CAKE announces a volume deal for over 200 hours of kids content to Blim, the new SVOD service from Televisa, for multiple territories across Latin America.
The deal was finalized by CAKE senior sales manager Bianca Rodriguez and totals over 800 episodes, including popular series like Total Drama, Poppy Cat, Wanda and the Alien and Trunk Train from Brazil’s Copa Studio. Live action series are also included in the sale.
“Having premium content for children is one of Blim’s goals, as it provides entertainment for the entire family, especially kids who are heavy users of our service,” says Blim general manager Carlos Sandoval. “We found that CAKE could provide us with this premium content, and it is great to have them as content partners.”
Visual effects house MPC is getting ready for the 2016 FMX event in Stuttgart, taking place April 25-29, with plans to showcase some of it its most inventive work from the past year. These include major feature projects The Martian, Terminator Genisys and The Jungle Book.
For The Jungle Book, Disney’s production VFX supervisor Rob Legato and MPC VFX supervisor Adam Valdez will present two sessions describing the unique filmmaking process behind the largely digital live-action film. Director Jon Favreau’s update required unprecedented collaboration between traditional filmmakers and digital artists to create the stunning jungle environments and the life-like animal characters that inhabit them. (April 27, 14:00 – 15:30 and April 28, 10-11:00, König-Karl-Halle)
MPC schedule at FMX also includes:
MPC present: Lighting a Martian Planet: CG supervisor Sebastien Gourdal will discuss the challenges behind lighting and rendering the planet surface for Ridley Scott’s critically acclaimed movie, The Martian.
(Tuesday, April 26, König-Karl-Halle, 10:00 – 11:00)
The Strange and the Beautiful: Diarmid Harrison-Murray, creative director of 3D for MPC Advertising, will give insight into the complex world of creature crafting for commercials.
Tuesday, April 26, Gloria 2, 11:00-12:00
MPC present: Bringing Arnold ‘back’ for Terminator: Genisys: VFX supervisor Sheldon Stopsack reveals the techniques used to build a photoreal young Arnold Schwarzenegger — which took over 11 months to create and refine.
Thursday, April 28, Gloria 2, 12:00 – 13:00
Thalia: the Future of Digital actors at MPC: Dr. Marco Romeo provides an overview of MPC’s Thalia R&D project, with a focus on Thalia’s usage of Fabric Engine’s GPU capabilities to create a high-performance deformation framework and enable faster interaction with deforming characters and easier implementation of deformers.
Studio 100 Media has secured a home video and VOD distribution agreement with Svensk Filmindustri for the revived CG animated Heidi series. The show is proving a broadcast success across Scandinavia on NRK Super (Norway) and MTV3’s kids channel Juniori (Finland) — and it will arrive on SVT Barnkanlen (Sweden) later this year.
The deal gives Svensk Filmindustri exclusive home entertainment rights for Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Norway and Iceland. The initial DVD, TVOD and EST release is set for September 2016, with an SVOD release on SF Kids Play planned for summer 2017.
Targeted at six to eight year olds and a family audience Heidi (39 x 22) is a vibrant and charming show based on the popular 1880s children’s book by Swiss author Johanna Spyri. The CGI animated TV series is produced by Paris based Studio 100 Animation and Flying Bark Productions, Sydney, with Studio 100 Media responsible for the worldwide distribution.
Rainbow’s Winx Club will be flitting into the lives of millions of children across India through a new deal with top national broadcaster Sun TV Network Ltd. for its kids’ entertainment channels. Four regional channels — Chutti TV, Kochu TV, Kushi TV and Chintu TV — will air seasons 4 through 7 of the series across Southern India in four different languages beginning in June.
The India broadcast deal adds to Winx Club‘s large existing global audience. The 2D animated series about a group of young fairies mixes themes of fashion, magic, friendship, adventure and comedy, giving the show appeal to young girls 4-10 as well as tweens and teens. The show boasts over 15 million viewers daily thanks to its 150 worldwide broadcasters.
The intrepid crew of Octonauts continues its global expansion, with international producer and licensor Silvergate Media announcing a number of new international sales for the undersea preschool adventure series.
