U.S. fans of breakout smash Ne Zha finally have a chance to catch the follow-up film Jiang Ziya, which opens in select theaters across the country starting Thursday, October 1, through Well Go USA Entertainment. Inspired by Chinese mythology, this action-packed second entry in the Fengshen Cinematic Universe is produced by Beijing Enlight Pictures (Big Fish and Begonia), directed by Teng Cheng and Wei Li.
Synopsis: To earn his place amongst the gods, celestial army commander Jiang Ziya must vanquish a terrifying fox demon threatening the very existence of the mortal realm. After learning the creature’s fate is tied to that of a young girl, Jiang Ziya disobeys Heaven’s edict and spares the demon, resulting in his banishment to the mortal realm. Ten years later, he is given one more chance to complete the task, and Jiang Ziya must decide: is joining the ranks of the heavens worth the price of one innocent life?
Jiang ZiyaJiang Ziya: Legend Of DeificationJiang Ziya: Legend Of DeificationJiang Ziya: Legend Of Deification
Argentinian cartoonist Joaquín Salvador Lavado, known professionally and since childhood as “Quino,” died Wednesday in his hometown of Mendoza. The prizewinning creator was best known for creating the immensely popular character Mafalda, who has been a beloved pop culture figure in the Spanish-speaking countries and around the world for over 50 years.
Born July 17, 1932 in Mendoza to Spanish immigrants, Lavado began studying cartooning early, enrolling in the fine arts school of Mendoza in 1945 after the death of his mother. His father died soon after, when the young artist was just 16, leading him to abandon his studies and make a try as a professional artist. He soon sold his first advertising illustration, and by 1954 was a regular cartoon contributor to national magazines such as comics weekly Rico Tipo and the satirical Tía Vicenta.
Malfada
Mafalda debuted in 1964. Originally created as a covert advertising idea, the comic strip centered on the titular bow-topped six-year-old girl, who reflected the youth progressivism of the times with her concerns about human rights and desire for world peace. The strip’s satirical address of current events and the adult world through Mafalda’s sharp observations and masterful silent gags earned it wide praise and popularity. Even though the strip only ran until 1973, the comics are still reprinted today like those of oft-compared contemporary, Peanuts.
The popularity of Mafalda generated numerous books as well as two series of animated shorts, in 1972 and in 1993. Quino brought the character back in 1976 to illustrate UNICEF’s Convention on the Rights of the Child. Mafalda’s enduring popularity has inspired tributes around the world: a life-size statue was installed in front of Quino’s old home in Buenos Aires in 2009, followed by another in Campo de San Francisco, Spain, after the artist was awarded the Princess of Asturias Award in 2014. The city of Gatineau, Quebec obtained permission to name a street after her in 2010. And there is a Mafalda passageway in Angoulême, France — home of the famous comics festival BD Angoulême.
When asked decades later about his decision to stop creating Mafalda, Quino said he didn’t want to start repeating himself, and noted that the increasing political violence in Latin America at the time also played a role.
“After the coup d’etat in Chile, the situation in Latin America became very bloody,” he said, referencing General Augusto Pinochet’s overthrow of democratically elected President Salvador Allende. “If I had continued drawing [Mafalda], they would have shot me once, or four times.”
Quino photographed during a layover in Lima, Peru in 1973 [Photo: GEC Historical Archive]Quino moved to Italy in 1976, just after Argentina fell under the power of a violent military junta which went on to detain and kill thousands of political opponents. When democracy returned to his native country, the artist split his time between Buenos Aires, Madrid and Milan. He continued illustrating and cartooning until 2006.
Among the many honors awarded to Quino over the course of his career, he was named Cartoonist of the Year in 1982, an Illustrious Citizen of Mendoza in 1988, and was awarded the French Legion of Honour in 2014.
GoldieBlox and Toonz Media Group today announced a multi-year partnership to develop a kids and family animation slate that includes GoldieBlox’s iconic characters, Goldie & Friends, and a number of new series to be co-developed. Each of the animated series and special features will use storytelling fueled by STEM targeted to kids, and will be produced for a variety of platform partners.
The collaboration marks GoldieBlox’s first production deal off the company’s owned and operated platforms and represents their first global deal under new content chief, Melissa Schneider, as well as their first foray into the world of animation.
“We’re thrilled to enter this partnership with Toonz. They are a world-class animation studio, and this new content fund gives us exciting momentum to partner with top-tier creative talent to tell new stories,” commented Schneider, who architected the slate strategy with Toonz.
The five-year multi-property development slate will consist of animated IP for licensing to international and U.S. SVOD and OTT players and based on both the GoldieBlox IP, as well as new, jointly developed IP. Working hand-in-hand from IP development to production, Toonz and GoldieBlox will also jointly work together to find U.S. and global distribution partners for the joint content properties.
GoldieBlox’s Founder and CEO Debbie Sterling is excited to expand the company’s content slate and bring STEM stories to life via animation. “Animation is wildly popular with kids and an area that we are excited to get involved in,” she said. “Partnering with Toonz on this joint venture gives us the bandwidth to develop IP that has a global footprint, reaching children around the world.”
P. Jayakumar, Chief Executive Officer of Toonz Media Group, says the studio is looking forward to partnering with GoldieBlox: “Children really are our future, and the toys and materials that children are exposed to in their childhood is crucial to their development. Toonz is excited to partner with GoldieBlox so that we can combine STEM with stories in order to deliver messages on learning and discovering to young girls.”
GoldieBlox is a multimedia company dedicated to empowering young girls with digital-first content and creative products that spark their imaginations. goldieblox.com.
Toonz is a 360-degree media powerhouse which has built up over two decades, as well as one of Asia’s most active animation production studios (10,000+ minutes of 2D and CG kids & family content per year). toonz.co.
ASIFA-Hollywood announced that it will begin accepting recommendations for this year’s Juried Award nominations — including the prestigious Winsor McCay Award — honoring career achievement and exceptional contributions to animation. Applications may be submitted now through Saturday, October 31 via email at info@asifa-hollywood.org or mailed to the ASIFA-Hollywood offices at 2114 W. Burbank Blvd., Burbank, CA 91506.
The Juried Award recipients will be honored during the 48th Annie Awards, set for Friday, April 16, 2021.
“The Winsor McCay Awards are our highest honors. In fact, they were the first Annies ever given and were the only awards granted for the first several years,” remarked Frank Gladstone, Annie Awards executive producer. “Other juried categories have been added over time, which has not diminished their significance. On the contrary, the juried categories have grown into a most important and significant part of each year’s honors.”
The Board of Directors of ASIFA-Hollywood shall select by a two-thirds (2/3) majority vote, for each of the Juried Award categories listed below. At its discretion, the Board of Directors may elect not to give an award in any category.
Juried Award Categories:
Winsor McCay Award in recognition of lifetime or career contributions to the art of animation in producing, directing, animating, design, writing, voice acting, sound technical influence, music, education, or for other endeavors which exhibit outstanding contributions to excellence in animation.
June Foray Award to an individual who has made a significant and benevolent or charitable impact on the art and industry of animation.
Ub Iwerks Award to an individual or company for a technical advancement that has made a significant impact on the art or industry of animation.
