Code Lyoko Evolution

The show: Code Lyoko Evolution
The producers: Moonscoop, Canal J, France Télévisions
The distributor: Moonscoop
Airing: Canal J, France Télévisions
Concept: Fifth season of the successful show with live action elements for the first time

The Code Lyoko series stretches to almost a hundred episodes and was first produced ten years ago. The most noticeable difference with the new show is that, for the first time, it has live-action elements. The series follows a group of teens in a boarding school who can enter a parallel universe called Lyoko and it is this world that is animated in the new show. In the previous series the two worlds were delineated by 2D and CGI animation.

“Season four ended in 2008 and since that moment we have received requests from fans for new episodes,” says Lionel Marty, president, worldwide distribution at Moonscoop, which is launching the new series internationally at MIPJunior. “Code Lyoko is a very deep and broad story and that drives interest. There’s a real appetite for new episodes and we asked how we should do it; we came naturally to decide to replace the 2D scenes with live shooting for the sections set in the real world. It brings it to a new level and we were thinking that the audience has grown up with the show so it would be a good fit for them.”

The €6.5 million show skews slightly older accordingly and there is more emphasis on the sitcom-type elements in the boarding school, but is still largely made for 6-to-10s. The show is half live-action and half animation with the former segments shot in French and being dubbed into English.

The show starts delivering in September and buyers will be able to see a full episode at MIPJunior. Canal J and France Télévisions are coproducers and Marty says that Cartoon Network in the US is looking at the series. Broadcasters who took the original series include RTV, Rai and Radio Canada.