It has been a high-profile 12 months for Mediawan Children & Household because of subsidiary Technique Animation’s involvement within the Ladybug & Cat Noir franchise, which has been having fun with field workplace success worldwide with a primary function movie adaptation.
The IP, which was first developed as a sequence in 2015, is now below the umbrella of recently launched entity Miraculous Corp, a three way partnership between co-creator Jeremy Zag’s firm Zag and Mediawan Children & Household guardian group Mediawan.
Which means Mediawan Animation is now not concerned within the franchise however Mediawan Children & Household President Julien Borde says his division is busy creating and producing a raft of animated content material, he believes has comparable franchise potential.
“It’s some of the profitable unbiased franchises on this planet and a implausible success story,” he feedback on Ladybug & Cat Noir.
“It conjures up us to do the identical factor with the initiatives we’re incubating at our totally different Mediawan & Children labels” he says. “Our ambition is to create new franchises that strike the identical chord within the hearts of the general public.”
Borde, who was beforehand Head of Children and Common Leisure Channels at WarnerMedia for France and in addition labored at France Télévisions and Disney, has been on the head of Mediawan Children & Household since its official launch on the Annecy Worldwide Animation Movie Competition in 2022.
The division presently teams eight corporations. There are 5 French labels spanning Mediawan’s unique animation firm Technique Animation (beforehand often called ON Animation Studios) and later additions Someplace Animation, Elliott Studio, Joann Sfar’s Magical Society and feature-focused Mediawan Children & Household Cinema.
They’re joined by three worldwide subsidiaries: Bristol-based UK firm Wild Seed Studios, Submarine within the Netherlands and Palomar Animation in Italy.
Wild Seed Studios and Submarine are relative newcomers to the Mediawan Children & Household fold, arriving within the division in 2023.
“We search for corporations which can be complementary, each territorially and when it comes to their forms of undertaking, with Mediawan Animation. With Wild Seed, we had been drawn to its observe file in youth fiction, whereas Submarine had a confirmed savoir-faire in animated sequence for adults,” says Borde.
“They’re additionally led by proficient inventive producers. Jesse Cleverly and Miles Bullough within the case of Wild Seeds and Bruno Felix for Submarine,” he continues, including of all eight corporations: “All of them have totally different sensibilities, and forms of savoir-faire linked to their histories and geographical places and skills they’ve entry to.”
Palomar Animation was born out of 2019 animated sequence The Enchanted Village of Pinocchio with Rai. It’s presently working The three Musketeers, about three lady musketeers led by the determine of Charlotte d’Artagnan, with in partnership with Technique Animation for ZDF.
The three Musketeers
“Within the two years since our launch, we’ve turn into one of many largest animation studios in Europe,” says Borde, who was again in Annecy to provide an replace on Mediawan Children & Household’s animation slate in a showcase occasion on Tuesday.
One space of specific focus for since Mediawan Children & Household’s launch in 2022 has been the event of content material aimed toward pre-school youngsters.
“Not one of the labels had been doing a lot content material aimed a that demographic. We’ve since developed a slate of initiatives with the ambition of creating exhibits which can be as sturdy as hits similar to Bluey,” notes Borde.
He cites Technique Animation initiatives Taïtikis, an ocean ecology-themed journey present being by developed by author and illustrator Romauld from his comedian e-book sequence, and Pango, a spin-off of the interactive Pango apps and video games, which is being written by Jenny Landerth in cooperation with creators Studio Pango.
Amsterdam-based Submarine, which is healthier identified internationally for adult-focused animations similar to function Richard Linklater’s Apollo 10½: A House Age Childhood and Amazon present Undone, has two pre-school exhibits in manufacturing: Pol The Pirate Mouse and Little Charlie.
Pol The Pirate Mouse is customized from a youngsters’s image e-book by Tingue Dongelmans and illustrated by Denise van Leeuwen, whereas Little Charlie, following the adventures of younger rabbit, has German broadcaster ZDF on board as commissioning companion.