Special Achievement Award may be given to an individual, individuals or a company for unique and significant achievement made between January 1, 2020 and December 31, 2020, not recognized by other Annie Award categories.
Certificate of Merit to an individual or organization for current service to the art, craft and industry of animation.
Created in 1972 by veteran voice talent June Foray, and in whose name the philanthropic June Foray Award was established, the Annie Awards have grown in scope and stature for the past four decades. ASIFA-Hollywood is the world’s first and foremost professional organization dedicated to promoting the Art of Animation and celebrating the people who create it.
Today, ASIFA-Hollywood, the largest chapter of the international organization ASIFA, supports a range of animation activities and preservation efforts through its membership. Current initiatives include the Animation Archive, Animation Aid Foundation, Animation Educators Forum, animated film preservation, special events, scholarships and screenings.
Jellyfish Originals, the children’s animation original production division of multi-award-winning animation and VFX studio Jellyfish Pictures, today announced the appointment of Natalie Llewellyn to Managing Director. Llewellyn, who joined the company in 2018 as Head of IP Development, will take on a broader strategic role within Jellyfish Pictures and head up the company’s Originals division.
As Managing Director, Llewellyn will lead the creative and commercial efforts of Jellyfish Originals and drive the development, distribution, rights negotiation, financing and commercial strategy of its originals slate.
The move signifies Jellyfish Pictures’ commitment to original children’s content and sees the company expand its overall offering to provide end-to-end production services as well as rights management for its in-house projects and third-party IP, under the Jellyfish Originals umbrella.
Llewellyn’s 10-plus years’ experience in the children’s production and distribution sector has enabled her to build the IP arm of Jellyfish, to extend its commercial remit, raise its international profile and grow and diversify the Original’s slate. The division is dedicated to creating long-form series, serials and family features for a global audience, targeting all children’s, teen and family demographics.
In the spring of 2018, Llewellyn launched an in-house creative scheme aptly named the ‘Jellyfish Creative Bloom’, encouraging Jellyfish talent to present their original ideas for a kid’s animation show. Two successful ideas were taken into active development as part of the Jellyfish Originals slate and have since been picked up by strategic commercial partners. The latest round of Creative Bloom pitches is being launched next month.
“Since joining Jellyfish Pictures, Natalie’s eye for creative brilliance and commercial savviness has propelled our Originals brand to new heights. Thanks to Natalie and her extensive global network of contacts across the children’s media industry, we have a solid slate of kids’ animation projects with an exciting amount of potential,” said Phil Dobree, Jellyfish Pictures. “Partnering us with toy manufacturers, negotiating rights with international broadcasters and entering us into strategic co-productions has positioned Jellyfish Originals as a leading player in the industry. Now as Managing Director, I have full confidence that Natalie will take us even further as we step into the next phase of our Jellyfish Originals journey.”
Llewellyn added, “It’s an exciting time for children’s content creation and I’m delighted to be taking the helm at Jellyfish Originals — boosting our development slate, and further strengthening our commercial efforts in both distribution and rights management. I’m incredibly proud of the projects we’ve nurtured and the industry partners we’ve collaborated with to date. The future for Jellyfish Originals promises tremendous growth and that’s incredibly exciting for all involved.”
Founded in 2001, Jellyfish Pictures has grown from a “two-man band” into an award-winning, internationally recognized operation with over 300 employees across its four London studios and Sheffield location. The VFX division has worked on blockbuster movies and TV series including Lucasfilm’s Solo and Rogue One, HBO’s Watchmen and Netflix’s Black Mirror.
Launched in 2014, Jellyfish Animation has produced high-quality CG animation for DreamWorks Animation holiday special How to Train Your Dragon: Homecoming and series such as Dennis and Gnasher: Unleashed (CBBC), Floogals (Universal Kids), Bitz & Bob (Cbeebies), and has embarked on developing and producing its own animated children’s programs through Jellyfish Originals, established in 2017. The newest division is headed by Llewellyn and artistically supported by Creative Director Tom Brass.
Watching the animal characters of Katherine Applegate’s award-winning children’s book The One and Only Ivan come to life in the recent feature adaptation on Disney+ was one of the guilty pleasures of the summer. The family movie, which was directed by Thea Sharock, featured amazingly realistic CG-animated characters, including the film’s 400-pound leading gorilla Ivan (Sam Rockwell), his best pal the scruffy terrier Bob (Danny DeVito), the wise elephant Stella (Angelina Jolie), a fluffy poodle (Helen Mirren), a wisecracking chicken (Chaka Khan) and a parrot named Thelma (Philippa Soo).
Image courtesy Technicolor Pre-Production Art Department
The film’s impressive CG-animals and environments were created by MPC, under the supervision of Nick Davis. “I first heard about the movie about three and half years ago, and I thought it had a wonderful story to tell,” he says. “One of the wonderful things about the movie was that we now had the opportunity to introduce visual effects in a virtual production system, where you have much more integration earlier on between the director, the director of photography and the VFX team.”
Davis says when you have talking animals as the center of a movie, one of the important elements to figure out is how many human characteristics you give them, while keeping the level of photorealism to a believable level. In fact, one of the most impressive achievements of the artists is how they blend human and animal expressions in the photorealistic depictions of the main characters.
The One and Only Ivan
The feature went through two distinctly different production phases. The first was a traditional set and location shoot, while the second was a virtual shoot for the full CG shots. The virtual production process started with Black Box rehearsals with puppeteers and a motion-capture performance artist for Ivan. This enabled the director, Thea Sharrock, to block the sequences and approve the set design before shooting. A two-week mo-cap stage shoot took place to capture the gorilla’s physical movement using pre-recorded playback from the voice actors. Puppeteers played the other animals to give actors eye lines and a rough blocking layout for MPC’s animators. Once motion-capture scenes had been selected, they were turned over to the animation team for layout animation.
The motion capture data for Ivan led the blocking; however, the characters were all then animated by hand. According to production VFX supervisor Nick Davis, “Once the master scenes had been animation approved, the clips were then used to drive MPC’s Genesis Virtual Production tool kit. This enabled the filmmakers to utilize virtual reality tools to capture the data through the eyes of a virtual set of camera tools. Using dolly’s, camera heads, cranes and steady-cam, the filmmakers were able to shoot the master scenes on a stage and view the pre-recorded animation clips from any chosen perspective.”
The One and Only IvanThe One and Only Ivan
A Delicate Balance
“It was very important to make sure the audience feels the connection with the real people in real sets,” he says. “We spend a huge amount of time in a small confined space with these animals, and there are lots of close-ups and ultra- close-ups. So we had to find the delicate balance between capturing their essence and character while retaining as many true animal assets and behaviors as possible. We constantly tried to ground their emotions in reality.”
According to Davis, MPC delivered about 1,100 VFX shots for the movie, which made about 90 percent of the 93-minute total running time. Jones, whose next assignment is the 2021 release, James Gunn’s Suicide Squad 2, actually wrapped work on the feature back in February. He says he was very delighted by how realistic and beautifully animated Ivan and many of the characters ended up looking in the final film.
