It’s not just another long rest between seasons: The Venture Bros. fans were sorry to hear from series creator Jackson Publick that Hank, Dean, Rusty and Brock will not be returning for the promised eighth season on Adult Swim. Publick confirmed info first released to Twitter by one of the show’s illustrators, Ken Plume, and added that the writers had been working on Season 8 when they found out a few months ago.
Unfortunately, it’s true: #VentureBros has been canceled. We got the highly disappointing news a few months ago, while we were writing what would have been season 8. We thank you, our amazing fans, for 17 years of your kind (and patient) attention. And, as always, We Love You.
One of Adult Swim’s longest-running shows, The Venture Bros. pilot aired in February 2003, with the first season kicking off in August 2004. But while fans have had nearly two decades of enjoyment, there’s been quite a lot of anticipation as well — the show achieved the record for having the fewest seasons per year produced of any scripted show when Season 7 arrived in August 2018 (two-plus years after S6 ended), at seven to 15.
With the return of Team Venture for an eighth season confirmed after the close of S7 in October 2018, viewers were prepared for a possible wait. The social media reaction to the cancellation confirmation was disappointment and dismay. Adult Swim swiftly stepped in Monday evening to say they are working on continuing the surreal, space-age heroes send-up outside the series.
We also want more Venture Bros. and have been working with Jackson and Doc to find another way to continue the Venture Bros. story.
The official teaser trailer for highly anticipated animated feature Wolkwalkers has arrived, promising another artistically captivating fantasy-adventure from the talented teams behind it. The picture was recently confirmed for a North American premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival this month, and will stream worldwide on Apple TV+ following its theatrical run through GKIDS.
An Apple Original Film, Wolfwalkers is the latest from two-time Academy Award-nominated director Tomm Moore (Song of the Sea, The Secret of Kells) and director Ross Stewart (The Secret of Kells), co-produced by the award-winning animation studios Cartoon Saloon (Oscar and Golden Globe nominee, The Breadwinner) and Mélusine Productions (Oscar nominee, Ernest & Celestine).
Synopsis: In a time of superstition and magic, a young apprentice hunter, Robyn Goodfellowe, journeys to Ireland with her father to wipe out the last wolf pack. While exploring the forbidden lands outside the city walls, Robyn befriends a free-spirited girl, Mebh, a member of a mysterious tribe rumored to have the ability to transform into wolves by night. As they search for Mebh’s missing mother, Robyn uncovers a secret that draws her further into the enchanted world of the “Wolfwalkers” and risks turning into the very thing her father is tasked to destroy.
The voice cast features Honor Kneafsey, Eva Whitaker, Sean Bean, Simon McBurney, Tommy Tiernan, Jon Kenny, John Morton.and Maria Doyle Kennedy. Producers are Paul Young, Nora Twomey, Tomm Moore and Stéphan Roelants.
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Kensuke’s Kingdom is kicking off production at last, with new finance and animation studio partners along for the journey. Originally announced in 2017, the 2D and mixed-media adaptation of Michael Morpurgo’s bestselling children’s novel hails from U.K.-based Lupus Films (Ethel & Ernest, The Tiger Who Came to Tea).
BumpyBox studio in Cardiff, Wales has joined as an animation partner, rounding out a team-up that also includes Mélusine Productions (Luxembourg) and Le Pacte (France). The project is now backed by the BFI, Ffilm Cymru, Creative Wales and Film Fund Luxembourg. Bankside Films (U.K.) is handling international sales.
Kensuke’s Kingdom centers on a young boy named Michael. During a round-the-world sailing trip with his family, Michael and his dog are washed overboard by a storm and marooned on a remote island in the Paciic. As the boy despairs at his chances for survival, he makes a surprising discovery when he learns a mysterious figure is watching over him.
The voice cast features Sally Hawkins, Cillian Murphy, Ken Watanabe and Raffey Cassidy.
Making their feature film directorial debuts on the project are animators Neil Boyle, who has worked on projects from Space Jam to The Snowman and the Snowdog to Sherlock Gnomes, and directed the animated shorts The Last Belle and Made Up; and Kirk Hendry, creator of the British Independent Film Award and Annecy Cristal-nominated short Junk.
Lupus Films co-founders Camilla Deakin and Ruth Fielding are producing, alongside Working Title co-founder Sarah Radclyffe and Barnaby Spurrier. Co-producers are Stéphan Roelants and Jean Labadie. The script is written by BAFTA nominee Frank Cottrell-Boyce (Goodbye Christopher Robin, 24 Hour Party People).
Camilla Deakin, producer and co-founder of Lupus Films said: “We are thrilled to have secured such prestigious finance partners and talented production associates for this exciting project during such a trying time for the industry. Animation is a perfect medium for production during lockdown, and we cannot wait to get the production and creative processes started.”
Anatoly Prokhorov, creator of internationally beloved Russian children’s cartoon Kikoriki (known as Smeshariki at home), died August 30 from leukemia at age 72. The writer, director, producer and educator was also a co-founder of Pilot — the first private independent animation studios established in the Soviet Union– and of Petersburg Animation Studio.
The Riki Group, parent company to Petersburg Animation Studio and producer of Kikoriki, said in a statement on Prokhorov’s passing:
“Anatoly Valentinovich was always a very positive, energetic, and singular creator. His contribution to development of Russian animation cannot be overestimated (as said in the collective statement made by his colleagues). Thanks to his belief and creative input Smeshariki came to be, on which he continued to work until his last day alive. For our team, he was not only an art director and colleague but a friend, teacher, and mentor. As a producer, thinker, and culturologist, he had always reached new heights and opened new horizons for those that had the honor of collaborating with him. At this irreparable loss, we express our condolences to the family of and those close to Anatoly Valentinovich and we grieve with them.”
Anatoly Valentinovich
Starting out as an academic with a PhD in physics and mathematics from Moscow State University, Prokhorov made waves by forming Pilot in 1988 with fellow animation artists Igor Gelashvili, Igor Kovalyov and Aleksandr Tatarsky. The shop focused on auteur shorts and creative-driven commercial projects, and fostered the talents of critically and commercially successful artists like Konstantin Bronzit, Aleksandr Petrov and Andrey Sokolov.
Pilot’s 100-plus films earned dozens of awards from festivals around the world. The studio also collaborated with Kinofilm to produce the animation for Cartoon Network series Mike, Lu & Og (1999-2001), with its artists Mikhail Shindel and Mikhail Aldashin as co-creators alongside CN’s Charles Swenson. Pilot embarked on its most ambitious project to date, Eastern European fairytale series Mountain of Gems, in 2004 — an official YouTube channel was launched in 2014.
Kikoriki: Deja Vu
The original, 2D Kikoriki series, produced by Petersburg and created by Prokhorov, introduced Russian children to charming little ball-shaped animals and their inventive hijinks in 2003, running through to 2010 (with the final season in 3D) and inspiring spin-off series — preschool-friendly BabyRiki and STEM-themed PinCode — and three animated features. The series has been twice nominated for Russia’s Golden Eagle Awards.
Apart from these globally recognized characters, Prokhorov helped bring more than 30 award-winning animated shorts and movies to fruition. He co-produced director Aleksey Kharitidi’s Gagarin, which won the Cannes Palme d’Or in 1996 and was nominated for the animated short Oscar. Other festival favorites he co-produced include Natalia Mirzoyan’s Five Minutes to Sea and Chinti; Bronzit’s Fare-well, Tuk-Tuk and Pacifier.
Prokhorov was a director of the Russian Internet Academy, a council expert one electronic textbooks for Russia’s Ministry of Education, a leader of the Screen Culture & New Communication Technologies department for the Ministry of Culture for nearly two decades, and a member of the Eurasian Television & Radio Academy — receiving many government-backed accolades for his career contributions.
***A previous version of this article originally appeared in the Sept./Oct. ’20 issue of Animation Magazine (No. 303)***
Despite firm plans to become the first in-person fall animation event of the year, France’s popular Cartoon Forum was recently forced to reimagine its 2020 pitch fest when Toulouse fell onto the government’s “red zone” list. Now, the 31st edition will be showcasing 86 new animated series from 24 European countries and facilitating meetings online to potential production and financing partners around the world from September 14 thru 17.
Cartoon Forum’s general director Annick Maes tells Animation Magazine, “The theme of this edition is ‘Business First,’ because it has been our anchor for making what we hope will be the right and appropriate decisions,” she explains. “At the Cartoon Forum, projects come first, since it’s around these presentations prepared with care and determination by the producers that our entire event revolves and must focus. A successful Cartoon Forum means new TV series will be created which have found financing or that are driven by strong European co- production. This success is the result of professionals meeting, working together, and producing the extraordinary creativity of the animation industry.”
Daisy and Dot (KEDD Animation Studio; Hungary)
Patterns of Growth
The Forum will be spotlighting 86 animated projects from 24 European countries with a total budget of 381 million euros (and a proposed 521 hours of content). As Maes mentions, the overview reflects the growth of animation throughout Europe, with France continuing to take the lead with 34 projects, followed by Ireland with eight, Denmark and Spain with six, the U.K. with four and Belgium, Finland and Germany with three shows each.
She adds, “The projects selected tend to present more and more female protagonists (Finula Gilhooley, Goat Girl, Femmes and Fame, Princess Arabella, Gemma & The Defenders, for example). Also, an important number of projects promotes inclusiveness and the acceptance of differences and disabilities (See Baldies, Foreverly Friends, Moo and Roo Take the World). We also have five projects from previous Cartoon Springboard editions, which is an event organized for young talent.”
According to the director, series targeting kids and families stay the main focus of European animation production. Among those, there are comedies and adventures that try to teach fundamental values such as inclusion, diversity, empathy, solidarity, the importance of friendship and family bonds, but there are also stories that, with humor and endearing characters, tackle more complex and sensitive issues like cancer, grief, bullying, ecology and the waste of natural resources.
Giuseppe (La Boîte/Les Films du Nord/Nadasdy; Belgium/France/Switzerland)
Pitches from the Pros
Attendees will be able to sample new shows from some of Europe’s best-known animation companies, including France’s Folimage (Anuki), Xilam Animation (Gemma’s Quest), Millimages (The Springs), Dandelooo (The Upside Down River), Cyber Group Studios (Monster in My Pocket), Ellipsanime Productions (Wonder Waï), Vivement Lundi! (Super-Lucha) and Autour de Minuit (Two Little Birds), among others. The line-up also includes new series by Belgium’s Lunanime (Tommy Pepper), Denmark’s Copenhagen Bombay (Rabarbar), Ireland’s Dream Logic (The Ghastly Ghoul), Spain’s Motion Pictures (Agus & Monsters), U.K.’s Paper Owl Films (Mr. Dog) and Italy’s Gertie Production (Relè).