On the distribution entrance, Mediawan Children & Household are additionally dealing with beforehand worldwide gross sales on CBeebies present Maddie + Triggs, from Irish studio Turnip + Duck
“We fell in love with the undertaking, which we shall be delivered and prepared for launch on the finish of this yr,” says Borde.
Past the pre-school demographic and in a recent Annecy announcement, Mediawan Children & Household has additionally signed a world distribution mandate for Frog and Canine, a slapstick comedy created by Sam Shaw for seven to 12 year-olds, from manufacturing firm Solar & Moon and developed below the BBC’s Ignite program.
Borde notes, nevertheless, that Mediawan Children & Household corporations will not be pigeon-holed into making one kind of animation, or serving a selected demographic.
Submarine continues to make animation aimed on the grownup demographic and can also be current in Annecy on this yr with Mascha Halberstad’s Fox And Hare Save The Forest, which screens within the Annecy Presents part having made its worldwide premiere on the Berlinale.
Borde says Mediawan Children & Household goals is to supply content material for all platforms and all ages.
“We’re one of many few European corporations working with all the massive broadcasters in France, Germany, the UK and Italy in addition to with the worldwide youngsters’ networks at Paramount, Disney and Warner,” he says.
“One of many challenges of the sector is that animation takes a very long time to supply however the tastes and traits, particularly for youngsters, can change very quickly… for that reason we work very intently with our companions from the outset to make sure we’re making content material that correspondents to their editorial line similtaneously assembly the tastes of viewers.”
Tapping into the zeitgeist, the division lately began wanting into to digital area for inspiration.
Technique Animation, in partnership with Drawsome Studio, is in manufacturing on the youngsters’s sequence Hello & Tri, tailored from a best-selling manga by common YouTuber Kevin Tran, who has 5.4 million subscribers and 1.2 billion views on the platform.
Someplace Animation, in partnership with Snacking Media, is creating Chefclub Adventures, impressed by the web web site Chefclub, which racks up 2.5 billion views every month worldwide.
Different exhibits in growth embrace Technique Animation’s Witch Detectives in coproduction with Toonz for TF1 & Tremendous RTL; Sponge Bob-style present Tuff Pom about two Pomeranian canine brothers from Wildseed Studios and Technique Animation with France Télévisions on board as a companion, and Boule & Invoice, a up to date reboot of the French youngsters’s basic mixing animation and dwell motion from Elliott Studio.
Borde additionally factors to the division’s initiatives with confirmed abilities similar to Mister Crocodile, directed and produced by Sfar (The Little Vampire, The Rabbi’s Cat) below the banner of his Magical Society; fantasy journey Artefacts, directed by Stéphane Berry (Completely Spies, Martin Thriller) and Tales of The Miruu, from producer-writer Laurent Zeitoun (Ballerina, Untouchable), a co-production between his firm Good Hero and Technique Animation.
On the function movie entrance, the division has half a dozen initiatives on the boil together with The Magnificent Lifetime of Marcel Pagnol by Sylvain Chomet, Meow-woof by Louis Clichy, Twisted by Lino DiSalvo, Jonas, The Mechanical Shark by Alexandre Heboyan, Scent by Olivier Staphylas and Spike by Julia Louw.
“Cinema is a crucial vertical for us. We requested Emmanuel Jacomet, who was a producer on the Miraculous movie, to develop a brand new slate of animation movies. We have now two movies in pre-financing, one in every of which – Twisted – we shall be presenting at Cartoon Discussion board,” explains Borde.
“The wish to work with unique concepts however we’re additionally open to partnerships with different producers and good concepts abilities can carry us. Cinema is necessary for us as a result of it has this capability to create an occasion and we see it as an added useful resource on the subject of creating franchises and IP with franchise potential. It’s an extra place, alongside TV and digital, the place we will incubate new universes.
