Sky 

British broadcaster Sky is feeding its audience’s appetite for anime by picking up Yu-Gi-Oh! SEVENS (89 x 22 minutes) for its Sky Kids streaming app. The 2D-animated series, produced by Japanese animation studio Bridge and distributed by Konami Cross Media NY, will start airing in the UK and Ireland in October. It debuted in Japan in 2020 and also just launched on June 6 on Disney XD and Hulu in the US.

The latest show in the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise picks up the story of the seventh protagonist, Yuga Ohdo, who invents a new set of rules for the iconic duelling monsters card game and must contend with a corporation that wants to control the way people enjoy it. Sky picked up the first seasons of Yu-Gi-Oh (2001) and Yu-Gi-Oh VRAINS (2017) last year for Sky Kids, and both have been renewed for second seasons. – CW

Method Animation

Method is joining forces with Shibuya Productions in Monaco to reimagine Osamu Tezuka’s Astro Boy for a new generation. Spearheading the CG-animated reboot (52 x 26 minutes) is Thomas Astruc, the creator and director of ZAG’s action-adventure series Miraculous—Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir. The new show will address modern themes such as the technological upheaval of the internet, social media’s harmful impact on humans, and the destruction of the environment. 

In Tezuka’s 1952 serialized manga series, Astro Boy was built by Doctor Tenma in memory of his late son Tobio and given seven powers including super-strength, flight, heat vision and adjustable hearing. The IP has been reimagined several times already—two TV series came out in 1980 and 2003, followed by a 2009 CG-animated feature film produced by Hong Kong’s Imagi Animation Studios. – CW

Atlantyca Entertainment

Italy’s Atlantyca Entertainment has sold 2D-animated children’s series Geronimo Stilton (pictured) to Dubai-based evision, which will air it in several EMEA territories. The first two seasons of the 78 x 23-minute toon will start running in July on evision’s ejunior AVOD platform in UAE, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, and additional seasons will follow. 

Based on the popular children’s book series, Geronimo Stilton stars a journalist mouse who makes many, many cheese jokes while he travels the world in search of news scoops and thrilling adventures. The series first aired in 2009. – CW

Annecy headlines

Disney got people talking with three new series announcements for its linear and streaming platforms: Dragon Striker from France’s Cyber Group Studios and La Chouette Compagnie; The Doomies from France’s Xilam Animation and Zombies: The Re-Animated Series from Disney Television Animation. Nick went in a decidedly different direction with its newest series greenlight, adapting a kids comic into a new 2D-animated series called Super Duper Bunny League. Meanwhile, Cartoon Network and Warner Bros. Animation announced an exclusive, multi-year overall deal with hitmaker Genndy Tartakovsky (Dexter’s Laboratory, The PowerPuff Girls). On the indie front, London-based CAKE has teamed up with Slovenia’s Invida to produce new CG-animated series The Lost Bots (78 x seven minutes), and Nordic broadcasters NRK and YLE have greenlit more Tulipop Tales. 

With files from Ryan Tuchow