Maes points out that new talent represented by producers and directors working on their first projects hold a special place in Cartoon Forum’s lineup. Some of these newcomers include Hanna & Nana (Jam Media, Ireland), Baldies (Cofilm, Czech Rep.), The Very Hairy Alphabet (Eagle Eye, Germany), Blue Figures (Laidak Films, France), and Felix! He Can Explain Everything (Sacrebleu Production, France). These projects were launched at Cartoon’s pitching event for young talent.
As Maes and her team put the finishing touches to their annual gathering of European content creators, she says she is looking forward to spotlighting all these amazing new projects. “They are the real stars of the Cartoon Forum,” she believes. “European producers dare to innovate by incorporating modern and unusual graphic styles, and by creating intelligent, clever and entertaining content for children as well as reaching new older target groups. We hope everyone has a safe and enjoyable Forum in September.”
To learn more, visit www.cartoon-media.eu/cartoon-forum.
A Cartoon Forum Sampler: A quick look at some of the new shows that will be pitched at the Forum this year.
Rabarbar
Rabarbar
This charming 2D-animated series (26 x 11′) from Denmark’s Copenhagen Bombay studio follows the adventures of a young girl who moves with her barbarian parents to the ancient metropolis of Weinlos — home to a host of fantasy creatures (trolls, elves, etc.) who adhere to a strict social hierarchy. Studio founder Sarita Christensen tells us, “The show is created by the talented Rune Ryberg, who is a very strong comic-book artist and animator. He is super creative and able to create the most whimsical and crazy characters with his designs. Our well-regarded writer Stephanie Wahlstrom has also created very many shows for children in this target audience (six- to 11-year-olds). I believe that this team is very strong and together they have shown us a different way approaching relevant topics such as identity, friendship, family, bullying and the importance of standing up for yourself.”
Hey Fuzzy Yellow
Hey Fuzzy Yellow
This innovative preschool offering is billed as “a show like you haven’t seen before!” Produced by Germany’s Toon2Tango, Italy’s Mondo TV and Jungle Fruit in the U.S., the series uses an unconventional curriculum basis to equip children with 21st century skills and an approach that “mirrors the parenting values of Millennials,” per the official description. We love the colorful designs and the attractive visuals which support a hybrid magazine format showcasing the arts, academics, exploration and logic/emotion. As the producers point out, “Hey Fuzzy Yellow sits in a place where no other show sits: in spite of it being strongly curriculum driven, it has lots of music and is also the funniest preschool show you have seen in a long time!”
Goat Girl
Goat Girl
Ireland’s Daily Madness is bringing a fun and hilarious show about a 13-year-old girl who is raised by mountain goats and has to attend a regular boarding school with regular humans. As producer Lindsay Adams tells us, “When I started Daily Madness, the first show I wanted to option was an animated comedy with a female lead. I was looking for the animated answer to The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt by Tina Fey! After two years of attending markets, we just realized that it didn’t exist anywhere as an option we could pick up… so we locked Shannon George and Kristina Yee in a room together for three days in August 2018 to come up with a bunch of concepts. They came up with a beautifully simple and hilarious idea: Goats are cool, what if a girl was raised as a goat?”
Adams points out that Goat Girl is definitely not a show made for girls only. “Comedy is comedy and laughs are laughs,” she says. “Therefore, this is a gender-neutral series for a gender-neutral audience. However, we are all aware that when it comes to down-to-earth, slice-of-everyday-life comedy shows, they tend to lean towards boy lead characters (and majority male creators/writers). This is where Goat Girl stands out. Behind the scenes, having a series that is created by women, directed by women, produced by women and written by women also helps to ensure that we continue to move towards more equal representation in the comedy sections of the animation industry.”
Belzebubs
Belzebubs
An animated show about a family of Devil worshippers may definitely be a first! This offbeat 13 x 22′ series is based on a popular webcomic by JP Ahonen, who started drawing this family of metal cultists as a therapy project. As Finnish studio Pyjama Films CEO/producer Terhi
Väänänen explains, “The comics quickly gained a half a million online readers. We originally joined the project by making two animated music videos for the band, but in the series we’ll be focusing on the horrendously adorable family life of the Belzebubs. Our aim is to flesh out the comic’s characters and their stories and use the comics’s slice-of-life glimpses as an inspiration for the series’ overarching storyline.”
Väänänen says the 2D animated show is made for a young adult audience, but it stays away from the typical cynical outlook on life and relationships that similar shows have. “It’s breaking taboos, especially on religion and sex, but instead of mocking them, its approach is warmhearted banter. You can describe The Belzebubs as Addams Family meets Modern Family. The family and the band members worship the Devil, but their daily, even mundane struggles are relatable for anyone!”
The Olive Bunch
The Olive Bunch
Cyprus-based animation studio Pixel Group is showcasing a beautiful 2D animated show about three friends living in a charming Mediterranean town. Amira, Stephano and Yani live in Cyprus and search for their place in the world through carefree and inventive play. They’re often guided by advice from Grandma Lola and her folk tales that connect her to the land of the olive grove. “We are a studio established in Cyprus and this is our second TV show to be pitched at the Forum,” says the show’s co-creator and producer Maria Pavlou. “The team developing The Olive Bunch has worked on animated series and short films for world-wide brands like Disney, Nickelodeon, Amazon Prime and Netflix.” In addition to Pavlou, the team includes Katerina Pantel (show co-creator and art director), Magnus Kravik (director and storyboard artist) and Michael Papanicolaou (lead character animator).
Zombillenium
Zombillenium
Two of France’s top animation houses Maybe Movies and 2 Minutes will be back at the Forum this year with a really fun show based on the spooky comedy saga published by Le Journal de Spirou, which inspired the acclaimed 2018 movie by Arthur de Pins and Alexis Ducord. The 12 x 26′ show (2D/CG mix) centers on an amusement park run by a cheerful gang of quirky monsters, hired by the Devil himself! Co-producer Chrystel Poncet says, “Our goal is to develop and consolidate a meaningful European franchise that deals with our culture, our values, gives food for thought and entertains! We truly think that Arthur de Pins’ ground-breaking concept has all the right ingredients for that.”
Poncet points out that the show’s serialized format, mix of comedy and suspense, high-quality cinematic look based on de Pins’ elegant graphic style and the fantastic soundtrack make the show a winning proposition. She and many of the series’ creative team, including showrunner de Pins and director Sabine Hitier will be attending the event in Toulouse. “Cartoon Forum is the first step for us to debut our show on the European scene,” Poncet says. “It’s a great opportunity to catch the attention of show buyers and potential partners.”
The annual children’s content event MIP Junior (www.mipjunior.com) is scheduled to take place October 12-14 at the famous Palais de Festival in Cannes, France and online during this year’s hybrid MIP Rendezvous Cannes. We reached out to several global animation producers and distributors to find out which new shows they will be bringing to this important market. Here are a few titles that caught our interest:
Big Blue
Package: 52 x 11’
Animation Style: 2D
Created by: Gyimah Gariba
Produced by: Guru Studio
Synopsis:Big Blue follows sibling underwater adventurers Lettie and Lemo ,who lead a quirky submarine crew, and a magical ocean fairy stowaway named Bacon Berry as they explore and protect the denizens of a vast ocean-covered planet. The series is packed with comedy and high stakes adventure and will inspire kids to make their world a better place as they dive deep into the mysteries of the ocean.
Exec Quote: “Get ready to jump into the Big Blue! We’re really excited to be unveiling this epic new adventure for kids of all ages. It’s the perfect time for a show like this. Together with their quirky misfit crew, Lettie and Lemo set out to explore, protect and bring together their underwater world that’s filled with creatures from all walks of life. The series shows the importance of discovering and caring for our environment, and how by working together we can make our world a better place,” says Jonathan Abraham, Guru’s VP of sales and business development.
Created by: Josh Selig, Celia Catunda and Kiko Mistrorigo
Produced by: Pinguim Content and Little Airplane Productions
Synopsis:The Boo Inn follows the comedic adventures of seven-year-old Oliver, his little sister Abigail and the haunted hotel’s resident ghost dog Salami as they try to keep all the inn owners (both past and present) happy, while also trying to keep the ghosts from being discovered.
Stand-Out Qualities: Two of the world’s leading animation companies have joined forces to develop this spooktacular new comedy series for young children.
Target Audience: Kids 4-8
Exec Quote: “We are delighted to team up with Little Airplane for this wonderful new show,” says Celia Catunda, co-founder of Pinguim Content. “Its lead characters – Oliver, a creative and imaginative problem-solver who believes in all things supernatural and otherworldly; Abigail, a sweet, spontaneous and joyful bundle of energy; and enthusiastic chatterbox Salami – are sure to appeal to kids everywhere, who love all things spooky!”
Created by: Based on the hugely popular books by Axel Scheffler
Produced by: Magic Light Pictures with animation from Blue Zoo. The series is executive produced by Michael Rose and Martin Pope and produced by Vici King for Magic Light Pictures. The showrunner at Magic Light is Jeroen Jaspaert (Stick Man, The Highway Rat) and Blue Zoo’s director is Matthew Tea.
Distributed by: Magic Light Pictures
Synopsis: Pip and Posy follows a mouse and a rabbit whose lives revolve around a wonderful world of play. Packed with warmth and humor, the series is a joyful celebration of their great friendship, its laughter and games, its ups and downs. The beautifully animated show deals with emotions, resilience and feelings in a relatable way for pre-schoolers to learn about themselves, all centered on creative play from a child’s point of view.
Stand-Out Qualities: The first ever preschool series from multiple Oscar nominated Magic Light Pictures, Pip and Posy is packed with warmth, humor and sympathetic understanding of the little dramas of young children’s lives.
Target Audience: Preschool
Exec Quote: “We’re really excited to be in production on our first-ever preschool series. Axel Scheffler creates truly enchanting worlds and we can’t wait for viewers to join Pip and Posy for their fun adventures,” says Michael Rose, co-founder of Magic Light Pictures.
Produced by: Pikkukala (Helsinki/Barcelona), Lunanime (Belgium) and Ink and Light Films (Ireland)
Distributed by: Dandelooo
Synopsis: Crown Princess Stella has just received the best news ever! Due to water damage in the castle (King Bob forgot to turn the tap off) the royal family must move out. Queen Kat sees it as the perfect opportunity to modernize! In line with King Bob’s royal motto “closer to the people,” they decide to live in a normal house in an ordinary suburb. It’s time to show the people that the royals are just like everyone else, and Stella, who has her own Royal Vlog on YouTube, will also share anecdotes about her new life as a normal girl, review everyday objects, share amazing findings, and much more!
Stand-Out Qualities: Original design, 2D with photographic backgrounds, strong female character.