The One and Only IvanThe One and Only Ivan
“The team at MPC used a lot of their proprietary software and grooming techniques to push the photo reality of the animals,” he notes. “There was some amazing work done with the way light is reflected in the eyes. The artists were also able to really accomplish great things with the fur shaders to push the visuals. They used realistic rigs to achieve realistic facial shapes and achieve the right visuals when they react with light. I would say about 400 people worked at MPC’s Bangalore studio, and about 90 to 100 in the London and Montreal facilities. We all knew that the movie lived and died by how real the animals looked. They simply couldn’t look fake.”
The Great Escape
Davis says he’s particularly pleased with the sequence that shows Ivan’s beautifully executed escape from the mall menagerie. “There were many scenes where we were able to connect technically complex visuals with realistic performances” he notes. “When we see Ivan experiencing the wild for the first time, there are many subtle nuances and lovely little details that sell him as a character.”
The One and Only IvanThe One and Only Ivan
The VFX artists used many photographic references for the animals as well as visiting animals in Disney’s Magic Kingdom. “We weren’t allowed to get too close to the big animals, but we did have a terrier named Mabel that would visit the set and we had her digitally scanned. We also went to a water park and photographed the seals and scanned a chicken for the Henrietta references. We also had prosthetic models built (for the elephants and Ivan’s head) to help us with the textures and to figure out how they interacted with different lights.”
The entire backdrops for the animals and the human actors were CG environments as well. “We matched the lighting and painstakingly made sure all the aberrations of the light and the set were correctly duplicated in CG. When the animals cross the road to go into the woods, that’s all CG.” Davis says quite a lot of the jungle flashback sequences were also done in CG.
The One and Only IvanThe One and Only Ivan
The VFX supervisor says he hopes audiences will enjoy the amazing character of Ivan, which was inspired by the true story of a gorilla that was captured by poachers and brought to live with humans. When he was three years old, the family placed him in a Washington state mall attraction, where he remained for 27 years, until the public called for his release to a zoo. “We hope the audience will enjoy the expressions and expressiveness of Ivan, and will understand and feel empathy for such a lovely character,” concludes Davis.
The One and Only Ivan is currently streaming on Disney+.
Images courtesy of MPC and Disney+ unless otherwise noted.
Image courtesy Technicolor Pre-Production Art Department
Disney Studios has tapped Barry Jenkins, director of Oscar Best Picture winner Moonlight, to take the helm of its sequel to 2019’s $1.6 billion-dollar blockbuster The Lion King. His partners at PASTEL, Adele Romanski and Mark Ceryak, are expected to board the project as producers.
“Helping my sister raise two young boys during the ’90s, I grew up with these characters,” Jenkins told Deadline. “Having the opportunity to work with Disney on expanding this magnificent tale of friendship, love and legacy while furthering my work chronicling the lives and souls of folk within the African diaspora is a dream come true.”
The follow-up has a first draft film by Jeff Nathanson, who scripted the last Pride Lands adventure. His screenplay credits also include Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, Rush Hour2 & 3 and Catch Me If You Can, for which he received a BAFTA nomination. The story will reportedly delve into the mythology behind the beloved Lion King characters, including Mufasa’s origins.
Jon Favreau directed the “live-action” Lion King, based on the beloved Disney animation. The ambitious production built on the photorealistic CG and virtual filmmaking techniques developed for his 2016 crack at The Jungle Book. The film also stirred debate about what qualifies as an animated movie, with the increasing prevalence of CG characters, locations and effects across all genres of film.
If considered an animated movie, 2019’s The Lion King is the highest-grossing theatrical toon of all time — however, the studio positioned the title as a live-action adaptation, despite the absence of live actors. It also set records for the highest-grossing musical, remake and Walt Disney Pictures film of all time, and ranked No. 7 on the all-time box office gross rankings.
In addition to Moonlight, Jenkins was also nominated for an Oscar for his adaptation If Beale Street Could Talk. The director is working with Disney Studios on another project: a biopic of choreographer Alvin Ailey (through Searchlight), and recently completed his Amazon Prime Video limited series based on Colson Whitehead’s National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning book The Underground Railroad.
State-of-the art animation and media company FuturumKids has announced plans to establish a global headquarters for its growing list of future productions. From October 1, FuturumKids will be based in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria. where its new HQ will house both the company’s main offices and a full animation studio.
FuturumKids is a specialist producer of children’s and family media content targeting the global TV market. While production on the first series of Paddles, its delightful new CGI animated show for four-to-seven-year-olds, has been continuing in London and Dublin, the company has been looking to establish a single global HQ to meet its future needs. This was planned as a long-term move, enabling the company to develop and produce a number of projects in one place over an extended period.
With this in mind, FuturumKids has been carrying out regular meetings with representatives of local government and film commissions in Dublin, London, Belfast, Brussels and other animation hubs. The eventual choice of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria was based on a number of factors including tax breaks, incentives, labor availability and support on the ground.
Gran Canaria made a strong showing in all these fields; tax incentives, which covered 50% of production costs, proved a particularly important consideration for FuturumKids in its plans for addressing what is a very competitive market.
“This was a very tough decision as London and Dublin, where we have worked in the past, are both great places to produce animation,” said CEO Francis Fitzpatrick. “However, a strong package involving not only labor availability and local support but also tax breaks and attractive incentives made Las Palmas the strongest contender. We are looking forward enormously to working there.”
The first production at the new FuturumKids HQ will be Ling Ling, a 52 x 11’ CGI series recently showcased at Cartoon Forum. This charming and funny new show tells the story of a lively little girl panda recently arrived in Ireland from Shanghai and how she adjusts to life at her new school.
“We are delighted that a global company with an outstanding complement of U.K. and Irish talent such as FuturumKids has decided to come to Gran Canaria and produce its delightful new series Ling Ling here,” added Cosme Garcia, Managing Director of SPEGC — the agency to promote investment in Gran Canaria — and representative of the Gran Canaria Film Commission. “This is a strong endorsement of the animation strategy we have developed alongside our government.”
Ling Ling
Paddles Season 2 will be another project undertaken at the Las Palmas HQ. Paddles (52 x 11′) is the story of a polar bear cub accidentally delivered by the Stork to a frozen River Shannon in Ireland – and brought up by a pack of Irish wolfhounds. Through the adventures, mistakes and discoveries of its funny and huggable star, and his friends Bracken, Bridie and Fagan, Paddles shows its young audience that being different is something to be celebrated and enjoyed.
After successfully previewing at last year’s MIP Junior, the new CGI show for four- to seven-year olds is heading to MIPCOM Online+, having secured an anchor broadcast deal with Cartoonito U.K. and a number of other broadcast and licensing deals. The series is set to premiere on Cartoonito this autumn. Other areas planning to broadcast Paddles include TV stations in Ireland – the production’s home territory – China, and a number of stations across major territories in Europe and the Middle East. Neon, a leading player in the Korean entertainment market and a specialist in the distribution of premium content, will distribute the series in Asia.
FuturumKids’ founding principals include not only members of the team behind the Emmy Award-winning Jakers!, but also senior figures from HIT Entertainment and its global franchises Bob the Builder, Barney and Thomas and Friends.
