Vivendi-owned European film and TV studio Studiocanal has sealed a deal with Shanghai Senyu Media to represent Studiocanal’s “The Adventures of Paddington Bear” animated series in mainland China. Rights are being promoted at the virtual edition of Hong Kong rights market FilMart.
The series debuted on Nickelodeon in western markets and has already delivered two seasons. Two feature movies have been completed and a third has been announced.
The series is targeted at a pre-school audience. Each 11-minute episode takes a lead from Michael Bond’s original books and tells a new story in animated form. It is written by Jon Foster and James Lamont and produced by Heyday Films, Studiocanal, Copyrights Group, with the participation of French broadcaster M6.
Senyu Media has previously distributed other western children’s IP in China including “PJ Masks” and “Paw Patrol.” “Paddington is a renowned brand in China and we believe it will become another big hit when the new series is launched,” said Chang Fan, VP at Shanghai Senyu Media in a prepared statement.
“These (are) new light-hearted stories that embrace and encourage kindness and thoughtfulness as well as (being) a great deal of fun,” said Sarah Mottershead, Studiocanal’s senior sales manager TV series.
Studiocanal is currently producing and developing a slate of premium international TV series in-house, as well as through its subsidiary production companies, including Germany’s Tandem Productions (“Shadowplay”), the U.K.’s Red Production Company (“Years and Years,” “It’s a Sin,” “Finding Alice”), Urban Myth Films (“War of the Worlds”) and Spain’s Bambu Producciones (“Instinto”). The company is also an associate of Danish-based Sam Productions founded by Soren Sveistrup, Adam Price, and Meta Louise Foldager (“Ride Upon the Storm”) and Benedict Cumberbatch’s Sunnymarch TV (“Patrick Melrose”).