Target Audience: Kids 7-12
Executive Quote: “Loosely based on Veronica’s own preteen life of a Finn girl living abroad, this fun and sweet comedy will touch anyone who is trying to ‘fit in.’ The series illustrates the struggles of being ‘a little different’ and learning to adapt, learn and grow in new surroundings without losing one’s identity,” note Dandeloo co-founders, Jean-Baptiste Wéry and Emmanuèle Petry.
Synopsis: After Bobble’s parents decide to downsize and leave the city for a tiny house on her eccentric Great Aunt Pearl’s land in the country, Bobble learns to communicate with nature and carries the stories of her adventures in her bright purple hair. Mentored by Great Aunt Pearl, Bobble learns a little magic, and uncovers the power and secrets of the natural world. With an unlimited resource of imagination, Bobble creates stories of her own, sews clothes and builds beautiful structures – like a treehouse or an insect hotel – from natural and recycled materials.
Stand-Out Qualities: The series combines exceptional visuals with stories inspired by Nordic nature, mythology and folklore, and a magical environment and creative outdoor play patterns to encourage kids to connect with the natural world around us all.
Target Audience: Kids 6-9
Exec Quote: “We at Gutsy Animations want to make a positive impact on the world, people and the environment, and create gutsy content for global audiences. This is the starting point of our new green kids brand, at a time when it is needed more than ever. Bobble the Little Witch will be a celebration of nature, community and sustainable living,” says Reetta Ranta, head of brand & development at Gutsy Animations and the creator of the show.
Produced by: Marc du Pontavice (for Xilam Animation)
Distributed by: Xilam Animation
Synopsis: Following the 20th anniversary of its iconic and globally renowned slapstick comedy series Oggy and the Cockroaches, Xilam Animation is now gearing up to launch a rebooted version of the series. Oggy and the Cockroaches – Next Gen will see Oggy take on the responsibility of parenthood as his Indian friends’ daughter, a seven-year-old elephant named Piya, comes to stay. Piya is kind-hearted, happy-go-lucky, full of energy and completely derails Oggy’s daily grind, as the blue cat must learn how to become a surrogate parent. This is a dream come true for the cockroaches, who see Piya as a new way of ruining Oggy’s life. With a refreshed look and feel, the new iteration of Oggy and the Cockroaches brings a focus on emotions, tenderness and friendship.
Target Audience: Kids
Exec Quote: Marc du Pontavice, Xilam Animation’s CEO, says, “We’re so excited to bring this refreshed version of our flagship series to the millions of fans of Oggy. While staying true to the DNA of the property, Oggy and the Cockroaches – Next Gen comes with more emotion and tenderness. We believe this will deepen the experience of the audience and enhance their attachment to our lovable characters.”
Synopsis: An action comedy starring an unlikely teenage female hero with an even unlikelier set of powers — and one awesome high-tech armor suit! The last in a long line of strong and powerful women, Cho Yu’s life takes an unexpected turn when she puts on a mysterious bracelet sent anonymously through the mail. Like the legendary superhero of the same name, Cho is immediately encased in a suit of jade armor. With her kung fu talents suddenly levelled up, it’s now Cho’s turn to embody this epic hero, with the help of her friends Theo and Lin, and the mystical Beasticons that accompany the Armor. Stand-Out Qualities: Comedy, Action and Adventure! Jade Armor is a character-based story with the added bonus of being part of the awesome world of kung fu, with entertaining villains that are both comedic and evil.
Target Audience: Kids 6-10
Exec Quote: “With its bubbly and brave heroine who is descended from a long line of strong women, Jade Armor is a project very dear to my heart,” comments Executive Producer Corinne Kouper. “This modern girl role model is a fun and important one for the kids’ space and interestingly appeals to boy audiences as well.”
Produced & Distributed by: One Animation (creators of twice Emmy-nominated Oddbods, Insectibles, Antiks and Rob the Robot). Executive produced by Richard Thomas and Michele Schofield.
Synopsis:Future Bros. is a fun, thoughtful comedy that follows the life of seven-year-old boy genius Andy who, by way of his own time-machine invention, finds himself face-to-face with his 13-year-old self — and realizes he is sorely lacking. Andy7 is a self-motivated, energetic genius, while Andy13 is lazy, moody and celebrates everything dumb and average. Andy7 knows there is greatness in his future self and he’s going to mine it out of him, one nugget at a time. Andy7 is going to have to create mind-blowing inventions, lead a group of kids who look to him for adventure, and turn his future self into the teenager he wants to be. This time-travel show, (without all that pesky time-travel) is about two people with very different perspectives, butting heads over the direction their life should go.
Target Audience: Kids 6-11
Exec Quote: Michele Schofield, SVP content distribution at One Animation, says, “Future Bros. is charming and thoughtful, while also being highly entertaining, and we’re very excited to bring this series to the market for the first time. Through the eyes of seven-year-old Andy, the series takes a unique and refreshing look at the growing pains faced by children as they start thinking about what shape they want their life to take, and recognizing the control they have over their future self. We’re confident its core message that having persistence will lead to positive changes in your life, but that you can still have plenty of fun along the way, will resonate with audiences internationally.”
Created by: Denise & Francis Fitzpatrick, creators of Jakers!
Produced by: FuturumKids
Synopsis:Paddles tells 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. A charming, exciting and very witty series that, through the adventures of its funny and lovable star, shows its young audience that being different is something to be celebrated and enjoyed.
Stand-Out Qualities: The show boasts all the invention, endearing characters and high production values that made Jakers! a hit across multiple regions, as well as a very successful licensed property. With a talented team behind it that includes not only Tim Harper but respected animator Somu Mohapatra and award-winning writers Hickey & McCoy from the U.S. and Danny Stack from the U.K., this is a show that looks set for ratings success.
Target Audience: Preschool 4-7
Exec Quote: Brendan Kelly, FuturumKids head of sales, notes, “Following the sale to anchor broadcaster Cartoonito in the U.K., we are delighted with the keen interest from broadcasters around the world – Paddles is a special show and has all the qualities made famous by Jakers!”
Synopsis: Circle Square is a show about a community of nine houses, each home to a distinctive character or family. There’s a helpful dragon, a shy yeti, a rambunctious family of humans, a blended family of wizards, some very particular owls, a morose dog, two groovy living instruments, an old active bear and some walking, talking pine trees. “It’s not the usual mix of characters,” explains Myles McLeod. “We wanted each household to really pop out as distinctive because we have quite a few characters in the community.”
Stand-Out Qualities: Big on comedy, Circle Square also has a big heart. Empathy, community and neighborliness are at its core. The quirky characters in its diverse cast reflect a real cross-section of a typical neighborhood – old, young, families, individuals, friends. All kinds of people, each household – and house! – very different from the next; yet all there for each other, always ready to help one another out, providing valuable lessons for young children on the importance of community, cooperation and collaboration. Warm and humorous with a unique visual aesthetic, Circle Square reflects a child’s first discovery of the wider world beyond their home, and their natural curiosity about what it is like and what they can do there.
Target Audience: Preschool 3-6
Exec Quote:Helen Brunsdon, exec producer for Wyndley Animation, says, “We are really excited about our brand new show, which is currently in pre-production. At its heart is a show about community, helping each other and living next door to a fabulous range of neighbors — all strong themes which we think will have great international appeal.”
Saturday at Virtual Crunchyroll Expo, leading anime brand Crunchyroll announced a huge slate of new content and collaborations, including Shenmue, a Crunchyroll and Adult Swim Production, a collaboration with Loot Crate, a home video deal with Sentai Filmworks, the return of Dr. STONE and more.
Shenmue
The first-ever digital edition of Crunchyroll’s yearly flagship anime convention revealed another production partnership between Crunchyroll and Adult Swim: Shenmue, an original anime series based on the beloved SEGA game franchise. Following the recently-announced Fena: Pirate Princess and Blade Runner – Black Lotus, the fruits of this latest team-up will stream worldwide outside of Japan and mainland China on Crunchyroll and air on Adult Swim’s Toonami in the domestic United States.
“The first Shenmue video game was released more than 20 years ago and we’re so excited to be working again with Adult Swim to bring this franchise to life through anime,” said Sarah Victor, head of development, Crunchyroll. “We’re eager to show our fans more of this action-packed adventure series as we move through production.”
The 13-episode anime follows the journey of Ryo Hazuki. After he witnesses his father’s murder at the family dojo, Ryo dedicates his life to finding the man responsible — a mission that takes him from the streets of Yokosuka, Japan to the sprawling metropolis of Hong Kong, and beyond. Soon he’ll learn that larger, mystical forces are at play as he trains to become the ultimate martial artist in his quest for revenge.
Shenmue is being directed by Sakurai Chikara (One Punch Man S2, Naruto) with animation production by Telecom Animation Film, and production management provided by Sola Entertainment. Video game creator Yu Suzuki is also onboard as an executive producer.
“The world of Shenmue is fascinating and unique, and we are so excited to partner with Yu Suzuki to bring his epic creation to anime- and make a kick-ass martial arts epic!” said Jason DeMarco, SVP/creative director on-air for Adult Swim.
Food Wars! The Fourth Plate
Crunchyroll and Sentai Filmworkss, one of the leading global suppliers of anime and official anime merchandise, are announcing today a home video and electronic sell-through distribution partnership. Sentai will distribute four titles to kick off the partnership, including Food Wars! The Fourth Plate, Ascendance of a Bookworm, Granbelm and World Trigger. These series will appear as a mix of subtitled and English-dubbed content.
“We are delighted to expand Crunchyroll’s partnership with Sentai, and look forward to working closely with them to bring even more anime to fans in the U.S. and Canada,” said Alden Budill, Head of Global Partnerships and Content Strategy, Crunchyroll.
“Since at least 2011, Sentai and Crunchyroll have collaborated to bring exciting content to anime fans in new and innovative ways,” added John Ledford, Sentai CEO. “Through this latest content partnership, Sentai is thrilled to empower fans to own their favorite Crunchyroll shows on select Blu-rays and our award-winning Premium Box Sets.”
Ascendance of a Bookworm
Crunchyroll and Loot Crate revealed more details behind their partnership to bring fans more from their favorite anime series. Crunchyroll is curating two different crates with Loot Crate: the Crunchyroll Crateand the Limited Edition Mobile Suit Gundam Life Crate.
The monthly Crunchyroll Crate will include items from an incredible lineup of anime titles, including the upcoming Crunchyroll Original series Noblesse, alongside fan-favorites Mob Psycho 100, Welcome to Demon School Iruma-Kun, That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime, alongside the brand’s beloved mascot Crunchyroll-Hime. Available worldwide excluding Asia and a selection of other territories, fans can pre-order the Crunchyroll Crate here, with planned shipping to begin late November / early December 2020.