Scholastic Entertainment, the media division of Scholastic, is teaming up with premium animation producer Mainframe Studios (a division of Wow Unlimited Media, Inc.) to develop and produce JumpScare, an animated horror series for viewers ages 8–12. Man of Action Entertainment, the American writer collective behind Ben 10, has been brought onto the project to write and develop.
The new show will include adaptations of four stand-alone Scholastic books along with an original story from Man of Action. Scholastic Entertainment President and Chief Strategy Officer Iole Lucchese (Clifford the Big Red Dog feature, Animorphs feature); SVP & General Manager Caitlin Friedman (The Magic School Bus feature, Goosebumps series); and VP of Creative Development & TV Production Jef Kaminsky (Clifford the Big Red Dog series) will produce from Scholastic Entertainment, along with Mainframe President & CCO Michael Hefferon and SVP Content Gregory Little.
“The horror genre continues to be extremely popular and is always among our bestsellers. These four titles lend themselves perfectly to layered stories of personal discovery, filled with suspense and surprise twists and turns to keep readers on the edge of their seats,” said Lucchese.
“We’re so excited to be working with Mainframe Studios and Man of Action to create content that expands on the storylines from these popular titles in a fresh and dynamic way, as well as bringing Man of Action’s newest story to the screen for the first time,” said Kaminsky.
”We are delighted to work with our great partners, Scholastic Entertainment and Man of Action, to continue pushing the boundaries of Mainframe’s storytelling,” said Hefferon.
Little added, “Each of these haunted, atmospheric stories features kid characters who use their brains, courage and friendships to fight supernatural forces. These are the kinds of stories that kids share and dare each other to watch.”
The first season of the aptly-named JumpScare will feature five distinct “hauntings.” The teenage protagonists across the series will be forced to reckon with spirits trapped between worlds at haunted sites like derelict houses, asylums, and graveyards. While the series is made up of stand-alone stories, they all exist within a “shared universe” and will ultimately be connected in ways that are both surprising and terrifying. Each story will be brought to life through a different animation style, crafted specifically to parallel and elevate their respective tones.
The Scholastic books inspiring JumpScare include:
Summer’s End by Joel A. Sutherland – Four kids are inexplicably drawn to an old, abandoned children’s sanatorium on a remote island off the coast. In attempts to untangle the mystery behind its shuttered doors, the friends become involved in a deadly fight between restless spirits of past inmates and the murderer who trapped them there.
Agony House by Cherie Priest, illustrated by Tara O’Connor – While her family tries to convert an old New Orleans house into a bed and breakfast, Denise is plagued by whispering voices, weird noises, and electric shocks. Could answers lie hidden in an old comic book she finds in the attic?
The Forgotten Girl by India Hill Brown – Tormented with nightmares after she discovers an abandoned, segregated “Blacks Only” cemetery in her backyard, Iris’ life becomes entwined with a jealous and demanding ghost that’s determined to accomplish some unfinished business. Iris must do everything in her power to help this vengeful soul, or risk losing herself to an eternity of being forgotten.
The Dead Girls of Hysteria Hall by Katie Alender – Delia isn’t sure what to think when her great aunt leaves her the family home in her will. But when she becomes horrifyingly trapped within its walls, she discovers that the house was once an insane asylum for “troubled” girls — many of whom still haunt the halls. Delia quickly learns that ghosts are the least of her worries though… as something even darker and more insidious lurks in the basement of the house.
Mondo TV, one of the largest European producers and distributors of animated content, has announced that it is to have its own dedicated channel on Samsung TV Plus, Samsung’s free ad-supported Smart TV video service, in Italy. Mondo TV Kids will launch on Samsung TV Plus on October 28, aimed at entertaining Italian children. It will be available 24 hours a day in Italian, with a daily segment in English to support and encourage kids who are learning English.
Users in Italy who can access Samsung TV Plus can enjoy many of the shows that make up Mondo’s vast TV library, along with such recent hits as Sissi the Young Empress series one and Invention Story. This is the first thematic digital channel organized directly by Mondo TV, and marks the beginning of a new project for the future business.
Already offering more than 250 channels across seven countries in Europe, Samsung TV Plus gives viewers instant access to the top news, sports, entertainment and more. It is 100% free to Samsung Smart TV users with post-2016 models in the U.K., Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Spain, France and Italy. The service doesn’t require any downloads, credit cards, subscriptions or additional devices – just an appropriate Samsung Smart TV and an internet connection.
“Mondo TV is delighted to be part of the Samsung TV Plus service – a service that makes access to top shows easier and quicker,” said Matteo Corradi, President & CEO of Mondo TV. “Samsung TV Plus is a marvellous showcase for our impressive library of TV and film shows, and a great way for fans of our many recent hits to access them for free.”
“Mondo TV Kids offers a diverse selection of excellent kids programming from a leading name in children’s entertainment – and it’s soon to be available on our popular and easy-to-access Samsung TV Plus service in Italy. We are extremely excited that TV Plus is the first service to carry Mondo TV Kids channel,” added Richard Jakeman, European head of business development – Smart TV at Samsung Electronics.
In anticipation of the Mid-Autumn Festival (or Moon Festival) on Thursday — a time for families to gather in celebration, with plenty of food! — Netflix has released a new clip from its original animated feature Over the Moon. Directed by Oscar winner Glen Keane (Dear Basketball) and produced with Pearl Studio (Abominable), the movie will arrive on streaming on October 23.
The Moon Festival traces back centuries to Ancient China, an annual tradition anchored by a family reunion and giving thanks to the Moon for the harvest. Perhaps if, like the movie’s young heroine, you gaze up at the full Harvest Moon on Oct. 1, you may just be able to see the Moon Goddess Chang’e and her companion, Jade Rabbit…
Synopsis: Fueled with determination and a passion for science, a bright young girl builds a rocket ship to the moon to prove the existence of a legendary Moon Goddess. There she ends up on an unexpected quest, and discovers a whimsical land of fantastical creatures.
Directed by animation legend Glen Keane, and produced by Gennie Rim and Peilin Chou, Over the Moon is an exhilarating musical adventure about moving forward, embracing the unexpected, and the power of imagination. The film stars Cathy Ang (Fei Fei), Phillipa Soo (Chang’e), Robert G. Chiu (Chin), Ken Jeong (Gobi), John Cho (Dad), Ruthie Ann Miles (Mom), Margaret Cho (Auntie Ling), Kimiko Glenn (Auntie Mei), Artt Butler (Uncle) and Sandra Oh (Mrs. Zhong).
Conrad Montgomery has joined Nickelodeon as Vice President, Current Series, Animation. In this role, Montgomery will serve as an Executive in Charge (EIC) overseeing the production of various animation series from greenlight to final delivery, and working in tandem with creators, executive producers and key leadership to help drive the creative vision of animation series for both Nickelodeon and its burgeoning studio business.
Also announced today are three executive promotions in Nickelodeon’s animation development and current series departments:
Dana Cluverius, to whom Montgomery will report, has been promoted to Senior Vice President, Current Series Animation.
Claudia Spinelli has been upped to Senior Vice President, Animation Development.
Kelley Gardner has been elevated to Vice President, Current Series Animation.
