L.A.-based multiplatform media company Shout! Factory and L.A. studio Legacy Classics have formed a long-term production partnership and film distribution deal for a range of new family-friendly movies based on classic and contemporary children’s book series.

Shout! and Legacy Classics, which also has animation and visual effects studios in Seoul, Jakarta and Bali, will jointly develop, produce and market new animated features and live-action family movies. Shout! is handling sales and distribution for each movie across all platforms in North America, including theatrical, digital, broadcast, in-flight and home entertainment.

The initial plan is to create a minimum of four feature-length movies over the next two years. And the first wave of films includes three new animated features adapted from several bestselling titles from Gertrude Chandler Warner ‘s 150-title The Boxcar Children series, published by Albert Whitman & Company. It tells the tale of four orphaned children and their ongoing adventures within an abandoned boxcar. More than 70 million copies of the books have been sold worldwide.