Octonauts broadcast deals have been finalized with Karusel in Russia, Disney Junior in Spain & Portugal, and SVT in Sweden. These new TV partnerships will set the stage for consumer product line launches in Russia, Iberia and Nordic territories. The new agreements swiftly follow successful TV and merchandising roll-outs in Asia, lead by China and Korea.
Now in its fourth season, Octonauts airs in over 100 countries worldwide, including Disney Channel in the U.S., ABC (Australia), TF1 (France), Super RTL (Germany and China Central TV).
International kids’ content producer and distributor Nelvana (part of Corus Entertainment) has revealed the titles it will be showcasing at this year’s MIPTV market, just ahead of the show’s opening.
Topping Nelvana’s list is Ranger Rob, a new CG animated adventure series for preschoolers that follows a curious, leap-before-you-look, pint-sized explorer as he navigates Big Sky Park — a one-of-a-kind destination that has every kind of outdoor environment imaginable.
Nelvana will also be promoting Polly and the ZhuZhu Pets, an animated series based on the multi-billion dollar ZhuZhu Pets toy phenomenon — slated to debut this fall. Nickelodeon hit Little Charmers and live-action series The Stanley Dynamic will also be highlighted at the show.
Blue Sky Studios — the Fox-owned CG feature powerhouse behind The Peanuts Movie, Rio and the hit Ice Age franchise — last week became the first studio to pursue a settlement agreement in the suit filed over a year and a half ago by former DreamWorks Animation vfx artist Robert Nitsch Jr.
The potential class action called out major animation studios including DWA, Disney, Pixar, Sony and Lucasfilm over wage-fixing and anti-poaching agreement allegations. Blue Sky was added to the list a few months after Nitsch originally filed his antitrust complaint in September of 2014, when Nitsch and fellow artists David Wentworth and Georgia Cano consolidated their suits against the various studios.
“The Court should preliminarily approve the proposed settlement as fair, reasonable and adequate because it provides for the class A cash payment of $5,950,000 and cooperation from Blue Sky,” Thursday’s Northern California federal court filing regarding Blue Sky reads. “That amount is approximately 25 percent of plaintiffs’ expert’s calculation of the damages attributable to Blue Sky employees in the class.”
Nitsch, Wentworth and Cano will each receive $10,000 per this first settlement, which their attorneys called an “excellent result” in their settlement motion. A hearing on the agreement is set for June 16 with Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose. Blue Sky strongly asserts that this settlement does not represent an admission of wrongdoing or liability on the part of the studio.
You can find more details and a link to the full settlement pursuit document filed by Blue Sky over at Deadline.
Xilam Studio and France’s No. 1 kids’ broadcasting group Lagardere Active (including channels Gulli, Canal J and TiJi) announce ahead of MIPTV an exclusive broadcasting agreement in France for international hit animated comedy Oggy and the Cockroaches. The show previously ran on Gulli from 2005 to 2010 and was key to the channel’s successful launch, and one of its most popular shows.
The new deal will see Lagardere Active taking on exclusive broadcasting rights in the country starting in 2017 for Gulli and Canal J — including kids and family channels, free and pay TV and the Replay TV platforms, and covering all seasons of Oggy and the Cockroaches. This includes the upcoming fifth season (234 x 7), available in Ultra HD, which will bring the series episode count to over 500 (350 in UHD) when it arrives in 2017. Season 5 will see Oggy exploring the great epochs of civilization — from prehistory, Greek Mythology and the Renaissance to the Roaring ’20s and beyond, meeting legendary figures on his quest to destroy those pesky roaches.
Oggy and the Cockroaches first aired in the U.S. on FOX TV in 1998 and enjoyed growing success over the next 20 years. The series has now been distributed in over 180 countries and has a huge online following, netting over 2 billion YouTube views each year in addition to boasting 3 million Facebook fans and followers on Instagram, Pinterest, etc.
Zodiak Kids girls’ property LoliRock is ready to play to crowds in France and Italy this spring through new broadcasting deals. France Televisions will launch 13 new episodes of season 1 early next month on France 4, and Disney France will also debut new episodes in May. Next month will also see a launch on DeAgostini Editore’s Super! DTT channel in Italy.
