Disney Junior gets first Original Movie

Work has begun on Disney Junior’s first Original Movie, a music-themed animated telefilm about a rubber duck.

The Original Movie format has been one of Disney Channel’s most successful brands, launching the likes of High School Musical, and the franchise is now spread to the younger skewing Disney Junior network.

Canadian studio Nelvana is producing Lucky Duck, which follows a “plucky rubber ducky named Lucky” (Borle) who, after accidentally being tossed off a cargo ship, sets off to find perfect home.

The movie is slated to premiere in summer 2014 on Disney Junior in the US and thereafter on Disney Junior channels around the world.

Joe D’Ambrosia, Disney Junior’s VP, original programming, said: “We’re eager to introduce young kids and their parents to our first Disney Junior Original Movie, an exciting adventure with a heart-warming message about never giving up, despite all odds. We hope that this new TV movie format will create an even stronger family viewing destination to further deliver on our brand promise of imaginative characters and storytelling with heart.”

Lucky Duck is written by Michael G. Stern (Imagination Movers), and executive produced by Nelvana’s Irene Weibel and Colin Bohm.