The quarterly Mobile Suit Gundam Life Crate is a limited edition, eight-crate series. For more information, fans can sign up at www.lootcrate.com to keep up with release details as well as participate in a raffle contest for free Mobile Suit Gundam crates. More details for the Limited Edition Mobile Suit Gundam Crate series will be available later this fall.
Crunchyroll Lootcrate Noblesse
The brand also announced and previewed a slate of anime coming soon to Crunchyroll, including:
How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord: Omega – Season two of the popular anime series follows the adventures of a young MMORPG player who is transported to another world and becomes a (pretend) demon lord. The series is coming to Crunchyroll 2021.
Dr. STONE – Crunchyroll announced that season two of the scientific adventure series is coming to Crunchyroll in January 2021. Dr. STONE follows the journey of Senku as he works to rebuild humanity through science.
Crunchyroll also reviewed a number of series coming this October, including the highly-anticipating horror anime series Jujutsu Kaisen and the upcoming Crunchyroll Original series, Noblesse.
Fans eager to re-watch the announcement can register for a free Virtual Crunchyroll Expo badge now at www.crunchyrollexpo.com and stream the Crunchyroll Industry Panel in the V-CRX On-Demand section.
***This article originally appeared in the Sept./Oct. ’20 issue of Animation Magazine (No. 303)***
Initially, the pandemic didn’t change my life all that much. Normally, between February and late June, I am in a sort of self-imposed isolation as I go through the 2,000 or so film submissions to the Ottawa International Animation Festival (OIAF). In fact, most of my work for the OIAF is done remotely, so my work life really didn’t change all that much. Even during April and May, I still carried hope that we’d be at least partially live. It was only near the end of the competition selection process in late June that I began to accept that we’d be online for 2020.
Mariusz Wilczynski’s Kill It and Leave This Town
Yes, it will be different this year. There’s no getting around that. But I think that’s okay. I see it as a year of experimentation. (Let’s face it, it might be two years at the rate things are going!) You can look at it as a wonderful and unique chance to break free of tried and true templates and try new approaches. We don’t really have a choice.
We expanded the festival to two weeks, knowing that asking people to attend a virtual event in the same way they do a live one is too much. The two weeks affords a more relaxed opportunity for people to take the festival in at times and days that work best for them.
Mike Scott’s Bru & Boegie: The Movie
More Options and Filmmaker Intros
Instead of our usual five short competition screenings at 75 minutes, we’ll be doing eight screenings at 45. Our “Meet the Filmmakers” talks will be pre-recorded. Now, personally, I will miss the audience interaction, but the plus side is that we will have insight from almost all the filmmakers, not just the ones in attendance. Also, the jury will likely start screening films in advance. They will have more time to digest the works and watch them a few times if they wish. They won’t be as rushed and overworked as they often are during a live festival.
Also, with on-demand options, only select events like the short competition and awards ceremony will be scheduled, so people won’t have to do long crazy days to try to cram in every film and talk.
Shoko Hara’s Just A Guy
I think what is potentially most exciting this year is that while we will reach the usual OIAF audience, I suspect we’ll also attract some virtual attendees who maybe wanted to attend before but didn’t have the opportunity.
Beyond that, in terms of content, you’re going to see the same ol’ OIAF — except it’ll be more condensed, to a degree. Even then we are screening the same amount of competition, panorama and retrospective screenings.
I think I’m most excited about the short competition structure. We’ve always followed a five-screenings template, but my OIAF colleague, Devin Hartley, proposed doing eight screenings at 45 minutes. I thought that was a great idea. Again, it reduces some of the strain of staring at a screen. It also allows each film to stand out a bit more. And I personally liked the challenge of sequencing the screenings a bit differently than I’m accustomed to.
Andreas Hykade’s Altötting
Our strength is programming: Online or live, you won’t see the same approach to film and talk selection that you see anywhere else — and no, I’m not dissing other events or pounding my chest with fierce pride. The OIAF has always had a bit of a more offbeat approach to film selection, and no pandemic is going to take that away, darn it!
So, thumping nonsense aside, I think people can expect the same OIAF that they love. We will serve up carefully considered competition screenings, out of competition panorama screenings and a quartet of special screenings (tributes to Mikrofilm, Estonian pioneer Elbert Tuganov and Canadian animators Emily Pelstring and Terril Calder). And naturally there will be a whole other side focused more on studios and industry.
Andrey Zhidkov’s Happiness
The OIAF is about content, but also fun. We’re a festival that never takes things too seriously (and yes, even our fan-favorite host, Joel Frenzer, will be part of the online shenanigans). We tend to avoid all that pomp and pretension that some festivals succumb to. The OIAF is more easygoing. We work hard. We party hard (and yes, we will be having parties like the always popular NightOwl). We sleep poorly. We respect the filmmakers and our supporters, but we really try to avoid taking ourselves too seriously. Life’s too short for such nonsense, in reality or online!
OIAF takes place September 23 to October 4. For more info about this year’s virtual festival, visit animationfestival.ca.
Chris Robinson is an animation, film, literature and sports writer, author of numerous books and the Artistic Director of the Ottawa International Animation Festival (OIAF). He also wrote the screenplay for the award-winning Lipsett Diaries, directed by Theodore Ushev.
Fans of Daniel Chong’s hugely popular We Bare Bears will get a wonderful gift Monday, September 7 in the form of a 70-minute-long We Bare Bears: The Movie , putting a nice bow on the show, which debuted in July of 2015 and aired its final episode last April. The feature-length adventure finds the food truck-loving, viral video-obsessed Bear Bros road tripping to refuge in Canada from a menacing Wildlife Control agent determined to restore the “natural order.”
For the Sept./Oct. ’20 issue of Animation Magazine, we caught up with Chong to find out more about the charming movie and his plans for the future. We are also pleased to share an exclusive clip from one of the delightful bonus feature “Movie Pitches” included in theDVD release, out September 8, courtesy of our friends at Warner Bros. Home Entertainment. Read on to learn more about the movie and check out the clip, in which Chong sets up the first pitch of the opening sequence by storyboard artist Lauren Sassen and musically gifted story artist Louie Zong.
Daniel Chong
Animag: First of all, congrats on you very well-received We Bare Bears: The Movie. How did the idea for this movie come about?
Daniel Chong: It started out when Cartoon Network asked us to do a movie. Frankly, I had always wanted to do a movie with these characters. We had these compelling characters that could easily exist in a long-form project since we always tried to give them emotional depth.I had a background in animated movies. [Chong worked as story artist on features such as Bolt, Despicable Me, The Lorax and Inside Out, before creating We Bare Bears for the cabler.] We felt quite confident that we could do it, although we had a lot less time to do it than your average Disney or Pixar movie.
How long did it take you to make it?
We spent about eight months on the script — and that’s while we were actually producing the series, too. We boarded the movie for over a year, while still finishing up the regular episodes for the first half of season four. There was a lot of overlap. In reality, we didn’t know that the movie was going to serve as the finale for the show when we wrote it. We just assumed that we were going to keep going, even after 140 episodes! But when it was determined that we were going to end the show, the movie achieved a nice bookend quality.
How do you feel about the movie now that it is finally debuting on Cartoon Network?
This show was based on the experience of being a minority in America. So, I like that we were able to end the series on this poetic note, which is about feeling acceptance and fitting in and finding your place in the world. I couldn’t have anticipated that this was the way we were going to go out, but I’m really happy that we ended with them helping others just like them and creating a utopia of sorts.
We Bare Bears: The Movie
Can you talk about the message of the movie and how it’s probably even more relevant now than when you wrote it?
We wrote the movie when we were seeing all the news about ICE separating all these immigrant families. We’ve gone through a pandemic, witnessed the Black Lives Matter protests, and we know that racism is not going away. This is an ongoing battle that we have to fight. We wrote the script two years ago, but unfortunately, the themes are even more relevant now.
Did you work with the same team that was on your series?
Yes, more or less we had the same creative team. There were people coming in and out, but we had about eight or nine story artists boarding on the show. We had an extra editor on the movie. On the regular show, we clean up all the boards, then we edit it together and do all the small fixes. For the movie, we had lots of trial and error. Our board artists would do lots of roughs and story editors would do scratch dialog to see how it all held up. It was easier to troubleshoot that way.
We then sent the movie to Rough Draft. They also did lots of CG vehicles, fires and crowds for the movie. This movie wasn’t TV friendly, but they did a fantastic job. It was a hefty job. Outside the CG stuff, they still hand animate and draw on paper with pencil and ink. They scan and composite in Toon Boom Harmony.
Why do you think the show was such a hit with fans all over the world?
You never know exactly what it is that people are connecting with, but I really wanted people to love the bears’ personalities from the start. The bears were flawed each in their own way: Grizz is fun-loving, Panda is a bit too selfish or Ice Bear is a bit too weird, etc. but they always had good intentions and tried to do the right thing. That’s what I wanted out of their personalities. Hopefully that was one of the aspects people were drawn to them.
When I look back 10 years ago, I remember that I just wanted to make my own show. The industry was much smaller and there were very limited projects to work on. I just wasn’t connecting with a lot of the things that I was working on, so I wasn’t happy. I just didn’t think I could trust the industry to provide me with something that I would be excited about, so I had to make it myself. I had to go out there and pitch a show that I would be proud of.
We Bare Bears
What are some of the most memorable reactions you have had to your work?
You know, it’s funny, because a lot of us get removed from the process and the audience. The best way to get feedback is to go online. We don’t get to meet fans regularly. I’d say the times that I got to meet the show fans is when I travel overseas. The series does very well internationally, and it’s incredible to see how the show transcends cultural boundaries and language barriers.
A few years ago, I was a guest of the Pixelatl Festival in Mexico, and these students came up to me, and they just said, “We Bare Bears,” and pointed to their hearts. I could see the love in their eyes. The connection was deeply emotional. That was one of the most amazing experiences. It’s always wonderful to get these nice messages from the fans.
We Bare Bears: The Movie
In the past, you’ve talked about how much you were influenced by the work of Bristol’s Aardman Animations. Can you elaborate on that and your other inspirations?
My entry into drawing and animation came from the world of comic-strips. I adored Calvin and Hobbes, The Far Side and Garfield. I would go through all the Sunday comic pages, so I wasn’t hugely influenced by animation when I was growing up. Once I got into animation, I really loved stop-motion. Nick Park’s The Wrong Trousers and all the other Wallace & Gromit shorts were huge. I saw them at an animation festival, and they were like nothing I had seen before. I loved the British humor and the deadpan quality. Watching that short really opened my eyes to what animation could be. [We Bare Bears was based on a webcomic that Chong had created.]
Any final words of advice for animation industry hopefuls who want to create their own shows?
