Cartoon News: “Dino Ranch”, “Pikwik Pack”, “SMASH!”; and more

Toronto-based independent entertainment company. Boat Rocker (boatrocker.com) is sending its preschool hit Dino Ranch across the pond, after being lassoed by UK free to air broadcaster Tiny Pop. The first season (52 x 11 ′), which premiered on Disney Junior / Disney + in the United States, will air daily at 8am and 00pm. starting from 17 April, with the support of a solid digital and social campaign.

Celebrating teamwork and friendship, the action-packed series follows the “pre-Western” adventures of the close-knit Cassidy family and their lively pack of roaring and racing dinosaurs. Dino Ranch continues to be a hit among Kids 2-5 on Disney Junior and CBC Canada, where it premiered in January 2021. Now sold in over 160 countries and in over 15 languages, the show continues to delight fans across the board. the world, and the official YouTube channel has amassed over 100 million views. S2 is currently in production to premiere in the US this summer, including a special tentpole.

In parallel with the launch of the transmission, Boat Rocker developed a robust consumer product program for the property. Following the successful launch of the toy range in the US, Canada and Australia last year, toy partner Jazwares is bringing its dynamic range of Dino Ranch retail to the UK this summer, complemented by Scholastic publication. and followed by a selection of soft lines including clothing, disguise and bedding.

Another major Toronto-based children's entertainment center, Guru Studio (gurustudio.com) just celebrated the launch of its successful preschool series Pikwik Pack in China. The colorful show is available on major streamers including Tencent, Youku, and Mango, along with deals with domestic OTT providers such as Xiaomi, Haixin, Kukai and TCL, and domestic IPTVs, covering over 60 platforms in over 30 provinces.

The property is represented by Reesee Entertainment in China, which manages all categories of licensing and merchandising including toys, apparel, publishing, accessories and games, as well as television broadcasting and digital media. In the US and Canada, a range of toys from toy partner Playmates Toys and books from Scholastic have already launched on Walmart.com, Target.com and Amazon.

Pikwik Pack debuted on Disney Junior in the US and is currently streaming on Hulu. The series also airs internationally on Treehouse Canada, Tiny Pop in the UK, Super RTL in Germany, Rai Yoyo in Italy, YLE in Finland, Canal Panda in Portugal and Spain, HOP in Israel, Minimini + in Poland, Channel 5 in Singapore, Disney Channel in Korea and India and on Disney + in Australia and New Zealand.

41 Entertainment LLC (41e.tv), based in New York and Los Angeles, has secured additional partners for its upcoming animated series SMASH! (52 x 11 ′), is expected to have its world premiere in 2022 and 2023. Created by Allen Bohbot based on an original idea by Kaaren Lee Brown and illustrated by Mel Bontrager and Will Sweeney, SMASH! is set in a one-of-a-kind night camp located on Lake Sebastian in Bavaria, where four awesome guys with superpowers: Streak (Nice, France), Rocket (Cape Town, South Africa), Flare (Glasgow, Scotland) and Vitória ( São Paulo, Brazil) - train like the next generation of superheroes, and their dogs - Felicity, Lightning, Blaze and Rio - train to become super helpers. At the heart of this team is Mei Lien, a mechanical genius from Guangzhou, China, who constantly invents custom vehicles and accessories for his teammates with the help of his mechanical pet, Ping.

Discovery Kids Latin America, Discovery TV Frisbee in Italy and Mango TV in China have acquired exclusive rights in their respective territories by joining previously announced HBO Max in the US, Super RTL partners in Germany and Discovery Family Channel and Discovery Familia in the US More new partners include Knowledge Network in Canada, HOP! in Israel, Sanoma Media / Nelonen Media in Finland, TV2 in Hungary, MBC in the Middle East, HKTVE in Hong Kong and many others in discussion or negotiation.

Singapore's award-winning studio One Animation (oneanimation.com) has secured a new wave of linear VOD and international sales in its successful series portfolio. “The continued interest we have in our world-class animated children's comedies from major broadcast platforms and new VOD partners is extremely gratifying,” said Michele Schofield, SVP Content Distribution. "We look forward to every opportunity to entertain children and families around the world."

With a multi-territorial agreement, Netflix acquired the third season of Oddbods, with the last episode replacing S2 on the platform in April 2022. In Europe, TFOUMAX (France) renewed S2 and Trenitalia (Italy, Vatican City, San Marino and France) withdrew the onboard entertainment license for the abbreviated format of Oddbods.
For Asia, Singapore-based distributor Bomanbridge Media sold Insectibles to Radio Television (Brunei) and Antiks to Mediacorp (Singapore). Additional deals include EBS (Korea) for Oddbods S3 and all four seasonal specials, with Daekyo (Korea) also taking S1-3, the four specials, and the shortened form of Oddbods. In Indonesia, VIDIO acquired S2 & 3 from long-form Oddbods.

FuturumKids (futurumkids.com) is planning a busy MIPTV: The team, including Global Head of Sales Brendan Kelly and CEO Francis Fitzpatrick, will attend the show to discuss pre-sales and L&M partnerships for its brand new Ling Ling preschool property with potential broadcast and licensing partner., while Futurum's distributor, Monster Entertainment, will focus on developing additional territories for its fast-growing children's success Paddles. FuturumKids will also highlight plans for new projects, including a major UK children's book ownership that the company has acquired with a view to starting work on another preschool series later this year.

Ling Ling is the story of a wide-eyed panda who has just arrived from Shanghai at Tavistock's International School for Animals, London's leading and most eccentric preschool educational institution. Ling Ling launched at the 2021 Cartoon Forum with a very positive response and is now in pre-production at Futurum studios in Las Palmas.

The studio's first pre-k series, Paddles has already been sold to Cartoonito UK and aired on Irish RTE. It is also on its way to the Stan streaming service in Australia thanks to a deal brokered by Monster Entertainment, nominated in early 2021 to handle Paddles' global television sales in all territories except Korea. Further major broadcast deals are forthcoming.