secret Wars.

    As ‘Finding Dory’ Tops $1 Billion, the Pixar Hit Is an Oscar Favorite
    The Washington Post’s Michael Cavna makes a case for the seaworthy sequel.

    Doctor Who: The Power of the Daleks
    Doctor Who: The Power of the Daleks
  • VIEW Speaker Spotlight: Maureen Fan, Troy Saliba, David Feiss

    VIEW Speaker Spotlight: Maureen Fan, Troy Saliba, David Feiss

    This year’s VIEW Conference in Torino, Italy is jam-packed with fascinating speaker sessions, as previously announced. With the dates drawing near (October 24-28), here’s further details of what to expect from a few intriguing talks.

    The Making of Open Season: Scared Silly – Sony Pictures Animation director David Feiss from his start at Hanna-Barbera, to the helming of Sony Pictures Animation’s newest Open Season adventure and shares unique insights on the making of that film. Feiss, creator of irreverent Cartoon Network comedy Cow and Chicken, will also present a workshop on Story Boarding in Feature Animation.

    Virtual Reality – Jump into the Story – Baobab Studios CEO and co-Founder Maureen Fan (Invasion!) shares how VR allows filmmakers to do something they could never do before. How VR allows you to connect the audience with characters in deeper ways. How animation and VR were made for each other: Animation is art in motion. It takes to you to a different world and makes you believe that world is so real that you can reach out and touch it.

    Talk: Alice Through the Looking Glass – Sony Pictures Imageworks animation supervisor Troy Saliba invites attendees on a journey through the looking glass to explore the technical and creative challenges faced by the Imageworks team in creating this return visit to Underland. Get a behind-the-scenes look at creating this imaginative world including: The Oceans of Time, Rust, steam robots, tea parties and more.

    VIEW Conference
    VIEW Conference