Amazon brings British Bear Hunt toon to US

Amazon Prime Video has acquired exclusive US streaming rights to British animated special We’re Going on a Bear Hunt.

The 25-minute film aired on UK terrestrial Channel 4 on Christmas Eve (December 24) last year and attracted eight million views – the network’s highest-rated programme of 2016.

The Michael Rosen- and Helen Oxenbury-created toon, which UK indie Lupus Films produced, with Bear Hunt Films, Herrick Entertainment and Walker Productions associate producers. Europe’s Creative Europe – MEDIA programme also supported Bear Hunt with financing.

Over in India, Amazon Prime Video has partnered with Only Much Louder (OML) in a long-term agreement that will initially see 14 stand-up specials from top Indian comedians exclusively distributed on the SVOD platform globally.

The specials will debut in May, and are aimed at claiming the Indian stand-up comedy space for Amazon, which has made a huge commissioning push in India over recent months as it battles for subscriptions with Netflix and local services such as Hooq.

Comedians featured include Sapan Verma, Sorabh Pant, Kanan Gill, Kenny Sebastian, Zakir Khan and Biswa Kalyan Rath.

“We want to change the way customers consume entertainment by bringing this fantastic collection by OML’s best comedy talent to Prime members exclusively and on-demand,” said Nitesh Kripalani, director and country head, Amazon Prime Video India.