APC Kids scores new international deals for ‘DinoCity’, including Discovery Italia

APC Kids, the children’s entertainment division of co-production and distribution group APC Studios, has secured a wave of international sales for its preschool series DinoCity, produced by Riki Group in partnership with Animax Production animation studio. The series began rolling out in Europe earlier this year and will premiere in Russia on Karusel TV this Friday 23 October.

The hit 2D animated series will be heading to Discovery Italia, which has picked up free TV rights for broadcast on its channel Frisbee, and All Media Latvia in the Baltics (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) which has secured non-exclusive SVOD rights. APC Kids has also licensed free TV rights to TG4 for the Republic of Ireland and Minika for Turkey.

These new partners join recent sales, which include: Piwi+ (Canal+ Group, France) taking pay TV rights, along with YLE (Finland), ERT (Greece), Ketnet (Flemish Belgium) and MBC (MENA) securing free TV rights. APC Kids also licensed the exclusive free TV rights and non-exclusive SVOD rights to Menart in the Balkans (Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Macedonia). The series has already successfully debuted on DeA Junior (Italy) and Tiny Pop (UK).

Lionel Marty, Managing Director of APC Kids, says: “After receiving a hugely positive response to the show’s premiere, we’re delighted to be building on the success of DinoCity by announcing new global broadcast partners. DinoCity is not only fun and adventure-filled but focuses on important themes such as family and friendship which will resonate with new audiences across the world.”

Sandro Sgrulloni, Programming & Content Acquisition Senior Manager at Discovery Kids, says: “We’re very happy that DinoCity is landing on Frisbee. Frisbee is a colourful place where kids can be given full rein to their imagination and we’re sure the stories of this ordinary family – to which the audience can relate – and the everyday situations that turn into amazing adventures, will bring fun and excitement to our viewers.”

Anna Mysskaya, Riki Group Head of International Department, commented: “DinoCity was initially created to harness the demand for truly global animation and we are so excited to see how this story will find viewers all around the world. It rarely happens that the world premiere of a project takes place outside of its origin country and so we are delighted to follow in the success of DinoCity’s debut in Italy and the UK. These new partnerships with Discovery Italia, All Media Latvia and TG4 are testament to the show’s broad appeal and we’re looking forward to shortly debuting the series on Karusel TV channel. We’re sure local Russian viewers will have the same positive reaction as we’ve seen from international audiences so far.”

DinoCity is an original preschool series created by Riki Group, in partnership with Animax Production animation studio, which portrays a family of dinosaurs in a perfectly urban setting. Little Ricky and his elder sister Tyra manage to turn most everyday situations into something quite extraordinary. Their parents will often gladly join them in their playfulness and follow their crazy reasoning, in order to help them channel all that energy and imagination… and to make sure they do not turn the house upside down.

APC Kids co-invested in the production of the 52 x 5’ international version of the series and holds exclusive distribution rights in all territories excluding Russia, CIS and China.

 

Experiential licensing experts Cityneon acquires Animax

Cityneon Holdings today announced that it has completed the acquisition of Animax Designs, a world leader and global provider of animatronic characters.

Animax Designs was founded by Chuck Fawcett in 1989 and just celebrated its 30th year anniversary in the creation of cutting- edge animatronic and interactive characters, animated costumes, and puppets.

With a workforce of 150, Animax serves some of the largest operators in the world in themed entertainment, live attractions, and location-based entertainment. Its rich history, years of innovation and use of leading-edge technology has gained

Animax a respectable reputation and today, its global clientele includes The Walt Disney Company, Nickelodeon, NBC Universal, Warner Bros., Sesame Workshop, Viacom, Feld Entertainment, and SeaWorld Parks and Entertainment.

“I am extremely proud of all that we have accomplished at Animax over the last 30 years, and I firmly believe that this combination with Cityneon will unlock even more value for shareholders as Cityneon continues to set the pace in what is an exciting and dynamic industry,” said Fawcett.

“This transaction will also substantially expand our international reach, allowing us to offer our world-class products to more strategic markets around the world.”

Fawcett also sits on the International Board of the Themed Entertainment Association (TEA), an international non- profit association representing the world’s leading creators, developers, designers and producers of compelling places and experiences – worldwide.

“This is a strategic acquisition for Cityneon, and it is exciting that it is happening at a time when the Company is growing from a position of strength to becoming an industry leader in the creation of new and innovative visitor experiences around the world,” said Ron Tan, executive chairman and group CEO of the Group.

“This acquisition also brings along further diversification of the management and executive teams within Cityneon, which is varied across different cultures and nationalities. We will continue on this path to build, strengthen and add depth to a world-class leadership team for the Cityneon Group.”

The Animax transaction was based on a combination of cash and shares in Cityneon and Animax is expected to contribute immediately to the revenue and profits of the Group post acquisition.