Hasbro

Hasbro has teamed up with the No Kid Hungry campaign for the launch of a new healthcare-themed Guess Who? game. Retailing at US$14.99, Hometown Helpers features images of doctors, nurses, mail carriers and firefighters. For every unit sold, Hasbro will donate US$10 (up to a maximum of US$100,000) to No Kid Hungry, which aims to provide healthy food to all kids in America. This new partnership builds on Hasbro’s previous donation of more than US$100,000 to the campaign as part of its COVID-19 response efforts. Guess Who? Hometown Helpers is available for pre-order on Hasbro’s website, and will ship to retailers this October.

Novel Entertainment 

UK producer Novel Entertainment has inked a deal with Netflix to launch its 65 minute animated special, Horrid Henry’s Gross Day Out, worldwide. The action adventure film launches globally (in more than 190 countries) on September 17. Written and produced by Novel’s creative director Lucinda Whiteley and exec produced by Mike Watts, the special revolves around a team of gross kids who are also secret agents with a mission to save the universe. This marks the second Horrid special Netflix has picked up: Novel’s 45-minute Horrid Henry’s Wild Weekend special to stream in the UK starting June 6.

CAKE

London-based distributor CAKE has signed a number of broadcast deals for its new CG-animated action comedy Treasure Trekkers. Discovery Channel (Middle East), and Canal+ and Piwi+ (France) picked up the 52 x 11-minute adventure about three small adventurers who take on missions to protect priceless treasures. Alibaba-owned streamer Youku also picked up the series through Chinese distributor Cawro.

Other broadcasters that have picked up Treasure Trekkers include Trans 7 (Indonesia), EITB (Spain), SVT (Sweden), Siminn (Iceland), YLE (Finland), Czech TV, TVP Poland, Kidszone (Baltics), Balapan (Kazakhstan) and MBC (Middle East). It is executive produced byy J.S. Friedman, who wrote the original books the show is based on. Treasure Trekkers’ animation is done by Canary Islands-based B-Water Animation Studios (Zafari, Subway Surfers).

Spiral International

Miami-based distributor Spiral International has inked a deal with Brazilian Globoplay to launch animated series Care Bears: Unlock the Magic on the streamer’s service September 15. The 2D-animated series from Cloudco Entertainment includes 48 x 11-minute episodes and two x 22-minute specials. Revolving around a group of mystical bears who use unique powers to share messages around caring and friendship, the series has been making inroads into LatAm, with Nickelodeon Latin America picking it up in April.

ZDF Enterprises

German distributor ZDF has also inked deals with Globoplay, as well as a number of broadcasters in LatAm and Iberia for more than 350 hours of kids content. Globoplay picked up more than 220 hours of content, including three seasons and a TV movie of the The Jungle Book series, Marcus Level, Ziggy and the Zoo Tram as well as teen drama The Athena.

Netflix in Latin America meanwhile picked up preschool series School of Roars (104 x seven minutes) from Dot to Dot Productions, and Nickelodeon’s Noggin streamer picked up Ziggy and the Zoo Tram. Canal Once in Mexico bought season one of Mister Twister for the Once Niños channel while Colombia’s Señal has acquired season two of the The Jungle Book, as well as all episodes of Scream Street. Chile’s VTR has snagged SVOD rights for H20 Just Add Water, The Jungle Book, H20—Mermaid Adventures and Peter Pan—The New Adventures. 

ZDF also inked four deals across Europe: Catalonian channel TV3 acquired The Worst Witch, Sam Fox: Extreme Adventures; Portugal’s pay TV channel SIC K picked up Mako Mermaids; The Athena will air on Dreamia’s cable channel Biggs; and Portugese public broadcaster RTP has bought Heirs of the Night, and The Athena and renewed licenses for Inui, Captain Flinn and the Pirate Dinosaurs and Sherlock Yack – Zoo Detective.

WildBrain Spark 

London’s AVOD network WildBrain Spark has teamed up with Korean prodco Park Star Media to co-produce and launch the new digital-first superhero series Super Binks (pictured). The brand was originally created as a range of toy figures in Asia. WildBrain Spark will make a short-form 2D-animated series based on the Super Binks characters, while managing the brand’s YouTube channel, where new episodes will drop weekly. The network will also launch the series through Amazon Prime Video Direct in September. The action adventure fare will be about seven superhero babies whose enchanted pacifiers give them unique superpowers to battle against mischief and protect their park. WildBrain Spark has been releasing 11- to 13-minute videos on a weekly basis since August 1.