Montreal’s Cirque du Soleil Entertainment Group has launched a Cirque du Soleil STUDIO in Los Angeles, bringing in former WWE head of studios Susan Levison to run it. 

The new division will produce long-form content across all genres, including animated series, films, documentaries and both unscripted and scripted live-action shows. Levison has more than 20 years of studio experience under her belt, including stints as SVP of alternative programming at CBS Television and SVP of comedy development at Fox Broadcasting. 

As GM of Cirque du Soleil STUDIO, she will mine the group’s brand portfolio and existing content catalogue to develop new projects for production. She’s also overseeing the slate that’s currently in development, headlined by a feature film based on the live show O (pictured), in which swimmers and divers dance and perform acrobatic stunts in and out of water. The studio has teamed up with Ridley Scott (Alien and Gladiator) and his Scott Free Productions to make and distribute this pic.  

Cirque du Soleil was nearly shuttered by the pandemic after 40 years in business. It managed to secure a sale to its creditors (including Catalyst Capital Group) in 2020, after canceling shows and laying off roughly 3,500 employees. 

Before this unexpected reversal of fortune, the company had been building a kids content business. In 2018, it acquired Minnesota-based prodco VStar Entertainment Group to break into the market, partnering later that same year with Montreal’s Apartment 11 on a live-action series called Big Top Academy for TVOKids. But even before that, the circus group developed a Luna Petunia kids IP in house and partnered with Saban Brands in 2014 to turn it into an animated series.