Imagine Entertainment’s recently formed Kids & Family division is teaming up with Four M Studios to create premium children’s TV programming based on LIFE Magazine‘s archive of more than 10 million photos. The first project coming out of the partnership will be LIFE for Kids, executive produced by Imagine Entertainment’s Brain Grazer and Ron Howard, Imagine Kids & Family president Stephanie Sperber and Four M’s Bruce Gersh and Bruce Robertson.
This animated series will use images from LIFE Magazine as a jumping-off point to bring history and context to the screen for young audiences.
Four M Studios is owned by Meredith Corporation, which controls the rights to LIFE. The magazine documented American and global life starting in 1936, and its archives reach back from the late 1800s all the way up to present day. However, only 5% of these photos have been previously published.
Imagine just announced the launch of its new kids and family division earlier this week, with veteran kids exec Stephanie Sperber (Uglydolls) at the helm as president. The company previously struck a five-year deal with Aussie studio Animal Logic and Toby Emmerich’s Warner Bros. film division to co-produce and co-finance a slate of animated and hybrid family films, but this is the prodco’s first time fully stepping into the kids space.