The announcement was made by Ramsey Naito, President, Nickelodeon Animation, to whom Cluverius and Spinelli will continue to report. Gardner reports to Cluverius. All executives are based at the Nickelodeon Animation Studio headquarters in Burbank.
“I am incredibly excited to see Conrad, Dana, Claudia and Kelley take on these roles as we grow our original and franchise animation slate,” said Naito. “Over time, they have demonstrated their undying passion for developing new content and delivering successful shows to Nick’s line-up. These animation veterans are invaluable members of our creative team, and I look forward to their leadership in our animation group.”
Prior to joining Nickelodeon, Montgomery was Senior Director, Current Series at Cartoon Network, supervising the Peabody and Emmy Award-winning Adventure Time, the Emmy Award-winning Regular Show, the Peabody Award-winning and GLAAD Media Award-winning Steven Universe and the Daytime Emmy-nominated Craig of the Creek. He served as a development and current series executive at Walt Disney Television where he worked on Fish Hooks, Kick Buttowski: Suburban Daredevil and Motor City. Earlier in his career, he was a creative executive at Lionsgate Films where he worked on such films as Confidence and Monster’s Ball.
Dana Cluverius
In her new role, Cluverius, formerly VP, Current Series Animation, oversees the Current Series department and continues to serve as Executive in Charge of the Emmy Award-winning animated series The Loud House, which was just renewed for a sixth season, and the top-rated The Casagrandes. She also collaborates with Nickelodeon’s network colleagues to produce ancillary content, while also ensuring episodes successfully deliver for a global audience. Cluverius previously worked on the long-standing fan favorite The Fairly OddParents, Breadwinners and The Penguins of Madagascar. Prior to joining Nickelodeon, Cluverius was VP, Current Programming and Scheduling at Kids’ WB and worked closely with Warner Bros. Animation. While there, she supervised over ten years of kids programming and was responsible for several award-winning series including Tom & Jerry, X-Men: Evolution, Static Shock and Scooby-Doo.
Claudia Spinelli
Spinelli, formerly VP, Animation Development, manages the development pipeline of all-new animated franchise content, while identifying potential creators, showrunners, writers and directors. Some of her current projects include: Star Trek: Prodigy, the upcoming Rugrats reboot, the first-ever SpongeBob SquarePants spinoff Kamp Koral: SpongeBob’s Under Years, Big Nate and Middlemost Post. Over the years, Spinelli has served as EIC on SpongeBob SquarePants, Sanjay and Craig and Harvey Beaks. Spinelli’s work on SpongeBob SquarePants has extended beyond the show as she helped to initiate projects throughout other areas of the company as well. Her career began at Nickelodeon in 2000 in the development department, before expanding her role by joining the Current Series group as a creative executive overseeing the brand management of SpongeBob SquarePants, The Fairly OddParents and Avatar.
Kelley Gardner
Gardner, formerly Director, Current Series Animation, is EIC on SpongeBob SquarePants, Kamp Koral: SpongeBob’s Under Years and the upcoming Star Trek: Prodigy. She has worked on over a dozen hit animated series, including The Fairly OddParents, Sanjay and Craig, Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness and The Penguins of Madagascar. Gardner first joined Nickelodeon as an assistant in the Current Series Department in 2006. Prior to joining Nickelodeon, Gardner served as a production assistant on the feature Over the Hedge where she supported film production in all stages. Gardner is a member of Colour Entertainment and she is the Women in Animation (WIA) Ambassador for Nickelodeon Animation.
Brooklyn-based animation studio Cartuna has tapped Mike Flavin as its new SVP, Head of Development. He joins the studio behind Comedy Central’s improvised animated digital series “Loafy and SYFY TZGZ’s just-premiered Magical Girl Friendship Squad having most recently served as VP Development at WarnerMedia’s indie studio Gunpowder & Sky (Drawn & Recorded, Floyd Norman: An Animated Life), where he was producer on Sundance selected horror flick Summer of ’84.
“Development has always been a part of Cartuna’s DNA, and we’re excited to be doubling down on it,” Cartuna founder and CEO James Belfer told Deadline. “We feel strongly that animation should be treated as a medium, not a genre. The experience and expertise Mike brings from live-action development will help us expand upon this principle and redefine ‘adult animation.’”
Prior to Gunpowder & Sky, L.A.-based Flavin was Director of Development for direct-to-consumer studio Supergravity Pictures (acquired by G&S in 2017) and Director of Development at financier Cider Mill Pictures. The Columbia College, Chicago graduate started his career at Spyglass Ent. (The Sixth Sense) and BenderSpink (American Pie) before coming onboard as a manager trainee at Gotham Group. He then became a creative executive at State Street Pictures, where he worked on Dwayne Johnson thriller Faster (Sony/CBS Films), Sundance entrant The Inevitable Defeat of Mister & Pete and Del Close biopic Guru.
Cartuna’s production credits also include two originals for Facebook Watch — scifi comedy Liverspots and Astronots and Annie Award nominee Human Kind Of — as well as opening sequences for the at-home edition of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (NBC) and segments for Desus and Mero (Showtime). The studio has also created branded entertainment for Nickelodeon, MTV, Twitch, Spotify, iHeart Media, Roc Nation and others.
Huluween is back for the third year with more chills and thrills for horror fans, with a full slate of nail-biting new Hulu Originals, a devilish drive-in movie theater event and an online Halloween immersive experience for fans to enjoy from home. More than six billion minutes of Huluween programming were watched last year.
As the ultimate destination for Halloween lovers to “Scream It Out,” the Huluween content hub now has more titles than ever before. Highlighting the most spooktacular content on the service, the hub includes hand-picked collections of the best Halloween content including three feature collections: “Screamy as Hell,” for the most haunted fans; “Spooky not Scary,” for the viewers who are ready to have a fright; but still sleep at night and “Humorous Horror,” featuring light-hearted Halloween fun.
Animation lovers and Huluween trick-or-treaters who want to skip the big scares can tune into the family-friendly Hulu Original Madagascar: A Little Wild “A Fang-Tastic Halloween” special from DreamWorks Animation, the trailer for which has just debuted. After hearing spooky rumors about the new habitat resident — a bat! — Marty is determined to protect his friends from the newcomer. But when the bat helps him out of a tough situation, Marty learns it’s better to get to know someone rather than judge them on false stereotypes. Premieres October 21 on Hulu.
Hulu Originals premiering for Huluween also include anthology series Monsterland (Oct. 2), Clive Barker-inspired Books of Blood (Oct. 7), Marvel comics series Helstrom (Oct. 16) and Sundance-selected horror satire Bad Hair (Oct. 23). Other Huluween highlights include Babak Anvari’s Wounds, hilarious zombie romp Little Monsters, and 22 new hair-raising installments of Blumhouse’s Into the Dark. Plus, 30 bone-chilling Bite Size Halloween shorts from emerging filmmakers at 20th Digital Studio.
