By: Andrea Hernandez and Ryan Tuchow

SPI International

The Canal+ broadcaster is going retro with the latest shopping spree for its AVOD and SVOD platforms, picking up non-exclusive rights to four vintage 2D-animated series from distributor Studio 100.

SPI picked up three 1970s Zuiyo Enterprise preschool series – Maya the Bee, Heidi and Pinocchio – as well as Nippon Animation’s ’80s series Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. All four shows will roll out on SPI’s FilmBox, FilmBox on Demand, Film1 and ToonzStream in multiple languages.

Threewise Entertainment

UK production company Threewise Entertainment has signed a deal with Canada’s FORTÉ Entertainment to adapt its Snapshots series format for the UK market. Created by FORTE principals Andrea Gabourie and Mitch Gabourie, Snapshots premiered in 2016 on Canadian pubcaster CBC. The six x 22-minute series features three tween/teen contestants who test their photography skills in different challenges guided by Canadian actor Dalmar Abuzeid.

Hasbro

Hasbro and New York Times Games have teamed up to turn web-based word game Wordle into a new board game aimed at teens and adults. Wordle: The Party Game will be released on Hasbro’s website and at Target, Amazon and Walmart stores in North America in October, with a pre-order phase starting now.

In it, players compete against each other to guess a five-letter word in a maximum of six tries. Wordle was launched as an online game in October 2021 by Welsh software engineer Josh Wardle and was acquired by The Times in January 2022.

Dandelooo

Brazilian broadcaster Grupo Globo has acquired animated preschool series Petit and Ella Oscar & Hoo from French distributor Dandelooo. Both shows will launch on Globo’s OTT platform Giga Gloob and its pay-TV channel Gloobinho.

Petit (39 x seven minutes) is a 2D-animated co-pro from Chilean studio Pájaro and Argentina’s Pakapaka, Nonstop and Coobia’s Señal Colombia. Aimed at four- to seven-year-olds, the series is about a young boy who won’t settle for doing humdrum things like his homework, and instead finds a way to turn everything into a wild adventure.

French production Ellla, Oscar & Hoo (52 x 11 minutes), from Normaal and Canal+’s preschool channel Piwi+, is about an excitable boy and girl and their best friend, who’s a cloud. Together they go on fantastical adventures, such as chasing dinosaurs and helping out Santa Claus.