I think everyone will tell you that we live in a time that technology has given everyone the ability to make their own things and create exposure through the internet and social media. Those things weren’t available when I was starting out. So, without question, you should take advantage of those things. What everyone neglects to mention is the importance of personal growth and development. So much of what you create is shaped by your background and the things that shaped you. The better you understand your background, the sharper your voice will become. You can’t make 140 episodes of a show without digging into every aspect of your past and every movie and TV show that influenced you. Work on your voice, look inside and try to understand what makes you unique.
We Bare Bears: The Movie premieres on Cartoon Network on September 7 at 6 p.m. ET/PT. A spinoff series featuring the baby versions of the bears is also in development at the studio.
***This story originally appeared in the Sept./Oct. ’20 issue of Animation Magazine (No. 303)***
Over the past decade, fans of world cinema have seen several creative auteurs use animation to tell stories that deal with serious issues and explore tough socio-political themes. This year, Latvian-Norwegian director Ilze Burkovska Jacobsen continues that tradition with My Favorite War, a powerful look at her own experience growing up under Soviet rule and how that political climate impacted her own coming of age. During a recent interview, Burkovska Jacobsen talked to us about the making of her movie, which took home the prestigious Contrechamp prize at Annecy in June. The title is also selected as one of the features in competition at the Ottawa International Animation Festival this month.
“Two of my key cinematic sources of inspiration are Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis and Ari Folman’s Waltz with Bashir,” says Burkovska Jacobsen. “Both films tell about history, use animation and still are classified as documentaries. My inspiration art-wise was Frida Kahlo. In the beginning, when I started to raise money for my film, I was kind of embarrassed that I was using myself in the story. But then I thought of Frida Kahlo and thought, well, we see images of her face and body in her paintings, but she tells the larger story anyway. We see pain, longing, love, accusation and a statement of female strength in her paintings, not the self-satisfied face of the painter. So I decided then that it was possible to use yourself in a film even though it felt very uncomfortable at times.”
She adds, “Of course, in terms of the film’s storyline, I was inspired by the tremendously dramatic history of my homeland Latvia, with all the tragic twists during the last century and the ‘happy ending’ from our perspective of the Cold War.”
Ilze Burkovska Jacobsen
Mixing Reality with Animation
The filmmaker says there were various reasons she decided to combine animation with live-action and archival footage and photos. “That was the only way for me to visualize the story the way I wanted to tell it,” she explains. “To make a live-action fiction movie would be too expensive. There are also no archives or photos of the situations or happenings of what I wanted to show in my film.”
Burkovska Jacobsen began her work on the movie’s script about nine years ago. The film’s concept artist began contributing drawings for the film that same year. However, actual development didn’t start until 2014, and production began late in 2016. The team used cut-out animation in combination with some 3D and a little bit of hand-drawn animation for the opening scene of the movie. According to the director, the team had five animators overall: Krish Ābols, Kerija Arne, Toms Burāns, Neil Hammer and Arnis Zemītis. Also contributing to the movie were background artist Laima Puntule, additional character artist Harry Grundmann and storyboard artists Margarita Turauska and Roberts Cinkuss.
Looking back at the making of her movie, Burkovska Jacobsen says the most challenging aspect was figuring out her father’s storyline. “He was a member of the Communist Party because that was the only way to get something done as a leader for a community,” she explains. “He was energetic and charismatic and he accomplished so much. I still miss him, so it’s hard to explain today why he joined that Party. Still, my parents’ stories are the stories of millions of other people, who were members of the Communist Party without personally seeing themselves as Communists. The historical and political circumstances didn’t leave them any choice. That was the reality. As my mother was told, ‘Become a member or you will lose your job.’”
My Favorite War
Hedgehog, Snow White and Other Faves
Growing up, the filmmaker was deeply inspired by Yuri Norstein’s Hedgehog in the Fog. “He is still working on his upcoming project, The Cape, and the pieces I have seen are just beautiful,” she says. “I also think it is impossible to fly with your animation dreams without the wings given by Hayao Miyazaki. Spirited Away is perhaps my favorite of his films.”
Burkovska Jacobsen points out that Latvian animation was at an early stage when she was young. “We are very romantic people, and I would call our national animation in the 20th century romantic, too,” she recalls. “The Russian films were funny and very well made, but I remember specifically the feature-length Soviet version of Mowgli (The Jungle Book). When I moved to Norway, as a young student at the age of 19, I skipped lectures in university to go to the movie theaters and watch the morning screenings for children in Stavanger.”
She says she will never forget seeing Disney’s Snow White in a theater packed with screaming kindergarten kids. “I was so hungry to see more of this world that was forbidden for me as a kid,” says the director. “American animated programs were rare on Soviet TV. I do remember that every New Year, we would get a special gift on TV: an hour of Tom and Jerry cartoons. We all loved that.”
My Favorite War
The filmmaker says she didn’t learn much about art from her mother’s father, who was a painter. “I didn’t inherit his skills, neither in understanding color or in drawing,” says Burkovska Jacobsen. “The main thing I learned from him was to be critical to your own work, not to run to the public too early before you have looked at it by yourself again and again. My father’s dad was a talented oral storyteller. He was so eager to entertain people in any family gatherings with his funny stories. So I guess my need to tell other people something from my heart actually comes from him.”
Of course, like everyone else around the world, Burkovska Jacobsen’s life and career have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. “What a year!” she says. “I do believe that humans are able to communicate. We have to. We have to realize that the crisis with the virus is not only a pandemic crisis, but also a sign that we have to solve the problems of an unequal society. I’m still worried over human greed and the destructive relation to nature’s resources on our planet. To quote Fight Club, ‘We do jobs we don’t like to buy things that we don’t need.’ We need to calm down and think about what we really need.”
My Favorite War
The director says she was very happy to read the positive reviews of the movie after its debut at Annecy in June. “I feel that the audience understood my message and were able to follow all the several storylines in the film. It was a relief to read in several European languages the similar positive response, with a deep engagement in the story.”
She also hopes that My Favorite War will have a positive influence on audiences whether they see it in theaters or at home “Don’t be just a spectator in your life,” she advises. “Think about ways you can make a change for the better — even if it’s very small steps. Not all of us can be [Swedish activist] Greta Thunberg. But every tribute or support for a better world matters. Do think about some other aspects of society building. Authoritarianism is possible only if people let themselves adapt to undemocratic changes step by step. It doesn’t always start with a big radicalism in the beginning. So, be aware of those smaller changes when democracy is threatened.”
My Favorite War is part of this year’s feature lineup at the Ottawa International Animation Festival. For more info, visit myfavoritewar.com.
Ahead of the weekend’s Virtual Crunchyroll Expo, the global anime brand announced Friday that upcoming Crunchyroll Original series Onyx Equinox will premiere Saturday, November 21. The series will be dubbed in Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, French and German at launch.
To celebrate this announcement, Crunchyroll also premiered a brand-new trailer to invite fans into the world of Onyx Equinox and introduce the main characters, while revealing the English Language voice cast — which includes a mix of Latinx and up-and-coming talent.
The key cast are:
Izel: Humanity’s reluctant hero. Tasked with closing the five gates of the underworld. Voiced by Olivia Brown.
Nelli: Izel’s sister and greatest source of motivation. Voiced by series creator Sofia Alexander.
Yaotl: The jaguar-like emissary of Tezcatlipoca who accompanies Izel. Voiced by Alejandro Vargas-Lugo.
Zyanya: A warrior with a powerful ability, seeks to restore her destroyed city. Voiced by Carolina Ravassa.
Yun: K’in’s more individualistic twin. The emotional core of Izel’s group. Voiced by Patrick Pedraza.
K’in: Yun’s mischievous, risk-taking twin who often takes jokes too far. Voiced by Juan Arturo Maldonado.
Xanastaku: A priestess in Izel’s party. Desires to redeem her dark past. Voiced by Kimberly Woods.
K’i’ik, Izel’s weapon that grows by consuming blood, and Meque, a type of axolotl with mysterious, magical power, are both also voiced by Sofia Alexander.
The voice cast also features Arin Hanson as Tezcatlipoca, Castulo Guerra as Mictlantecuhtli, Zeus Mendoza as Quetzalcoatl, and Fayna Sanchez as The Healer.
Onyx EquinoxOnyx EquinoxOnyx Equinox
Onyx Equinox follows a young Aztec boy named Izel who is saved from death by the gods and is chosen to act as ‘humanity’s champion,’ forced to discard his apathy toward his fellow man and prove humanity’s potential on a journey that will take him across ancient Mesoamerica. One of many Crunchyroll Original series launching this year, the show was created by executive producer and showrunner Sofia Alexander.
Onyx Equinox
Fans can learn even more about Onyx Equinox this weekend at Virtual Crunchyroll Expo through panel discussions with the creator and staff:
RTX at Home, a virtual RTX event taking place September 15-25, announced Friday the RTX at Home Animation Festival panel lineup, presented by HBO Max. RTX at Home Animation Festival brings fans together from across the globe to celebrate the coolest and most beloved animation today.
The schedule brings together creators, writers, producers, talent and personalities from some of the most beloved animated Rooster Teeth shows to share exclusive reveals from their series, announcements and more. In addition, panels like “I Am Woman, Hear Me Perform!” will take a closer look at the undeniable forces that diversity, equity and inclusion have on animation today.
RTX at Home Animation Festival will stream live on RoosterTeeth.com and Rooster Teeth apps. RTX at Home Animation Festival is presented by HBO Max, the new streaming platform from WarnerMedia that offers 10,000 hours of powerhouse programming for everyone in the home.
RTX at Home Animation Festival Schedule
RTX at Home Animation Festival programming schedule:
RWBY | Wednesday, September 16, 12:00 PM CT | Join the cast and crew of RWBY for exclusive sneak peeks at Volume 8 and first looks at products from the expanding RWBY universe! Writers and directors Kerry Shawcross, Miles Luna and Eddy Rivas and joined by lead producer Laura Yates and lead voice actresses Lindsay Jones (Ruby Rose), Kara Eberle (Weiss Schnee), Barbara Dunkelman (Yang Xiao Long) and Arryn Zech (Blake Belladonna).
RWBY: The Grimm Campaign | Thursday, September 17, 1:00 PM CT | Dungeons & Dragons meets RWBY in this new series from Rooster Teeth. Catch up with the hosts as they chat about how the series came to life and why they love D&D so much!
Death Battle | Thursday, September 17, 3:00 PM CT | IT’S TIME FOR DEATH BATTLE PANEL! Join Wiz and Boomstick in this panel where we explore the wonderfully gorey world that is Death Battle. From research to animation to bloopers to commentary, delve deeper with the creators of your favorite battles and get a look at what’s to come!