For Los Angeles-based Halloween fans, Hulu is hosting a drive-in theater event filled with frights and delights, including an immersive haunted drive-through, the L.A. premiere of Bad Hair, and (s)care packages for all attendees over the course of four nights. The event will run from October 22-25 at the LA Equestrian Center and will feature screenings of Hocus Pocus, Books of Blood, Beetlejuice, I Know What You Did Last Summer and Carrie (1976). Music superstar DJ D-Nice will open the weekend with a performance at the Bad Hair premiere on Thursday, and will return to close out the experience on Sunday. Ticket requests are now live at huluween.com; limited to 150 cars per screening.
Finally, all Huluween fans are invited to visit The Screamlands, Hulu’s first-ever online haunted immersive experience. Beginning Thursday, Oct. 8, visitors 18 years and older can travel through the immersive, 360-degree online experience that features five scream-inducing rooms like “Bad Hair Hellway” and “Huluween Hall” which include spooky surprises behind every turn.
Madagascar: A Little Wild “A Fang-Tastic Halloween”
More than 150 Artists Realize a 6.5-Minute Story with Remote Collaboration
Centering on the relationship of a Chinese immigrant, Lina, and her American daughter, Luan, animated short film Let’s Eat reflects on familiar themes of personal identity, generational dynamics, and how food can bridge cultural gaps from a distinctly Asian-American perspective. Though initially close, Lina and Luan drift apart, before finding their way back to each other one homemade meal at a time.
A passion project more than three years in the making, Let’s Eat was conceived and brought to fruition by Director Dixon Wong and Producer Amy Kuo. To realize the short film, the duo co-founded Anamon Studios, a boutique virtual operation comprising recent art school graduates and student volunteers coming together to create and share diverse and inclusive stories through animation.
Let’s Eat
With Let’s Eat being the first undertaking of Anamon Studios, Wong and Kuo set out to develop a workflow that would allow them to produce content efficiently, and at the same time, enable collaboration between artists and animators across the world. Using cloud-based solutions on Amazon Web Services (AWS) has proven key for Anamon Studios to produce content with greater flexibility and cost efficiency.
For the most part, each artist worked on their own local workstation, using Autodesk Maya, Substance Painter, ZBrush, or Foundry’s Nuke depending on the task. Files were centralized on a shared Dropbox account that was synced to Amazon Simple Storage (S3). Once files were render-ready, dedicated render wranglers using Windows-based virtual workstations submitted the jobs to Pixar’s RenderMan, running on a fleet of Linux-based Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) Spot Instances. This allowed the team to take advantage of idle capacity and minimize compute resource costs. Ultimately, more than 30,000 hours of draft and final frames for the film were rendered on AWS.
Let’s Eat
In addition to the render wranglers, Wong also used virtual workstations on AWS for the project; he shared, “We are a micro-studio working with limited resources, so it was ideal for us to use AWS and not have to buy a ton of hardware. Our setup allowed the render wranglers to focus solely on submitting renders, freeing up artists’ time to produce the creative. The cloud is the future, and what Amy and I have built feels more like the studio of tomorrow.”
“Renting space and hosting a bunch of people wasn’t an option for us,” added Kuo. “We needed a solution that was accessible and scalable. We founded Anamon Studios to create authentic stories and uplift talent, and AWS has helped translate our vision to reality. Without the cloud, we wouldn’t have been able to connect with artists around the world in such a seamless animation pipeline.”
Let’s Eat
At the peak of production, 60 production artists concurrently worked on Let’s Eat, and 150 artists from the United States, Columbia, Russia, the United Kingdom, Indonesia, and many other countries leveraged shared project data in Dropbox and Amazon S3.
Let’s Eat will be screening on-demand in the San Diego International Film Festival, being held virtually Oct. 15-18. The film is scheduled for an online release following the completion of its festival run. For updates, follow the project via Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.
Grown-ish star Yara Shahidi has been tapped to play the iconic fairy Tinker Bell in Disney’s upcoming live-action adaptation, Peter Pan & Wendy. Directed by David Lowery, the project is aiming for a theatrical release possibly at the end of 2021 — although start of production has been delayed until March due to the pandemic and a release date hasn’t been announced.
The 20-year-old actress joins previously set key cast: BAFTA winner Jude Law, who will play Captain Hook, and title role players Alexander Molony (who voice stars in Sixteen South’s animated series Claude) and Ever Anderson, who plays young Natasha in Marvel’s Black Widow (May 7).
Shahidi’s casting makes her the first person of color to portray Peter Pan’s magical gal Friday on screen, and builds on the representational ground gained by her Grown-ish co-star Halle Bailey when she was cast as Ariel in Disney’s live-action Little Mermaid project being directed by Rob Marshall.
Prior to making her breakthrough debut as Zoey in ABC’s Black-ish and then on Freeform’s Grown-ish, Shahidi made a number of appearances on both live-action and animation series, including Entourage, Scandal, Family Guy and Special Agent Oso. Fans of Guillermo del Toro’s animated epic Tales of Arcadia on Netflix will recognize her as the voice of schoolmate Darci. She also voiced Brenda in Smallfoot and Melanie in the recently launched Netflix movie Fe@rless.
Shahidi has won two BET YoungStars Awards (one additional nomination) and an NAACP Image Award (two additional nominations) as well as several nods from SAG, Teen Choice and others.
Peter Pan & Wendy is being directed by Lowery from a script he co-wrote with Toby Hallbrooks. Jim Whitaker is producing.
Introduced in J.M. Barrie’s 1904 play, Tinker Bell’s animated appearance in the 1953 Disney version made her an audience favorite and secondary mascot to the studio. The sassy, unspeaking blonde fairy was modeled on actress Margaret Kerry. The character became the anchor of the Disney Fairies franchise launched in 2005, with several direct-to-DVD movies following her adventures in Pixie Hollow voice starring Mae Whitman.
Tink’s first big-screen appearance was in the 1924 silent film adaptation, played by Virginia Browne Faire. Steven Spielberg’s Hook (1991) cast Julia Roberts, while the less successful 2003 adaptation by P.J. Hogan put wings on French actress Ludivine Sagnier.
Winsing Animation will be promoting its hit shows and new properties at MIPCOM Online+ from October 12-16 this year. Out of a varied and exciting selection of properties on show at its stand, Winsing will be highlighting established hit GG Bond and GOGOBUS, along with new title Team S.T.E.A.M.!
The brand-new program is targeted at preschoolers aged 4-8 older, with the aim of enlightening their interest in science and the spirit of teamwork. The team is made up of six amazing kids who each use a different STEM-based area of expertise to solve the problems they encounter. Team S.T.E.A.M.! was one of five animation pitches at MIPJunior 2019, and the only Chinese project in the mix.
The first season will premiere in China in October and Winsing is looking for international distributors worldwide.
Another highlight of the company’s MIP lineup is popular new show GOGOBUS, for two- to five-year olds. Based on social and emotional learning, it revolves around an AI school bus that can transform into five different vehicles to protect the children’s safety and teach them how to cope with daily problems. To date, GOGOBUS has arrived in most of the Asian territories, including South Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, Vietnam, Taiwan and China — performing particularly well in South Korea and Indonesia. Moreover, it has also rolled into North America and SAARC and is soon heading to Russia & CIS, Ukraine and Baltic states.
Winsing’s ace property GG Bond is also kicking off a new series: Undersea Wonders. It is the first time GG Bond leads his team members to explore the world underwater. And the new spin-off GG Bond: Dino Diary follows the adventures of GG Bond and his fellows travelling back to ancient times to save injured and imperiled dinosaurs.