Outside TV, Zodiak announces that the LoliRock consumer website lolirock.fr is racking up more than 20,000 sessions per month on France Televistions’ digital platform Ludo. The website — a standalone that can be accessed through Ludo — works on all platforms and offers videos, quizzes, karaoke games, photos and a live message board for fans to interact with each other. FTV has also secured a promotion with Quick restaurants across the territory, following a successful promotion with McDonald’s last year.
DeAgostini Editore serves as consumer products agent for LoliRock in Italy, and has planned a comprehensive marketing campaign to tie in to the series launch. In addition to widespread outdoor media campaigns in major Italian cities, a nationwide casting competition for young girls offering them the chance to become the next LoliRock girl is in the works.
Aimed at 6-12 year olds, LoliRock follows the journey of young Iris, a spirited teenage girl with a
beautiful voice and an unending desire to help others. When Iris joins the girl band LoliRock, her life is changed forever, as a new world of music, mystery and magical powers are revealed. Three new friends are now bound together by their common destiny as magical princesses and their battle for justice.
The unlikely road trip buddies of DreamWorks Animation’s Home will be back for more post-invasion larks in a new Netflix Original Series, Home: Adventures with Tip & Oh, premiering July 29. In the show, Oh the alien moves in with teenage girl Tip and her human family and finally discovers the true meaning of “home.” The show will be available to Netflix users in the U.S., Canada, Latin America, U.K., Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Nordic countries, Benelux and France.
Picking up where the 2015 flick left off, this coming-of-age buddy comedy series follows fearless Tip and overenthusiastic Oh as they navigate the combined human and alien culture they live in, finding adventure everywhere they go. The series also features memorable pop songs performed by teen artist Rachel Crow (Rio 2, X Factor).
Rachel Crow also stars in the series as the voice of Tip, with Mark Whitten as Oh, Ana Ortiz and Matt Jones. First season recurring and guest star roles will be filled by Cheri Oteri, Abby Elliot, Jon Heder and Wayne Knight. Adventures with Tip & Oh is developed and executive produced by Ryan Crego (Sanjay and Craig, Shrek Forever After) and Thurop Van Orman (The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack).
Animation film and TV producer Igor Khait, who had most recently been working in Paris on Illumination Entertainment’s upcoming feature Sing, died at his home in Los Angeles on Monday, March 28 at the age of 52 after a yearlong battle with pancreatic cancer.
Khait began his two-decade animation career in 1989 at Amblin Entertainment, and went on to work at many of the top animated feature production studios. He served as co-producer on Elton John’s 2011 animated musical comedy Gnomeo & Juliet (Touchstone/Rocket Pictures), story department co-producer on The LEGO Movie (Warner Bros./Animal Logic), producer on Everyone’s Hero (IDT Ent./Starz Animation) and Leroy and Stitch (Disney), and associate producer on the Oscar-nominated Brother Bear (Disney).
Among his many notable credits outside the producer’s chair are posts as production manager on Disney’s Atlantis, WB’s Quest for Camelot and Paramount’s Bebe’s Kids. He also worked in production on Steven Spielberg and Tim Burton’s CBS series Family Dog and on the Bloom County Christmas special, A Wish for Wings That Work. Khait also worked with Ren and Stimpy creator John Kricfalusi at Spumco, where he helped manage the company’s comics and toys production business. Khait had a lifelong passion for art, animation and film, and held a B.A. in Fine Art from UC Santa Cruz and a B.A. in Film Graphics and Animation from CalArts.
Igor Khait is survived by his wife Gayle, daughter Isabelle and son Elias, and by his mother and sister.
Igor Khait (Image credit: Eric Charbonneau/Rex/Shutterstock)
Videogames continue to be wildly popular across the globe, with sales of over $91 billion and 1.2 billion players in 2015, according to Newzoo. What types of games are popular continues to change, and is reflected in the nature of the award-winning games at the GDC. In contrast to past winners featuring pure slash-and-burn action, this year emphasized more storytelling and emotional immersion. The mobile game segment is increasing in popularity, with more female than male players, and revenues expected to exceed those of consoles in 2016. This was reflected by recent mergers—Mojang’s Minecraft, which has sold over 70 million copies, was purchased by Microsoft for $2.5 billion, and Candy Crush maker King was bought by Activision Blizzard for $5.9 billion.
