WildBrain appointed by Gutsy Animations to manage Moomin on YouTube
Exclusive new Moominvalley content launching August 9 to mark the 105th anniversary of Moomin creator Tove Jansson’s birth
London, UK – 9 August 2019 – WildBrain, a leading digital kids’ network and studio, has been appointed by Gutsy Animations to develop a global YouTube strategy for Moominvalley, the brand-new animated adaptation of writer-illustrator Tove Jansson’s classic and much-loved stories about the Moomins. The first new Moomins series in almost 30 years, Moominvalley brings Jansson’s characters to life with beautiful 3D CGI animation in 13 episodes for a new generation of kids and families. In addition, WildBrain will manage the library of past Moomin content on YouTube, including the previous series from the 1990s, behind-the-scenes material and other content created exclusively for YouTube by Moomin.com. To celebrate Tove Jansson’s 105th birthday today, fans can enjoy exclusive new Moominvalley content now live on the WildBrain network.
“The Moomins are a wonderful family brand with a rich history and the team at Gutsy Animations have done an outstanding job with Moominvalley to refresh the franchise while remaining faithful to Tove Jansson’s vision,” said Jon Gisby, Managing Director, WildBrain. “We are delighted that the Moomins have joined the WildBrain network and look forward to helping them find and delight a new generation of fans.”
Marika Makaroff, Executive Producer and Creative Director of Gutsy Animations, added: “We are really excited to be working with WildBrain to build the Moomin brand on a truly global scale. Our dedicated following of fans are keen to know more about the creative process behind our new adaptation of Tove’s beautiful and deeply meaningful stories, and to also re-live memories of the past series.”
Moominvalley (13 x 22 mins) is a show full of life, laughter, drama, adventure, fantasy, whimsical and witty dialogue. The story follows Moomintroll, who goes on fantastical adventures with his group of friends and family. As we follow the story of Moomintroll’s growth and encounters with his family and other creatures, we learn more about our own humanity, relationships and emotions – and especially about love. Moominvalley is an uplifting series with many positive messages!
Moominvalley is produced by Gutsy Animations working with an outstandingly talented team, including creative director and executive producer Marika Makaroff; Oscar®-winning director Steve Box; BAFTA®-winning producer John Woolley; and Emmy®-winning writing duo Mark Huckerby and Nick Ostler. Voice talents include, Taron Egerton, Rosamund Pike, Matt Lucas, Jennifer Saunders, Kate Winslet and Matt Berry.
The Moomins – a family of white roundish trolls with large snouts – are the central characters in a series of books and a comic strip by Finnish-Swedish writer and artist Tove Jansson. Jansson achieved worldwide fame as the creator of the Moomin stories, written and illustrated between 1944 and 1971, which follow the characters’ adventures in Moominvalley. Celebrating its 75th anniversary in 2020, Moomin today is one of the top-20 most licensed brands in the world.
For more information, please contact:
WildBrain: Aimee Norman at DDA Blueprint PR
aimee@ddablueprint.com
+44 (0) 20 7932 9800
Gutsy Animations: Caitlin Allen
caitlin@riotcommunications.com
About WildBrain
WildBrain is an industry leader in the management and creation of preschool and children’s entertainment content on platforms such as YouTube, Amazon Video Direct and ROKU. WildBrain’s branded YouTube network is one of the largest of its kind, featuring more than 225,000 videos for over 650 kids’ brands in over 20 languages. One in three kids worldwide with access to YouTube watch video content on the WildBrain network*, which has over 109 million subscribers, and generated over 166 billion minutes of watch time across 33 billion views from July 2018 through June 2019. Connecting kids’ content owners and creators with advertisers in the Advertising Video-on-Demand (AVOD) space, the WildBrain network features much of DHX Media’s world-renowned library of 13,000 half-hours of kids’ and family content, including Peanuts, Teletubbies, Strawberry Shortcake, Caillou, Inspector Gadget, Degrassi and Yo Gabba Gabba!, as well as popular third-party brands such as Fireman Sam, Curious George, Shopkins and Ben 10. WildBrain Studios also specialises in the creation of new, original content for its network, such as animated and live-action shorts; toy-play and stop-motion videos; preschool counting and alphabet videos; nursery rhymes and more. WildBrain is a wholly owned subsidiary of DHX Media (TSX: DHX; NASDAQ: DHXM).
Twitter & Instagram: @WildBrainKids
*Every 90 days excluding China.
About Moomin Characters
Oy Moomin Characters Ltd is the owner, originator and official company responsible for supervising and managing the Moomins brand, copyright and registrations. The company was started in 1958 by Tove Jansson and her brother Lars Jansson and is still run by family members. Sophia Jansson, Lars’s daughter and Tove’s niece, is Chairman of the Board and Creative Director at Moomin Characters. All characters from Moominvalley are registered trademarks.
About Gutsy Animations
Gutsy is a team of creators and producers who believe that the world is in need of funny, clever, gutsy and – above all – meaningful content. All of its productions are aimed at international audiences and based on a concept of genuine social impact.