Disney Channel

French distributor PGS has inked a deal for seven seasons (364 x 11 minutes) of Bagdasarian Productions’ CG-animated series ALVINNN!!! and the Chipmunks  to air on Disney Channel Spain. The channel picked up four completed and three upcoming seasons. Produced in collaboration with Technicolor Animation Productions, the series will air on Disney Channel in the region until at least 2029. Created in 1958, the Chipmunks have spanned films and TV, and their current small-screen iteration airs internationally on more than 70 Nickelodeon platforms, as well as 100-plus free-to-air channels.

California-based Bagdasarian has begun production on season five of ALVINNN!!! and the Chipmunks, with Nickelodeon (international excluding Brazil), Super RTL (Germany) and Gloob (Brazil) on board to air it when it’s released. The series revolves around the comedic struggle of a single parent trying to raise a group of hyperactive chipmunks.

In other Disney news, The Walt Disney Company Germany has picked up Mush-Mush & the Mushables, co-produced by CAKE, La Cabane and Thuristar. London distributor CAKE inked a deal with the House of Mouse to air the CG-animated comedy in Germany from fall 2021 on. The 48 x 11-minute series and two x 22-minute specials revolve around a community of pocket-sized forest guardians who work and grow together.  

Nickelodeon

French prodco Xilam has locked in deals with Nickelodeon for two of its shows. The kidcaster snagged the first two seasons of CG-animated Athleticus (60 x 2.5 minutes) to air in Asia Pacific, EMEA and Latin America. Nickelodeon also acquired all pay–TV rights for the animal-led competitive sports series for Benelux, Italy, Vietnam, the Philippines and Argentina. Athleticus is produced by CG studio Cube Creative, which Xilam acquired in 2019.

Nick also picked up the rights to air slapstick comedy Mr. Magoo (78 x seven minutes) in the UK, where it launched on Nicktoons this week.

Superights

Paris distributor Superights has signed new broadcast deals with French producer Cross River Production for disability-focused series Will  and Handico. Free-to-air channels TVP (Poland), RSI (Switzerland) and RTVS (Slovakia), as well as SVOD platforms OCS (France), TIM Vision (Italy) and Megogo (Ukraine), picked up Will. The 52 x two-minute short series is centered on a young boy who uses a wheelchair and doesn’t let that stop him from having adventures with his friends.

Meanwhile, 12 x three-minuter Handico was also acquired by TVP and TIM Vision, along with RTS (Switzerland) and TV5 Monde (France). A 2D-animated educational series, it breaks down disabilities such as deafness and blindness in simple terms, and explains how they can affect people’s lives.

PlayMonster

Wisconsin-based toy maker PlayMonster is blasting off with Canada’s Wind Sun Sky Entertainment on an animated series based on PlayMonster’s new Snap Ship toy brand. The collectible space ship line is designed for kids eight and up, and is now available on Amazon. It will also hit shelves at Target and other retailers in the US later this month.

PlayMonster partnered with prodco Wind Sun Sky to expand the collectible spaceship brand into Snap Ships Dawn of Battle, a CG-animated adventure series about an elite team  of pilots flying a fleet of special ships to keep an evil alien species at bay. Building in a collectible element, the show for kids eight to 12 will also see the pilots find mysterious tech that gives their ships new abilities. The eight x 4.5- minute series will launch on PlayMonster’s YouTube channel in August.

PlayMonster also teamed up with video game developers Scott Pease and Jeff Swenty (Guitar Hero) to create a mobile AR app called Snap Ships—Build to Battle. Available for free on iOS and Android via the Google Play Store, the game lets kids build and collect ships to fight against aliens.