6 days ago
Mediawan Kids & Family Unveils ‘The Magic Roundabout' Reboot & Paul Whitehouse's ‘Collide-Oscope'; Digital First YouTube Shows ‘Claynosaurz' & ‘Wadoo'
Mediawan Kids & Family has announced a new reboot of beloved 1970s UK kids show The Magic Roundabout as well as an animated series from Paul Whitehouse at its annual presentation at the Annecy International Film Festival's Mifa market.
Produced by Mediawan Kids & Family's UK Wild Seeds label, The Magic Roundabout reboot is being written by Horrible Histories and Dangerous Mouse writer Ben Ward. Wild Seeds is planning 52, seven-minute episodes for the show which is currently at the financing stage.
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The Bristol-based company is also working on a new mixed media show from Fast Show actor, comedian and writer Paul Whitehouse entitled Collde-Oscope.
Aimed at the six-plus demographic, the 30×7 show will consist of sketches mixing animation, collage-art and live action.
It will touch on a range of zany topics, with examples given of what to expect including argumentative fruit in a bowl; an accident prone rookie TV reporter; Mr Boast 'the oh so modest internet celebrity', and Posh Pom, the aristocratic pet Pomeranian dog.
Mediawan Kids & Family, the burgeoning animation arm of Paris-based content group Mediawan, bills itself as Europe's number one animation studio with 1,500 hours of content currently on its books.
The group currently gathers eight top animation labels Method Animation spanning Somewhere Animation, Elliott Studio and Mediawan Kids & Family Cinema in France as well as Wildseed Studios (UK), Palomar Animation, (Italy), Submarine Animation Netherlands and Toon2Tango (German).
This year's showcase also highlighted the group's move into digital first content, with two new pre-school shows destined for a first release on YouTube, Claynosaurz and Wadoo.
Inspired by the eponymous viral NFT brand created by Nicholas Cabana, Dan Cabral and Daniel Jervis, Claynosaurz follows four dinosaur friends living on the island of Claynosaurz.
Produced by Mediawan Kids & Family and the creators' Claynosaurz Inc, the first season will consist of 39 seven-minute episodes which will play first on YouTube.
In a similar operation, Mediawan Kids & Family is partnering with top kids' YouTube network El Reino Infantil on the production of Wadoo set in a magical world inspired by the platform's content, with stories aimed at the two to six-year-old demographic.
Mediawan is also out in force in Annecy this year as one of the producers on A Magnificent Life (Marcel et Monsieur Pagnol) by four-time Academy Award nominee French director Sylvain Chomet, which is in Competition having previously played in Cannes.
Further animated features in production and under development under the Mediawan Kids & Family Cinema umbrella include Twisted, Meow-Woof, Spike (Submarine), Dansker (Submarine), Mission Santa: Yoyo to the rescue (Toon2Tango).
Mediawan Kids & Family's distribution arm also recently struck a partnership with Nickelodeon for Mister Crocodile by directed and produced Joann Sfar (Little Vampire, The Rabbi's cat), under the banner of his company Magical Society, which is associated with Mediawan.
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