RWBY & gen:LOCK x Scholastic: Meet the Authors | Friday, September 18, 1:30 PM CT | Meet with the authors of the new young-adult novelsRWBY: Fairy Tales of Remnantand genLOCK: Storm Warning. Hear the inspiration behind the books with surprising secrets to be revealed!
Recorded by Arizal | Monday, September 21, 4:00 PM CT | Learn about the world of Maktaba through Arizal’s eyes as she records her journey into adulthood. Come for exclusive never-before-seen content and start your journey of discovery with us.
Red vs. Blue: Zero to Sixty | Tuesday, September 22, 1:00 PM CT | Red vs. Blue just. Won’t. QUIT! Come join us as we race into the latest season! Ride shotgun with the cast and crew behind Red vs. Blue: Zero.
Backwardz Compatible | Tuesday, September 22, 3:00 PM CT | Join Kyle Taylor, Miles Luna, Sam Mitchell and Cole Gallian as they entertain you and answer some questions.
RTAA | Wednesday, September 23, 12:00 PM CT W| hile we know you’d love to learn more about the extensive animation process that goes into crafting each episode of RTAA, honestly we’re just here to have a good time. Join us as we show you weird videos and gab about the crappy art style.
I Am Woman, Hear Me Perform! | Wednesday, September 23, 1:00 PM CT | Women in Animation Austin presents a panel on voice acting in animation featuring professional voice actresses from the varied world of animation and games! Join them to learn more about the voice acting profession and how these women made their careers in entertainment. Featuring G.K. Bowes (Street Fighter V, gen:LOCK), Christine Marie Cabanos (Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion, Recorded by Arizal), Monica Rial (Dragon Ball Super, gen:LOCK), Kdin Jenzen (RWBY) and more, moderated by Chastity Vicencio, Senior Producer at Gamespot.
Recreyo Live | Wednesday, September 23, 4:00 PM CT | From animation creator Cypherden comes Recreyo! In this live animated series, a group of friends are thrown into a brand new scenario where they have to survive — and a live audience gets to decide what happens!
I Have Notes: On RTX | Thursday, September 24, 4:30 PM CT | I Have Notes features members of the Rooster Teeth Animation team as they discuss creativity in the animation industry, their upcoming projects, and what they’ve done so far. Join us for a live recording of this animation podcast!
Fans of powerful documentaries that use animation to tell some or part of their stories can look forward to screening Oscar-winning filmmaker Barbara Kopple’s latest work Desert One. In this fascinating look at the U.S. secret mission to free the hostages of the 1979 Iranian revolution, Kopple (American Dream, Shut Up & Sing!, Harlan County, USA) uses interviews with the likes of President Jimmy Carter, VP Walter Mondale and journalist Ted Koppel, archival footage and animation to bring this chapter of modern history to life. We had a chance to chat with the film’s New York-based animation director Zartosht Soltani (Fahrenheit 9/11, Hamilton’s America, Some Girls) about how he helped bring the acclaimed filmmaker’s vision to animated life.
Animag: Can you tell me how and when you got involved with the Desert One project?
Zartosht Soltani: In the spring of 2019, Eric Forman called and told me that he was producing a documentary with Barbara Kopple about Desert One, known as Operation Eagle Claw. Since I’m Iranian and grew up with the story, they thought it would be right up my alley.
How long did it take to deliver the animation?
The plan was to finish it in three months, but as is the nature of good documentary movies, with lots of research, there were details that had to be changed to reflect new facts and aspects of the story mid-production. I remember the night before delivery the team discovered the exact line up of helicopters when they landed at Desert One, and I had it all wrong and so changed the whole sequence at the last moment. I knew the documentary was going to be on the History Channel, after all, and it had to be accurate. I have to admit I don’t know what I would do without Francisco Bello, the editor and writer who worked around the clock with me and put everything together including the sound design for the animated sections.
What about this movie captured your interest?
Everything about the movie sparkled for me. I always wanted to know the true story and what really happened that night, and I was happy to have the opportunity to work with one of the pioneers in documentary filmmaking and her great team at Cabin Creek.
How did you work with Barbara Kopple?
Barbara, like any good director, has a very clear vision and is very detail-oriented. But at the same time, she is very calm and cool. There were a few times that I was in a complete panic mode and called the office and babbled for five minutes, and then she would just say one sentence in a very chill tone and everything felt calm again. I was also amazed that she always asked everyone’s opinion no matter their role, and often held screenings to get input from everyone. It was a great experience working with her.
What was this assignment’s biggest challenge for you?
It was coming up with the style and the look. We went back and forth for a long time to get it right. There was not a single photo or any footage from the event. We had to recreate everything based on a bunch of black and white infographics from military records, and a few blurry old photos from the crew from roughly the same time. For example, one of the characters always had the same hat and jacket on and says he wore them on the night of Desert One. That’s all we knew, so we had to build everything around that, but couldn’t be too specific at risk of it not being accurate.
Every time I came up with a sophisticated or graphic style, it was losing its real and believable feel. I had the same problem with making the design too rough or sketchy. So, reaching somewhere in between was very challenging. Thankfully I thought of Sid Fini, a storyboard artist and illustrator, and a friend, who came to my rescue and did most of the characters’ pencil. His style was exactly what Barbara wanted.
Another challenge was the animation. We didn’t have the time or budget to do fully animated sections, so we had to use lots of camera moves and effects rather than character animation. There was a lot of back and forth with the talented Jeff Nelson and later Tibo Charroppin, who helped me with compositing and created effects like dust and explosions to keep the shots exciting.
Desert One
How did you use your own personal experience of growing up in Tehran to bring the animation to life?
Growing up in Tehran, I had the chance to travel to the desert of Iran and had a sense for the colors and mood of the environment. And of course I am familiar with the culture – buses, clothing, people, etc. I lived there half of my life.
Also, every annual anniversary of the event was a national celebration in Iran, so I grew up seeing lots of images and movies about it. It was part of our lives. And the official narrative was a twisted version, in which “The Great Satan” tried to free its agents and god sent sandstorms to stop it, based on one of the Quran stories. I was forced to illustrate scenes of the event in school. They used to hang pictures students drew in the hallways with balloons, ribbons, glitter, and cheap but spooky decorations like small models of crashed helicopters and burned soldiers made from clay.
I always knew it was baloney, but it was dark and twisted and I hated to be a part of it. So, learning the facts and doing it right this time was very interesting for me.
What is your take on using animation in documentary films?
I think it’s a very helpful tool for documentary makers if needed. I’ve been working with FlickerLab, one of the few remaining animation studios based in NYC, for the last 15 years on and off, and they are known for creating animation for so many award-winning documentaries. My first experience there was working on a Michael Moore movie, and it was when I really understood how useful animation is when you don’t have much footage or pictures to recreate the story or when you need to explain something complicated in a very audience friendly way. I think Desert One is a great example of this.
What do you hope audiences will get out of this film?
Obviously, the true story. It’s been obscured for a long time. And there are audio recordings and documents in the movie that have been released to the public for the first time. But I personally think that the message of the movie isn’t only about shedding light on a political conspiracy or mystery. It’s a human story. It’s about all these people and heroes caught in the middle of a disaster created by politicians from both sides, Iranians and Americans. Even the pilots and the soldiers involved didn’t know what was truly going on or the politics behind it all. It’s the story of life and survival and chaos.
What are you working on next?
I’m excited about some little political cartoons I’m working on. I might be able to release one every two or three weeks as I work on them between jobs.
Desert One
The film’s editor Francisco Bello also shared some of this thoughts on the movie with us:
Animag: When did you decide to incorporate animation in the documentary?
Francisco Bello: We knew coming in that the film was about the U.S. Special Operations’ covert mission to rescue the hostages held in the U.S. Embassy and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Tehran, during what is now called the Iran Hostage Crisis. Documentaries like this usually rely on a combination of first-person accounts supplied by original interviews alongside rich archival footage, sound and images from a variety of sources. But we were making a film, and it’s a visual medium.
The producers and researchers working in the U.S. and abroad secured incredible first person accounts. In terms of archival we had a lot of material taking place before the mission, and after it. But we had practically nothing during the mission, because by definition of it being a covert operation all conventional documentation ceased the moment the aircraft took flight. So we had a major visual problem to solve; how do we take the audience, blow by blow, through the edge-of-your-seat accounts of the people who lived the events at Desert One? Not only did we have to offer up visuals that didn’t exist, we had to reconstruct the events as accurately as possible from the available record, all the while making it as riveting as it deserved to be, because it’s a Barbara Kopple film! This is where animation, and our incredible animator Zartosht Soltani and his team came into the picture.
Desert One
What were the pluses and minuses of including animation in Desert One?
This is neither a plus nor a minus, but we had to work within strict limitations. We didn’t have a big animation budget to cover the considerable amount of screen time needed to reconstruct the events of Desert One, but that ultimately wasn’t a bad thing. We just had to be resourceful about how we approached it. We also had the visual style provided by the elements we already had at our disposal: the documentary footage shot by our crew, and the archival footage from the time period. The animation had to be a part of that visual ecosystem; it couldn’t stick out.
In addition to the Desert One sequence, we also have a kind of “explainer” section in the film, which outlines the full rescue mission as worked out by the CIA and U.S. military. So we knew that in a film that was to deploy an ambitious rescue mission as a climactic set piece, we also had license to use animation to convey the full scope of the military’s plan. It was ultimately done in a different style, but with Ryan Sears and the talented folks at Big Sky Edit, this sequence was approached to ensure that it would be in step stylistically with the rest of the film, while maintaining our attention to historical accuracy. At the end of the day, any film by Barbara Kopple is going to take you on an emotional ride, and the sum total of these diverse parts is a documentary thriller unlike many you’ll see.
How did you work with Zartosht to create the required animation in the movie?
For the Desert One sequence, the first step was articulating the beats of the rescue sequence using the primary source interviews and the limited archival material we could include on screen. This first phase took weeks to get right, but that initial result was something between a script and a radio piece: almost entirely dialogue driven, some music and sound effects to convey mood and movement, but with accompanying text blocking out the absent visual beats.
Working from those initial parameters, scene by scene and shot by shot, Zartosht and Syd Fini started with storyboards that I would cut into the timeline. Barbara was then able to respond to the materials and direct us towards heightening the details that mattered most, and stripping away everything else. And in this general manner Zartosht, working alongside Jeff Nelson and Tibo Charroppin, moved from rough boards to more articulated drawings, to color, motion timing, effects and other adjustments as the sequences came together.
In the end, I’m proud to have played a part in this process with Barbara, Zartosht, and the teams at Cabin Creek Films, History and Big Sky Edit. That we’ve received compliments from the people that were bore witness to the events depicted in the film is the greatest affirmation one can hope for.
