‘Dodger’ heads up CBBC slate CBBC, UK pubcaster BBC’s children’s channel, has commissioned a slew of new original shows, headlined by Dodger, a prequel to Charles Dickens’ iconic novel Oliver Twist. The 10 x 45-minute family adventure is produced by NBCUniversal International Studios and will follows the exploits of the infamous pickpocket, The Artful Dodger, and Fagin’s […]
Indian animation firm Discreet Arts has opened a US office and hired former Technicolor exec Steven Wendland to run it. Wendland becomes president at the LA-based arm of Discreet Arts, with a remit to expand the company’s 2D and CGI-animated work-for-hire services for children’s and family content. He is also tasked with developing and producing original […]
Undeniably, 2016 was the year digital platforms established themselves as key kids entertainment market gamechangers. “Netflix, without a doubt” was the network that made the biggest impression across the year, says Halle Stanford, executive VP of children’s entertainment at The Jim Henson Company. Many others agree with her – Andrew Cole-Bulgin of Komixx Media Group […]
Streaming giant Netflix has taken US rights to CG-animated adventure series The Deep. The show will begin streaming on the SVOD platform on June 1 following a deal with distributor DHX Media. The Deep is an underwater adventure series following a family of explorers who investigate the depths of the ocean. Technicolor, the show’s underlying […]
Comcast-owned movie ticketing firm Fandango is to launch a transactional VOD service on March 30 after acquiring the M-GO platform earlier this year. US-based Fandango will rebrand M-GO as FandangoNOW, which will offer “massive library of new release and catalogue movies from all major studios and next-day TV shows for purchase and rental”. FandangoNOW, billed […]
Comcast-owned movie ticket service Fandango has reportedly acquired movie-streaming service M-GO for an undisclosed fee. Fandango announced the deal Friday in a move that will see it bundle film tickets with digital content, according to various US reports. M-GO is a joint venture between Technicolor and DreamWorks Animation. The transactional video-on-demand service offers new-release movies […]
Marge Dean has joined Robot Chicken prodco Stupid Buddy Stoodios as general manager. Dean (pictured) joins from Mattel’s production banner Playground, where she was director of production. She is one of the most seasoned US execs in animation having also worked at Wildbrain Animation, Technicolor, Sony Pictures and Warner Bros Animation. Stupid Buddy, which was […]
A pair of Scandinavian channels, one from Finland and one from Belgium have boarded Technicolor’s CG-animation The Deep. Belgium’s Ketnet, Norway’s NRK, Sweden’s SVT and Finland’s YLE have all pre-bought the show, which is 26 episodes long and for Seven Network and ABC3 in Australia and Super RTL in Germany. Technicolor distributes the series, which […]
US technology and content company Technicolor has acquired OuiDo Productions, the French kids prodco that counts Alvinnn!!! & The Chipmunks (pictured) and Sonic Boom among its credits. OuiDo was created out of Lagardere’s Genao Productions. Former Lagardère executives Boris Hertzog, Sandrine Nguyen and Billy Frédéric Richard launched OuiDo after Lagardere moved out of kids animation in […]
As if the OTT players weren’t bumping heads with traditional broadcasters enough already, they’ve now claimed the high ground on the latest original programming battlefield: ultra high-definition, also known as 4K. Jesse Whittock and Andy McDonald report While Michael Bay was suffering an autocue-induced meltdown on stage at the Consumer Electronics Show last month, numerous […]