Games that won awards, and were the buzz of the show, included:
Her Story. This new game from indie developer Sam Barlow, the creator of Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, won a trifecta of awards: Most Innovative Game, Best Narrative and Best Handheld/Mobile Game. Available on PC, Mac and iOS, this is a crime fiction game involving a police database full of video footage of interviews of a woman regarding her missing husband. The game is similar to a movie, with live video footage of the interviews, but it’s nonlinear, and the player has to search through the footage like a detective to find its hidden layers. The search engine is intuitive, and the creative use of video clips provides gripping drama.
Ori and the Blind Forest. This game provides a background story about 10 minutes long that illustrates feelings of sadness, friendship and loss. You spend a lot of time just gazing around at stunning, hand-painted artistic backgrounds, before focusing on your character, Ori, a lemur-like critter that has to learn skills to move onward. As Ori learns, it becomes downright elegant, and the initial sadness turns to redemption and the downright fun of exploring a brightly-lit forest reminiscent of that in Avatar. It took Moon Studios four years to create this single-player game, released on Xbox and Windows, and it was worth it—it won the awards for both Best Debut and Best Visual Art at the GDC.
Crypt of the NecroDancer. Here’s a game you can dance to. This Brace Yourself Games production has simple 2D graphics, and covers familiar territory with endless dungeons and monsters, but has cutting-edge music and rhythm that is part of the game. It’s like the love child of a Role-Playing Game and Dance Dance Revolution. The driving music rules everything: different monsters move to different beats, and the player has to learn to go with the rhythm or get crushed. After a while, play becomes mesmerizing and instinctive. Crypt scored the best Audio Award.
Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. This game by Projekt RED is not for the faint of heart, but was obviously a labor of love, described as “one of the best games ever made” by GameSpot. It’s an open-world (i.e., the player can move anywhere, not only along predefined paths) Role-Playing Game in a colorful, detailed world demanding a lot of decision making. You assume the role of Geralt, a professional monster hunter, armed with a range of weapons, magic and potions that can be upgraded on the quest to find a child of prophecy. Along the way, you pass through rich cities, encounter pirate islands, explore deep caverns, develop dangerous (but cute) liaisons, and fight your way through mountain passes infested with lurking monsters. The highly detailed world seems to go on forever, and includes not only characters and scenery, but even weather and day/night times. Witcher, the third game in this series, sold 6 million copies in six weeks. It added the Game of the Year Award to its many other accolades in front of a wildly cheering GDC audience.
Crypt of the NecroDancerHer StoryWitcher 3Ori and the Blind Forest
Paris-based Cyber Group Studios has struck a deal with WeKids for exclusive distribution rights in Greater China for over 130 half-hours of three of its top animated series: Zou, Zorro The Chronicles and Mini Ninjas. WeKids will distribute the shows through TV broadcasters and VOD platforms throughout mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau.
Zou (156 x 11, HD CGI) entertains children in more than 150 countries around the world and in over 30 languages, while teaching young viewers valuable lessons about family and growing up, with the help of the delightful five-year-old zebra called Zou. The third season is currently in production and has also already been pre-bought by Disney EMEA and France Télévisions in France and will premiere on Disney Junior France by the end of 2016.
Zorro The Chronicles (26 x 22, HD CGI) is an action comedy series geared to kids 6-12 and produced by Cyber Group Studios in collaboration with John Gertz’s Zorro Production Inc. and Blue Spirit Studios for France Télévisions and RAI. The series has already sold to major broadcasters such as Tele Quebec (Canada), VRT and RTBF (Belgium), RTVE (Spain), NPO (Netherlands), RTS and RSI (Switzerland), YLE (Finland), SVT (Sweden), Canal Panda (Portugal), Minimax (Eastern Europe), ETV (Estonia), LRT (Litthuania), Globosat (Brazil), ETV (South Africa), Al Jazeera (Middle East), Spectrum (Indonesia & Sri Lanka), Mediacorp (Singapore), Thai PBS (Thailand), et al.
