‘The Lion King' & ‘Maleficent' Writer Linda Woolverton Joins Winnie The Pooh Series
John Rivoli, the veteran character, poster and creative products artist who has worked on projects including Harry Potter, Wicked, Lord of the Rings, Batman, SpongeBob SquarePants, and Looney Tunes, has joined as Creative Director.
More from Deadline
Kartoon Studios & GFM Animation Heading To EFM With First Animated Projects From Stan Lee Universe
'Winnie-The-Pooh' Movies & Series Coming To Amazon Through Kartoon Channel With $30M Production Funding Deal In Place
Kartoon Studios Strikes First Deal With AI Dubbing Platform
Due to launch at the end of this year, the animated series is based on A.A. Milne's beloved children's properties, and material is due to include 200 six-minute shorts as well as a package of five-holiday specials. Michael Maliani is producer. We revealed a first look trailer earlier this year.
The series incorporates a 'yarn-based animation style blending AI and hand-drawn characters and backgrounds'. Voice cast is being worked out now. The kids show will debut on the Kartoon Channel, which is distributed through Prime Video Channels.
'The opportunity to reimagine Winnie-the-Pooh for a new generation is truly an honor,' said Woolverton, who was most recently a producer on Netflix movie Spellbound and is a writer on Maleficent 3. 'These beloved stories hold a special place in so many hearts, including my own. I'm excited to craft fresh narratives that capture the warmth, charm, humor, and gentle wisdom, of the Hundred Acre Wood while introducing new layers of storytelling, celebrating the neurodiversity amidst these most special characters.'
'Bringing Winnie-the-Pooh to life in a fresh, visually enchanting way is an incredible honor,' added Rivoli. 'The Hundred Acre Wood is a world filled with warmth, nostalgia, and charm, and our unique animation style will create an immersive experience that resonates with both new audiences and lifelong fans of A.A. Milne.'
'In a world that can often feel overwhelming for children, Winnie-the-Poohremains an 'oasis of goodness,' commented Andy Heyward, CEO of Kartoon Studios. 'Our new interpretation stays true to A.A. Milne's vision while introducing fresh, heartfelt stories, highlighting the neurodiversity of Milne's beautiful characters. With Linda's creative brilliance and John's artistic vision, we are poised to create a defining new chapter in the legacy of Winnie-the-Pooh. It is a particular honor for me to work with Linda, whom I had the privilege to work with early in our careers when she was one of the incredibly talented writers of the animated Real Ghostbusters series I produced.'
Best of Deadline
2025 TV Series Renewals: Photo Gallery
How To Watch 'Wicked: Part One': Is The Film Streaming Yet?
All The Songs In 'Severance' Season 2: From The Who To Ella Fitzgerald
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Wall Street Journal
3 hours ago
- Wall Street Journal
‘Eden' Review: Ron Howard's Dystopian Utopia
In 1929, a German physician and his companion, disgusted with the pace and materialism of contemporary life, sailed to Floreana, an uninhabited island west of South America, in the Galápagos archipelago. When his letters home leaked to the papers, the two became unwilling and unwitting celebrities, described as 'Crusoes' or 'the modern Adam and Eve.' Two other intrigued parties followed without being invited, and trouble came ashore with them. The increasingly twisted interpersonal drama is the subject of Ron Howard's 'Eden,' a true-ish story that speculates about certain disputed details of what followed. The events were previously covered in a documentary, 2013's 'The Galapagos Affair: Satan Came to Eden.'
Elle
7 hours ago
- Elle
Millie Bobby Brown Announces She and Jake Bongiovi Adopted Their First Baby Girl
THE RUNDOWN Millie Bobby Brown and Jake Bongiovi are officially parents. The married couple of one year announced on Instagram that they recently adopted a daughter. They wrote in a joint statement, 'This summer, we welcomed our sweet baby girl through adoption. We are beyond excited to embark on this beautiful next chapter of parenthood both in peace and privacy. And then there were 3. Love, Millie and Jake Bongiovi.' They opted not to share their child's name or birth date. Brown has been open about her dream of becoming a mother. In March, she spoke on the SmartLess podcast about her desire to adopt. She noted that her parents were also young when they had children, saying, 'My mom actually had her first child at 21, and my dad was 19.' Bongiovi is 23, while Brown is 21. Her desire to have children, she explained, has been present 'since before I met since I was a baby. I told my mom...I wanted to be a mom just like the way my mom was to me.' She added, 'Jake knows how important it is to me, and of course I want to focus on really establishing myself as an actor and as a producer, but I also find it's so important to start a family—for me personally, it's a huge thing. Jake was like, 'We cannot do that until we get married.' So that was his thing. And my thing was I really want a family. I really want a big family. Like, I'm one of four; he's one of four. So it is definitely in our future. But for me, I don't see having your own child as really any different [from] adopting.' She said she is open to all possibilities: 'My home is full of love for anyone and anything. So that is what we stand energy in the house is like, the door is always open, and we want everyone to feel really comfortable.'
Elle
8 hours ago
- Elle
Taylor Swift Just Started a New 2 P.M. Countdown—Here's What She Could be Announcing
THE RUNDOWN Is another The Life of a Showgirl alternate cover coming? Will we finally get Taylor Swift's first single from her new album? At 2 P.M. ET today, Swift will tell us. The singer quietly launched her second countdown of the week on her site this morning, set in glittery turquoise. The URL of the site is just like last time. On August 18, Swift posted a purple countdown that led to her announcing a limited-edition vinyl collection for her album, called 'The Shiny Bug' collection. The records were available for just 48 hours. Ahead of that reveal, fans theorized that she could be announcing 'Actually Romantic' as her first single or even that she's playing the Super Bowl halftime show next year. Given this countdown's timing—and the industry standard of artists releasing new music at midnight on Fridays—there's a good chance Swift could be announcing a single will come out tonight. Swift has stayed out of the public eye this week, but she spoke on New Heights just days ago about why she loves setting Easter eggs for fans. That desire to connect with them could be fueling her multiple countdowns. The singer discussed her methodology, saying, 'The art of the Easter egg is that there's do's and don'ts, right? I'm never going to plant an Easter egg that ties back to my personal life. It's always going to be towards music...' 'Something I'm coming up with, something I have coming up, a plan I have coming together,' she continued. 'Something that you don't know I'm saying for a specific reason that you'll hear later and you'll go back and be like, 'Oh my god.' I think my favorite one of those was I was given an honorary doctorate from NYU, and I made the commencement speech. And I put so many lyrical Easter eggs in that speech that when the Midnights album came out after that, the fans were like, 'The whole speech was an Easter egg.' And for me, that's really fun, because they find it fun.' This post will continue to be updated.