“During the hard time in this year, Winsing always strives to content creation and keeps open-minded for trying some more new possibilities,” said Echo Gu, VP of Winsing Animation. “The COVID-19 may ground us at home this year, but culture communication and international interaction will never stop.”
Ameba TV inked a new deal with Emmy-winning French studio Dandelooo for four series and one animated feature, which will join the platform’s growing slate of 2,200 hours of programming for kids and families in the U.S. and Canada.
The Treehouse Stories Seasons 1 & 2 (49 x 7′). Produced originally in France for Canal+ by Dandelooo and Caribara, the series mixes live action with 2D animation and is targeted at kids ages four-to seven-years-old. It centers on a group of friends who meet in a secret treehouse to share their favorite books and experience the stories from around the world.
Chico Chica Boumba (52 x 3’30”) gets kids on their feet to learn 52 different dances thanks to its cool professional coaches. Dancing, kids will resolve their daily problems with the help of the best coaches.
Ribbit’s Fantasy Riddles (52 x 3′) Each episode features Ribbit as he gives clues to the audience so each child can try to guess what the animal of the day will be. At first a misleading fantasy animal will be shaped… until the very end when the “real” animal will be revealed.
Kiwi (78 x 5′) This series is a cute ‘awakening’ to learn English words and literacy in a fun way, thanks to the silly Kiwi brothers.
Houdini (53′) Meet Little Harry, and see how he became the great Houdini — the most famous magician of all time.
Houdini
Future Today announced a significant expansion for its most popular Free Advertising-Supported Linear TV streaming channels on The Roku Channel: HappyKids — free and safe app designed to educate and entertain millions of kids of all ages with music, stories and activity guides across multiple platforms every day; The LEGO Channel — dedicated to inspiring and developing the builders of tomorrow where kids can watch their favorite LEGO Minifigure characters; and iFood.tv.
Purple Turtle
India-based IP development company Aadarsh Technosoft, Telegael (Ireland) and leading animated entertainment company Cyber Group Studios (France/U.S.) announced that their animated preschool coproduction Purple Turtle (52 x 7′; 2D HD) is now airing its first season with great success on Discovery Kids in Middle East and Northern Africa. The series premiered April 6 with two episodes and currently airs with 10 episodes a day. Key other international broadcasters are soon to be announced.
Directed by Swati Rajoria, the show follows the adventures of the eponymous hero and his friends — Roxy the Chameleon, Zing the Rabbit, Melody the Bird & Tadley the Bear — having fun while figuring things out as a team. Purple Turtle encourages kids to explore, make choices, learn from their mistakes and make necessary decisions along the way, promoting self-determination and fostering independence. The team of Emmy-winning writers includes Karl Geurs (Winnie the Pooh, My Little Pony), Dev Ross (Jakers!, Clifford the Big Red Dog), Carter Crocker (Disney, Warner Brothers), Paul Parkes (CBeebies, Cartoon Network) and Phil Harnage (Nickelodeon, Saban Brands). Producers are Manish Rajoria, Ankita Shrivastava (Aardash), Paul Cummins (Telegael) and Pierre Sissman (Cyber Group).
Cyber Group handles worldwide distribution, as well as licensing, merchandising and publishing outside of India.
Bing
Acamar Films‘s preschool hit Bing is enjoying bounding success in Benelux, with more growth on the way with a new raft of licensing and broadcast deals. Ketnet (the current broadcaster of Bing in Belgium) has purchased the rights to the newest, fourth season. The 26 episodes will air in Flemish with a premiere date to be announced. In the Netherlands, all 104 episodes of Bing S1-4 are already available on NPO Zappelin.
New licensing partners signed by Benelux agent License Connections include John (toy rang, SS 2021), Big Balloon (magazines, Q4 2020) and Mepal (melamine lunchboxes/cups, AW 2020). Existing partners extending their deals include TM Essentials/Totum (wooden toys, puzzles, car accessories; AW 2020) and local Golden Bear distributor Spectron (toys, AW 2020). These join Vadobag for bags and Aymax for bedding.
Dabangg
Disney+ Hotstar, India’s largest premium streaming platform, has acquired all 104 episodes of Cosmos-Maya and Arbaaz Khan Productions‘ new family series Dabangg — a first of its kind animated adventure based on the hit Bollywood franchise. The agreement coincides with the 10th anniversary of the first film, which introduced the character of Chulbul ‘Robin Hood’ Pandey e in 2010. The first 52 x half-hour season of 52 will start airing in Summer 2021 on Disney+ Hotstar, which has 400 million viewers, eight million paying subscribers and additional library content from Disney+, making it the most prolific OTT platform in India both in terms of subscribers and content.
The animated series chronicles the day-to-day life of Police Officer Chulbul Pandey (played by Salman Khan in the films). Backed at each step by his entourage, he stands in the face of evil to keep the city safe. Fighting evil is a tough job but whatever the situation may be, Chulbul always has the time to lighten up the mood with his jokes, limericks, and one-liners. Chulbul is joined by his endearing younger brother Makkhi (played by Arbaaz Khan in the films), who is new in the police force and keeps trying to emulate him.
The show will feature the animated avatars of all iconic characters of the franchise including the three antagonists Chhedi Singh, Bachcha Bhaiya and Baali Rajjo (played by Sonakshi Sinha in the films), alongside Prajapati Ji (played by the late Vinod Khanna in the films) and the ‘BhaiyaJi Ismile’ guy.
Bat Pat
After a successful run on Rai Gulp, Atlantyca Entertainment announced the premiere of its spooky-comedy adventure Bat Pat on Italy’s leading kids’ channel, RAI YoYo, which will broadcast two full seasons of the popular series. Unveiled on September 21, the show airs in half-hour time slots with two episodes running back-to-back in the period. On October 31, RAI YoYo’s young viewers will get the opportunity to enjoy the Bat Pat Halloween special.
Season 1, produced by Atlantyca with the participation of Rai and RTVE, has been sold to more than 100 countries including Italy, Spain, U.S., U.K., Benelux, Sweden, Lithuania, Singapore, Sri Lanka, India, the Middle East. In November 2019, the second season debuted in Italy and Spain with 52 brand new episodes. S2 is a co-production with Mondo TV Producciones Canarias, Bat Pat AIE, with the participation of Rai Ragazzi and Clan TVE.
The animated series features Bat Pat and the Silver sibling, who help strange creatures with weird and unbelievable problems — not just in Fogville, but all around the world. Thanks to Engine 13, a Victorian Age steam train driven by the zombie Molly Walker, our heroes travel via an underground railway to any location in the world. The bat gang is joined by Bat Pat’s cousin WingNut, an upbeat and optimistic surf-lover and an expert of Batga – the bat version of yoga — and Bat Pat’s younger niece, Jinx, a fiercely independent and brave teenager who’s often too expressive with her emotions. Together they are ready to help every creature because, remember: the supernatural inhabitants of Fogville don’t want to hurt anyone. In fact, what they really want is…help.