Mini Ninjas (52 x 11, HD 2D & CGI) is an action comedy series aimed at kids 6-11 and co-produced by TF1 Production, Cyber Group Studios and Enanimation. It follows the adventures of a new generation of ninjas, a cool cast of bold and lovable characters, trained by their Ninja Master, who fight to liberate innocent animals transformed into fearsome samurais. The series currently airs on TF1 (France), Rai (Italy), Disney EMEA, Tele Quebec (Canada), VRT & RTBF (Belgium), RTVE Clan (Spain), RTS (Switzerland), Spectrum (Indonesia) and others.
European producer Studio 100 Media and network broadcasting platform beIN are launching a new kids and family channel for the Middle East & North Africa region, beJunior. Studio 100 will created, supply and schedule the co-branded channel, which will be available exclusively for pay TV subscribers of the beIN Media Group. The channel will launch on April 1.
Studio 100 will be responsible for the whole on-air set up of beJunior, including on-air design. Based on the company’s Junior pay TV channel (available in Germany, Switzerland and Austria), the new MENA channel will broadcast programs from Studio 100’s library of classic and contemporary series like Maya the Bee, Vic the Viking and Heidi. Upcoming new series such as The Wild Adventures of Blinky Bill, Nils Holgersson and Arthur and the Minimoys — which Studio 100 is presenting at MIPTV this year — will join the lineup as they arrive.
Children’s media veteran Amy Friedman has been named Senior Vice President, Programming and Development for Sprout — NBCUniversal’s 24-hour preschool network. Joining Sprout effective April 1, Friedman will create and execute the network’s overall content strategy and develop preschool franchises that will support both the brand and its business objectives.
In addition to articulating a programming vision for the network, Friedman will also lead all development efforts for Sprout Original Series and guide the creation of a slate of animated and live-action projects in line with brand, ratings and business goals for Sprout. She will simultaneously manage the production of current series, oversee live daily morning show Sunny Side Up — aimed at preschoolers and their families — and contribute to the strategic direction of the brand and business as a key executive team member.
Friedman was most recently senior advisor for Scratch, Viacom’s creative S.W.A.T. team, and was president of brand creation and content development company Redhead Consulting. Friedman has also held senior management posts across all of the Nickelodeon networks — as SVP of original programming/creative director, she steered both Noggin and TeenNick’s original brand strategy, on-air identity and education mission in addition to overseeing original programs. She was also the founding creative director/exec producer of Nickelodeon’s Creative Lab.
A graduate of the university of Pennsylvania, Friedman holds a B.A. in American Civilization and an M.A. in Education. She serves on the Board of Advisors for the Children’s Media Association.
European studio and top global licensor Rainbow will be sprinkling a healthy dose of pixie dust around the MIPTV market in Cannes next week, with a number of announcements planned. These include the arrival of the company’s newest animated property, Regal Academy, and World of Winx — the first Netflix Original Series inspired by smash hit show Winx Club.
Regal Academy turns the familiar world of classic fairytales on its head with a fresh, funny twist. Created by Iginio Straffi (Winx Club), the series centers on Rose Cinderella, a normal girl who suddenly finds herself in the world of Fairy tales and discovers that Cinderella is her grandma. Rose enrolls at the fabled Regal Academy, where her classmates include Hawk SnowWhite, Travis Beast, Joy LeFrog, Astoria Rapunzel and LingLing Iron Fan — all of whom belong to the school’s founding families.
The series features a mix of comedy, music and new animation techniques. Regal Academy has a worldwide broadcast deal through Nickelodeon and a number of key category licensing partners, including pan-European master toy licensee Giochi Preziosi.
World of Winx is an all-new show starring the characters from global hit Winx Club, and features all the fun, excitement, mystery, action and humor of the first series. In their new iteration, the Winx fairies visit Earth as scouts or a talent show called WOW! As they search across the globe for talented kids, they come across the Talent Thief — a mysterious villain who is capturing gifted children. The Winx must hide their fairy identities — often with hilarious consequences — to outfox the Talent Thief and find his secret lair.
Rainbow will also be promoting live-action series Maggie & Bianca Fashion Friends.
