Toonz Media Group strikes strategic partnership with Russian studio major SMF (Soyuzmultfilm) to co-produce a ground-breaking new animation series
The 52 x 11 min CGI series “Aliens in my Backpack” comes from award winning creators Rob Lee and James Driscoll
London/Trivandrum, October 26th: SMF (Soyuzmultfilm) Studio, Russia’s oldest and most prestigious production company has signed up with global animation leaders Toonz Media Group for a strategic partnership to co-produce a brand-new animation series.
“Aliens in My Backpack” comes from Rob Lee and James Driscoll – the creators of the worldwide franchise “Fireman Sam” and the BAFTA nominated World Award winning animated children’s cartoon series “The Shoe People”.
This new Aliens CGI series brings to life a family of characters from a distant planet with perfect ecological settings, who are on a mission to share their secrets with Earth and make our planet greener.
Production will be handled by Toonz and SoyuzmultFilm Studios, with the partnership responsible for video distribution and licensing and merchandising. The deal was negotiated by former Disney Executive and EVP at Toonz Media Group Paul Robinson.
Commenting on the partnership Chairman of the Board of SMF (Soyuzmultfilm) Studio Yuliana Slascheva says: “Partnering with Toonz is a significant milestone for SMF Studio growth, as one of our strategic goals is to establish our company intheinternational market. Bothour companies have powerful creative potential and Toonz has an undoubted experience in the global promotionofcontent.
The defining reason for this partnership are, of course, the values that the animated series introduces to the audience: animation is the best way to convey to children complicated issues in a simple language.”
P. Jayakumar, CEO of Toonz Media Group says, “We are delighted to partner with a studio of such deep heritage as SoyuzmultFilm. For Toonz this is a very exciting project as it upholds the universal value of environment conservation, which would appeal to kids and families across the world. ”
Production of the 52×11 minutes CGI series will start late in 2020 and the first episode will be available to show to potential media and broadcast partners by mid/late 2021.
About SMF Studio
SMF (Soyuzmultfilm) today is a multifaceted group of production, licensing and educational facilities, which include an animation studio, an animation technology park, an educational and recreational center for kids and a licensing agency. The company was founded in 1936 and has been on the forefront of Soviet and later Russian animation ever since, with over 300 hours of animation and over 1500 films produced. We are looking into the future with a commitment to preserve the tradition.
About Toonz Media Group
Toonz is a 360-degree media powerhouse with over two decades of unparalleled experience and one of Asia’s most active animation production studios (over 10,000 minutes of 2D and CGI kids and family content per year). Toonz, having worked with many of the leading entertainment studios, channels and networks including Marvel, Nickelodeon, Turner, Disney, Netflix, Dreamworks, Lionsgate, 20th Century Fox, Paramount, Sony, Universal, BBC, Amazon, Google, Hulu, HBO and Exodus Film Group, has several animation and live action series, as well as feature films to its credit. Toonz has also recently entered a new feature film partnership with Exodus Film Group on a feature titled “Pierre The Pigeon Hawk” with a voice cast including Whoopi Goldberg, Kenan Thompson, Howie Mandel and Luis Guzma?n.