Giligilis
Turkish studio Fauna and worldwide distributor Edutainment Licensing are sending the adorable little birds of Giligilis (35 x 2’30”; preschoolers 2-4) flapping around the world with a slew of new broadcast and streaming deals. Genius Brands, Toon Goggles, KidoodleTV, Playground, El Reino Infantil, Medialink, BatteryPop, FingerPrint, Kidomi, Playkids, Highbrow, Kidscast, Viomobile and Vixi TV join previous acquisitions by Lulli TV (Israel), JY Animation (China), Vietcontent (Vietnam) and AVODs Tubi and Kabillion.
Giligilis supports early years, primary and secondary school curricula, teaching music and rhythm through the Orff Approach, which engages children’s minds and bodies through singing, dancing, acting and the use of percussion instruments. Fauna has greenlit a second season due in May.
Animanimals
Meta Media Entertainment has been busy closing deals for series from its growing animation catalog all over the world
In Asia, China’s Sino Media has acquired International Emmy-nominated Animanimals, Mister Rabbit, Ping & Friends and Li’l Doc. Animanimals has also been sold to Disney in Southeast Asia. In Taiwan, Ping & Friends has been sold to PTS and Animanimals to Da Winn and PTS for VOD.
In Europe, YLE Finland has acquired Li’l Doc, TVP Poland has renewed The Koala Brothers and ERR Estonia has acquired Li’l Doc, Mister Rabbit and Happy Go Hopscotch Christmas Special. In addition, Azoomee and Czech TV have acquired JingleKids and RTV Slovenia has acquired Animanimals and Happy Go Hopscotch Christmas Special.
In North America, TFO (Canada) has acquired Animanimals. And deals have been struck with NorAm VOD platforms Kidoodle.TV and Kartoon Channel! (Genius Brands International) for Elvis & Benny, The Koala Brothers, Ping & Friends, Happy Go Hopscotch Christmas Special and Mister Rabbit; Toon Goggles for Animal Stories, Ping & Friends and Elvis & Benny; and Common Sense Networks for The Koala Brothers, Mister Rabbit and Ping & Friends.
Meanwhile, quirky offbeat comedy Elvis & Benny recently launched on social media platform TikTok and after a few months has amassed over 30 million views and nearly 2 million likes!
IDW Entertainment and IDW Publishing, divisions of IDW Media Holdings Inc.,have handpicked three executive hires to build the company’s concentrated initiative within the Kids, Family and YA division.
Jeff Brustrom joins IDWE as the newly appointed Vice President of Kids, Family and Animation where he will oversee the development and production of a growing slate of live-action and animated projects (drama and comedy) based on graphic novels, prose and other source material. Daniel Kendrick, the new Director of Animation, will oversee development and production of animated series. And Erika Turner has been named Senior Editor of Original Content, IDWP, where she will focus on the development and acquisition of original IP, primarily in the categories of kids, middle grade and young adult.
“We are thrilled to have Jeff and Daniel join our team. Their collective experience speaks for itself and we are looking forward to building out this area in partnership with Erika and her deep passion to inspire and empower young readers,” said Lydia Antonini, President of IDWE.
Nachie Marsham, Publisher of IDWP, added, “Combining Jeff’s deep knowledge of family content with Erika’s experience and ambition for young readers, and Daniel’s passion for animation, will surely result in the success of this initiative. I couldn’t be more excited to see what they will achieve.”
Previously, Brustrom spent 17 years working for the Disney Channel where he developed the series that launched the careers of A-list icons such as Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez, Demi Lovato, Zendaya and The Jonas Brothers. Most recently, Brustrom was an independent consultant, advising international animation studios, production companies and content creators on IP development.
“I’ve always had a passion for creating content that the whole family can enjoy watching together,” said Brustrom, IDWE’s Vice President of Kids, Family and Animation. “The opportunity to work with Lydia to help grow this new initiative and develop great shows together was too alluring to pass up. I’m excited about bringing memorable characters and stories to a new generation.”
Kendrick was most recently at Chatrone, a Los Angeles based production company, where he represented artists and creators, and oversaw animation projects from initial concept to production, post-production and release.
“One of my favorite aspects of animation is that it sparks limitless imagination,” said Kendrick, IDW’s Director of Animation. “I’m thrilled to have found my place at the IDW table with some of the best in the business, like Erika, who is an absolute champion for today’s youth. I can’t wait to put our heads together and come up with new and unique ways to capture the imaginations of folks everywhere…especially the young folks.”
Before joining the IDW team, Turner served as the Senior Editor at Versify, an imprint of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and prior to that, she held the Editorial Project Manager position within the same company where she focused on the development and acquisition of owned IP primarily in the category of kids, middle grade and YA.
“I’m passionate about harnessing the power of literature to empower young people, especially those from traditionally underrepresented backgrounds,” said Turner, IDWP’s Senior Editor, Original Content. “I’m so excited to build a division to create original stories for young readers alongside Jeff, who has an impressive track record of developing hit series for young audiences.”
This news comes on the heels of IDW announcing the next wave of published offerings in the Locke & Key franchise, following the first season success of the Netflix Original Series Locke & Key produced by IDWE. Most recently, IDW announced industry veteran, Nachie Marsham, had been tapped as the company’s new Publisher and promoted Veronica Brooks to Vice President of Creative Affairs.
GKIDS, with TMS Entertainment and Fathom Events, announced Monday that they will bring Lupin III: The First to select cinemas nationwide for two nights only: October 18 and 21. Fans who are looking forward to watching the latest standalone adventure in the storied Lupin the 3rd franchise at home can also anticipate a roll out on home entertainment platforms later this year, with a date to be announced shortly.
The partners also unveiled the official full trailer in both English dub and subtitled versions. The former features Tony Oliver, Doug Erholtz, Michelle Ruff, Richard Epcar and Lex Lang returning to their roles within the franchise, and Laurie C. Hymes, J. David Brimmer and Paul Guyet joining the voice cast.
GKIDS and Fathom Events will present Lupin III: The First on Sunday, October 18 (English dubbed) and Wednesday, October 21 (English subtitled). GKIDS will open the feature theatrically in select markets starting October 23. At Fathom Events screenings, in addition to the full feature, audiences will view a special intro with director Takashi Yamazaki. Tickets are available now at LupinIIITheFirst.com and participating theater box offices.
Synopsis: The iconic “gentleman thief” Lupin III returns in an action-packed, continent-spanning adventure, as Lupin III and his colorful underworld companions race to uncover the secrets of the mysterious Bresson Diary, before it falls into the hands of a dark cabal that will stop at nothing to resurrect the Third Reich. The gang undertakes trap-filled tombs, aerial escapades and daring prison escapes with the trademark wit and visual finesse that have made Lupin the 3rd one of the most storied animation franchises in the world, in a thrilling new caper that is sure to delight fans old and new.
The Lupin the 3rd franchise, from original creator Monkey Punch, began in 1967 and has spanned a variety of manga, TV, game, theme park ride and musical adaptations, including The Castle of Cagliostro (1979), the feature film debut from the acclaimed director Hayao Miyazaki. An official selection at the 2020 Annecy Film Festival, the highly anticipated Lupin III: The First marks the first installment in CGI for the lauded animated franchise.
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