Desert One will be available to stream on Amazon Prime and Apple on September 4. For more info, visit www.desertonemovie.com.
***UPDATE Sept. 4: Nickelodeon removes Made by Maddie from schedule; article updated with statement from Nickelodeon.
In what should have been a positive moment for onscreen diversity in animation, Nick Jr. revealed its new CG-animated preschool series Made By Maddieon Monday — which centers on a young Black girl who uses her love of fashion to solve problems — but fans online instead felt like they were seeing double. Twitter users quickly pointed out the similarity of Maddie and her family’s character designs to Matthew A. Cherry’s acclaimed, Oscar-winning 2D short Hair Love, which started with a groundswell Kickstarter campaign and is now being turned into its own series for HBO Max.
While the short and upcoming Young Love series are thematically different from the Nick Jr. series, which is created by kids’ content veteran Paula Rosenthal and produced by Silvergate Media (The Octonauts, Sunny Day), the characters bear striking similarities. Both families comprise a little daughter wearing her hair in an updo with a pink accessory, a mom with natural curls and a dad with dreadlocks. There are small differences (for example, Hair Love‘s Zuri wears a bow, Maddie wears a tied headband), but even Cherry raised a virtual eyebrow at Maddie’s grey-and-white cat.
“It’s wild. Coulda been a dog, fish, anything,” the director wrote in a Twitter exchange with writer/comedian/actress Quinta Brunson (A Black Lady Sketch Show).
Made by Maddie / Hair Love
Online commentators repeatedly expressed that the studio appeared to be profiting off the original work of Black artists without hiring Black creatives (Maddie and her family are all voiced by Black actors, but how many BIPOC worked on the show is an open question). Many also expressed that they had initially thought Cherry was involved in the show.
A representative of Nickelodeon reached out to Animation Magazine Friday morning with a statement from the network, breaking the news that Made by Maddie has been pulled from Nick’s programming schedule for the time being:
“Made by Maddie is a show we acquired several years ago from Silvergate Media, a renowned production company we have previously worked with on other series. Since announcing the show’s premiere date this week, we have been listening closely to the commentary, criticism and concern coming from both viewers and members of the creative community.
“In response, and out of respect to all voices in the conversation, we are removing the show from our schedule as we garner further insight into the creative journey of the show. We are grateful to Silvergate Media for all of their work. And we hold Matthew A. Cherry and the wonderful and inspiring Hair Love in the highest regard.”
Made by Maddie was initially announced as Fashion Allyin 2018, with no mention of Black lead characters — although a Black family was at the core of the concept by September 2017 according to a script excerpt and character descriptions provided to Los Angeles Times by Silvergate. These include reference for the dad’s look being inspired by Black List founder Franklin Leonard. The studio also provided the Times with sketches of the whole family (and cat) dated September, October and November 2018, and another un-timestamped image of Ally/Maddie which they say is from 2015.
The Kickstarter for Hair Love, featuring character art by author-illustrator Vashti Harrison, launched in July 2017, with production beginning January 2018 after a record-breaking fundraising campaign. Cherry and co-director Everett Downing Jr.’s story of a Black father struggling to tame his daughter’s hair — which seems to have a mind of its own — won over animation icons Bruce W. Smith (Proud Family creator), Peter Ramsey (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse co-director) and animator Frank Abney, who came on board as exec producers, and viral buzz helped the short get picked up by Sony Pictures Animation in 2019, produced by Karen Rupert Toliver. Lion Forge Animation — the toon division of the pioneering Black-owned comics studio — soon joined as a co-producer, making the short its debut project. The film debuted in front of SPA’s The Angry Birds Movie 2 in August the same year.
This isn’t the first time that a copycat controversy has affected the animation community, and certainly won’t be the last — especially as a more connected world allows fans to sniff out international imitators and artists have not only a platform to defend their creations, but plenty of easily found receipts. But in a year that has seen a surge in the Black Lives Matter movement and greater pushes for inclusive, diverse storytelling and representation — as when voice actors stepped away from voicing Black characters earlier this year — one wonders how fashion-focused Maddie will fix this bad look.
Shout! Factory, a multi-platform media company, and Anime Limited, the esteemed U.K. distributor of animation, have announced a new North American entertainment distribution partnership for the highly sought-after anime series, Bartender.
The announcement was made today by Melissa Boag, Senior Vice President of Family Entertainment at Shout! Factory, and Andrew Partridge, Founder and CEO of Anime Limited.
Bartender takes place in a lone bar hidden in the backstreets of Tokyo’s Ginza district called Eden Hall, where prodigy mixologist Ryuu Sasakura is said to craft the most incredible cocktails anyone has ever tasted. However, not just anyone can pop into Eden Hall for a drink — Eden Hall must find you. As customers of all different backgrounds find their way into the bar to pour out their particular troubles, Ryuu also knows the right cocktail recipe to console and guide them.
This charming anthology series that brims with captivating slice-of-life narratives and scrumptious-looking anime was directed by Masaki Watanabe (Battle Spirits, Bakumatsu, KADO – The Right Answer), written by Yasuhiro Imagawa (Giant Robo the Animation) and produced by Palm Studios. Based on the best-selling Japanese manga series by Araki Joh and illustrated by Kenji Nagatomo, Bartender was adapted into an anime series in 2006 and a live-action Japanese television drama in 2011.
The multi-year distribution alliance provides Shout! Factory with distribution rights to Bartender, including digital, video-on-demand, broadcast and home entertainment for cross-platform releases in the U.S. and Canada. Shout! Factory, in collaboration with Anime Limited, plans to bring this coveted anime series to the entertainment marketplace early 2021, with a set release plan for a special 15th Anniversary multi-disc Collector’s Edition Blu-ray set and a digital launch across major entertainment platforms.
“We’ve been enjoying our on-going collaboration and couldn’t be more excited about this new opportunity with Anime Limited. This truly unique and highly entertaining anime series is a very exciting addition to our anime library. We look forward to bringing Bartender Collector’s Edition to fans and collectors in North America.”
“We’re excited to once again be working with Shout! Factory to distribute another one of our great home video releases in North America. Bartender is a special title and we’re thrilled to bring our Collector’s Edition to fans in the U.S. and Canada – an edition that shows a lot of love to a hidden gem of a series.”
Greetings, dear readers. Animation Magazine will be closed Monday, September 7 in observance of Labor Day in the U.S. We hope you and yours are able to enjoy the weekend in good health and safety. Mask up, grab an icy beverage, and make a toast to those trade union and labor movement radicals who paved the way.
Animag will be back posting and the weekday newsletter on Tuesday, Sept. 8.
Animoca Brands and its subsidiary The Sandbox, a leading decentralized gaming virtual world, announced today it is partnering with Cloudco Entertainment, the owner, content producer and global distributor of the Care Bears intellectual property, to bring the Care Bears and their Care-a-Lot world to The Sandbox metaverse.
Through the agreement, The Sandbox players will be able to explore a virtual Care-a-Lot setting as well as purchase Care Bears-themed in-game content for use in their own game worlds.
The Sandbox is building a unique virtual world where players can build, own and monetize their gaming experiences using NFTs (non-fungible tokens) and $SAND, the main utility token of the platform. $SAND was recently launched via Binance, the global blockchain company behind the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume. The Sandbox’s vision is to offer a deeply immersive metaverse in which virtual worlds and games will be created collaboratively and without central authority.
The Sandbox has secured over 50 partnerships — including Care Bears, Atari, CryptoKitties and Shaun the Sheep — to build a fun, creative “play-to-earn” platform that offers virtual worlds and game experiences owned and created by players.
The platform consists of three main components: the VoxEdit NFT builder for building game Assets, the Marketplace for buying and selling Assets and the Game Maker tool where complete interactive games can be constructed and shared without any programming knowledge. Together, these components offer rich, easy-to-create virtual worlds and game experiences in addition to the ability to safely store, trade, and monetize creations through blockchain, allowing creators to benefit from their creations.
“We’re pleased to welcome the Care Bears license into The Sandbox virtual world, inviting family-friendly entertainment brands that our players have grown up with to participate in the next digital revolution where virtual worlds are 100% made, governed, and owned by players,” said Sebastien Borget, COO & Co-Founder of The Sandbox. “We are creating an appealing gaming metaverse that aims at attracting mainstream gamers and creators through their favorite brands, to build great experiences.”
Under the terms of the new agreement, Cloudco will receive large digital spaces, known as Lands, in the gaming metaverse. On these Lands, a 3D voxelized version of the Care Bears’ Care-a-Lot kingdom will be made available to players when The Sandbox publicly launches later this year. Furthermore, Cloudco and The Sandbox have the right to produce and distribute Care Bears-inspired collectible in-game Assets for game creators to use in their own games, tokenized on the blockchain as non-fungible tokens.
Players will be able to explore a virtual Care-a-Lot setting, complete with Care Bears-themed environment, attractions, games and buildings with which to interact. The Sandbox is designed to support deeply immersive gaming experiences that can be shared socially, and players will be able to meet and chat in The Sandbox Care-a-Lot world using their avatars, in addition to playing together.
“We look forward to bringing the Care Bears into a new gaming universe and creating a new generation of family entertainment experiences,” said Sean Gorman, President of Cloudco Entertainment. “Working with The Sandbox team to build an authentic Care-a-Lot in the metaverse will allow Care Bears fans to interact with the world and each other in a fun and imaginative virtual theme park setting.”
The Care Bears were created and launched in 1982 at American Greetings, Greetings, inspired by the hand-painted artwork of master illustrator Elena Kucharik. Since their debut, the Care Bears have brought the values of caring and sharing to hundreds of millions of children and adults via their animated TV series Care Bears: Unlock the Magic and new YouTube-first show Care Bears: Unlock the Music.
This partnership also aligns with the relaunch of Care Bears toys with a new master toy partner, Basic Fun! The new toy line initially sold out online and in-store at Walmart and has experienced successful roll-outs at Target, Amazon and a number of other leading online and brick-and-mortar retailers across the U.S., U.K. and Canada.
The Sandbox
The Sandbox will offer a persistent, interactive virtual metaverse — a 3D universe created by players and secured through blockchain technology. Lands are the unique digital locations in this universe where players can build and monetize games. They are the fundamental building blocks upon which game Assets (items and scripting) can be imported to create original interactive experiences. Lands can be combined into larger groupings (Estates) to permit more ambitious game experiences.
With 40 million downloads and over one million monthly active users, The Sandbox game franchise is one of the world’s largest independent user-generated content and gaming platforms. The upcoming 3D based blockchain version – which introduces new creative and commercial possibilities by allowing users to create 3D items and gaming worlds from the digital equivalent of building blocks – has been named one of the top 10 most anticipated blockchain games globally and one of the Top 50 Blockchain Gaming companies in the world (source: BlockchainGamer.biz).
The enchanting world of Master Moley and friends, featuring an all-star cast, is set to charm young viewers and families in over 100 countries across EMEA following a new deal with WarnerMedia, which brings the animated tale to leading children’s platform Boomerang and select free-to-air channels.
The deal, struck by Dominic Gardiner at Jetpack Distribution, will see the animation’s 30-minute family special, Master Moley By Royal Invitation, head to the channel from November 2020. The acquisition of the brand-new 52 x 11′ series, The Misadventures of Master Moley, will continue the adventures of Master Moley and friends on Boomerang in 2021.
“From the moment I first saw Master Moley, I loved the show,” said Gardiner. “The moles are loveable, charming, and relatable characters with huge appeal for kids and families globally. The style of the animation is timeless, and I personally love that it’s a passion project based on James’ stories and powered by his vision and creativity. Master Moley has a real star quality and, of course, a stellar cast. At Jetpack, we look for heart and humour in the animated series we acquire, and the series offers both in abundance.”
Created by British entrepreneur James Reatchlous, Master Moley is based upon an original idea conceived as an imaginative bedtime story for his children. The animation centers on the adventurous mole, who lives deep in a burrow under Windsor Castle in the bustling city of MoleTown and is the keeper of a magical book which has the power to bring peace between humans and moles. The colorful, heart-warming tale follows Master Moley and his friends on adventurous missions, encapsulating a sense of discovery and humor, wrapped in the warmth and comfort of family life.
“The story of Master Moley simply started as a bedtime story for my daughters, but it has been wonderful to see the character brought to life by so many incredible people – from the creative team to the fantastic cast,” said Reatchlous. “I couldn’t be happier that so many young viewers will be introduced to Master Moley, and I hope they get as much enjoyment from the stories as my own children did.”
The uplifting family animation, aimed at ages four and upwards, features an award-winning cast including Warwick Davis (Harry Potter, Star Wars, Moominvalley), Julie Walters (Mamma Mia!, Harry Potter, Billy Elliot), Gemma Arterton (Their Finest, Quantum of Solace), Richard E. Grant (Can You Ever Forgive Me?, Horrid Henry: The Movie), Togo Igawa (Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, Thomas & Friends) and Charles Dance (Game of Thrones, The Crown, Gosford Park).
Produced by British animation production company Nottage Productions, which produces high-end animation for film and television, both the 30-minute special and the series are being produced by Tony Nottage, and executive produced by creator James Reatchlous and Warwick Davis, who voices the titular character. The special is directed by Leon Joosen (The Little Mermaid, Scooby Doo, Aliens in the Attic), written by Ricky Roxburgh (Tangled: The Series, Spy Kids: Mission Critical) and Arthur Landon (Side by Side, Idle-Hands), with animation services provided by Cosmo-Giantwheel and a musical score from award-winning composer Lorne Balfe (The LEGO Batman Movie, The Crown).
“It has been a wonderful experience bringing Master Moley to life. He is such a delightful and endearing character, and the whole world of MoleTown is enchanting,” said Davis. “It is incredibly exciting that our moles have found a home on Boomerang, and to be able to share Master Moley’s adventures with audiences is a joy.”
Master Moley By Royal Invitation has been completed and is set for release from November across EMEA on Boomerang. The special introduces viewers to the secret world of moles and to Master Moley, as he becomes the keeper of a magical book and makes his first trip to The Great Above to seek help from the Queen of England. The half-hour adventure has already created buzz with audiences through touring the short film festival circuit in 2019, picking up several awards at the Latitude Film Festival, LA Independent Short Film Awards and Global Shorts Awards.
The full series,The Misadventures of Master Moley, which will introduce viewers to new characters and the wider hidden world of MoleTown, is set to go into production later this year. The writing team includes Ricky Roxburgh, who returns on the series, alongside Bart Coughlin (Alvinnn!!! And the Chipmunks), Todd Ludy (Wacky Races), Leanna Dindall (Tangled: The Series), David Schiff (That ’70s Show, Tangled: The Series) and Tony Nottage, who have been developing the series storylines during lockdown through a virtual writers’ room.
Novel Entertainment is debuting its brand new long-form animated special Horrid Henry’s Gross Day Out on the service in the U.K. on September 17. Netflix has also taken worldwide VOD rights for the 65’ action-adventure film which will roll out globally later this year.
This new Netflix Branded Original follows the successful launch of animated special Horrid Henry’s Wild Weekend on Netflix U.K. in June this year.
Horrid Henry’s Gross Day Out is written and produced by Novel’s Lucinda Whiteley and executive produced by Mike Watts, with Gary Andrews as animation director, Jim Andrews as editor and music composed by Lester Barnes. The special features the same voice cast as the award-winning TV series and also welcomes new characters created by Whiteley, in the form of the Gross Class Zero superheroes, alongside the villainous Evil Emperor and his twins Darius and Drusilla Drek.
Gross Class Zero, widely known to be Henry’s most favorite program ever, features five “Grossers” leading double lives as students at Stand Up School and as top-secret agents. Under the watchful eye of their teacher, Miss Nesta Clutterbuck, they snot, bogey, fart, burp and zitgoo their way through their mission to save the Known Universe, with a unique combination of common sense, no-nonsense know how and sheer grossness.
“We are thrilled by Netflix’s continued support of Horrid Henry who has a legion of fans both in the U.K. and internationally,” said Watts, Co-Founder of Novel Ent. “We look forward to showcasing Henry in this longer-form content which enables us to expand his world and adventures even more. This is the first in a series of one-hour Horrid Henry specials.”
Whiteley explains, “As always, Henry’s got his Saturday all planned out: lying on the sofa watching back to back episodes of his favourite superhero TV show while babysitter Martin is lost in a world of his own. But even the best laid plans can go wrong, and soon Henry finds himself battling alongside the Grossers to stop the Dreks taking over the known (and unknown) universe. When Peter and Margaret get involved, the pressure is on as they race to banish the baddies before Mum gets back from the shops!”
In addition to the new animated specials, Novel has a raft of newly created content output, produced under the banner of Horrid Henry Unlocked and designed to offer a familiar and reassuring environment for fans, especially during the current crisis.
Alongside the recently launched Horrid Henry podcast, new material produced since the start of the pandemic includes Horrid Homework, a program of daily activities for children available free on Henry’s website, and more than 150 freshly created songs, videos and behind the scenes content and interviews, livestreamed on Henry’s YouTube channel. Content includes a Back To School bespoke playlist created with Oxfordshire Kindness Wave and the Oxfordshire Virtual School and a series of shorts which is helping to raise awareness of the NSPCC’s Childline service.
At the end of August Novel created the first ever Summer of Slime Virtual Festival; this featured a combination of live performances and exclusive offers and interactions on Henry’s social media channels, with an accompanying free activity book. Partners included StartRite, Learning Resources, Jaques Games, Deckchair Adventures and Grass and Air.
Novel’s four-time BAFTA-nominated Horrid Henry is one of the biggest children’s animated shows ever in the U.K. The fifth season is currently on air in the U.K., and Novel is in pre-production on a sixth series. The brand is at the heart of a successful licensing and merchandising programme and also includes film, stage, radio and online extensions.
Season 5 is currently airing on Netflix U.K. and on Nickelodeon and Nicktoons U.K. & Ireland. A total of 250 episodes are now available, with recent sales including MBC (Middle East), Alati International (Russia), Atlantic Digital Networks (Canada), TG4 (Ireland), Amazon Prime Video (India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka), P&P (Bosnia), Produkcija (Slovenia), Kids Network (Latvia, Estonia) and Emirates (U.A.E & Middle East). Renewals include Turner Broadcasting System (Asia Pacific), Mediacorp (Singapore), POP TV (Slovenia), E-Vision (Middle East), Asiana (Korea) and Netflix (U.S., Canada, France, India, Russia, Australia, New Zealand, Iceland, Belgium).
The agreement with Netflix was made with Novel and VOD distributor The Movie Partnership.
NCBUniversal’s Peacock streaming service is expanding its kids’ programming selection with the debut of a charming new feature-length adventure on the range for the beloved children’s book character. In addition to the premiere of Curious George: Go West, Go Wild on September 8, Peacock will be home to a robust collection of animated films, seasonal specials starring the mischievous monkey, as well as the Curious George TV series seasons 1-9.
Synopsis: Curious George is back in the saddle and ready for adventure in his exciting new movie — Go West, Go Wild. George and Ted travel to cousin Ginny’s farm for a relaxing outdoor weekend, but plans take a turn when her farm animals escape into the wild blue yonder. With the help of Emmett, a friendly farmhand with cowboy dreams, the group sets out to track the herd through the countryside, camp outdoors, fish for their dinner, and stumble into a ghost town! Featuring a spirited new score and original songs, this unforgettable story proves that anything is possible when you believe in yourself.
Go West, Go Wild is directed by Michael LaBash (Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch) from a screenplay by Jana Howington & Sherri Stoner. Deirdre Brenner is the producer, with executive producers Ron Howard, Brian Grazer, David Kirschner and Jon Shapiro. Voice stars are Frank Welker and Jeff Bennett, with casting and voice directing by Wes Gleason.
The original movie’s soundtrack features “The Other Side” by global recording artist Yuna. This is the first time in the history of Curious George films that a song is performed by a female vocalist. Other highlights include original songs written by Michele Brourman & Amanda McBroom and score by Germaine Franco. The soundtrack will be released day and date with the film release on Peacock.
Curious George: Go West, Go Wild will also be available on Digital & DVD via Universal Pictures Home Entertainment in winter 2020.
In honor of Curious George’s birthday this month, Peacock is celebrating “Curiosity Month” by unwrapping delightful additions to its Curious George Collection:
Joining Peacock Original Go West, Go Wild, three more movies debut Sept. 20 — Curious George, Curious George 2: Follow That Monkey! and Curious George 3: Back to the Jungle — as well as seasonal TV specials Curious George: A Halloween Boo Fest and Curious George: A Very Monkey Christmas.
Also on Sept. 20, seasons 1-9 of Curious George will join Peacock’s current offering of seasons 10-12, along with select episodes from season 13, which debuted as Peacock Originals earlier this year.
First introduced to the world of children’s literacy over 75 years ago, Curious George was created by Margret and H.A. Rey in 1941 and remains one of the most beloved children’s classics of all-time. The animated series targets preschool viewers and follows the adventures of everyone’s favorite monkey and his insatiable curiosity to bring delightful antics, gentle humor and heartfelt emotion to each fun-filled episode. With a focus on education, the Emmy Award-winning program incorporates early concepts in math, science, technology and engineering and encourages children to use their imagination and expand their own investigations of the world.
