Asia TV Forum & Market (ATF) kicked off its virtual ATF Online+ conference today (Dec. 1) by treating attendees to a first look at the brand-new original CG-animated The Smurfs series based on the iconic property!
The Smurfs: A New Touch Of Blue (working title) is a brand new comedy-adventure series will follow the beloved characters--Papa Smurf, Smurfette, Brainy, Hefty, Clumsy and others--on all-new adventures, packed with humor, heart and high-stakes action.
Nickelodeon acquired the global rights to The Smurfs earlier this year, and is slated to debut the series on Nickelodeon USA in 2021, followed by Nickelodeon channels internationally.
The exclusive premiere panel at ATF 2020 began with the journey of the blue magical creatures into our world. Giving a glimpse at the character animation test, rendering test and some pipeline works, audience got a hint about all the fun and magic coming their way in 2021. Attendees were also treated to the premiere of the show's first episode.
The Smurfs is produced by Belgium's Peyo Productions and France's Dupuis Edition & Audiovisuel. It is being directed by William Renaud (Calimero, Casper’s Scare School, A Kind of Magic) and written by Peter Saisselin (Sonic Boom, ALVINNN!!! And the Chipmunks) and Amy Serafin (Sonic Boom, Alvin!!! And the Chipmunks).
The Smurfs will feature full CGI animation similar to that of the animated film Smurfs: The Lost Village. Episodes of the new series are scheduled to run 13 minutes each.
For Nickelodeon, The Smurfs is being overseen by Layla Lewis, Senior Vice President, Global Acquisitions and Content Partnerships and Dana Cluverius, Senior Vice President, Current Series Animation.
In addition to the content partnership, ViacomCBS Consumer Products (VCP) will manage consumer products licensing for The Smurfs property across the U.S., Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Singapore and Malaysia. VCP will seek new merchandising and promotional partners in select categories and territories for The Smurfs classic brand, in addition to a new product line for the new animated series The Smurfs, spanning categories including toys, stationery, apparel and accessories, home, consumer packaged goods and more, to launch at retail in 2022.
The Smurfs partnership is part of Nickelodeon’s strategy to be the home for the biggest franchises kids and families love, and it expands Nickelodeon’s growing portfolio of influential properties that already includes SpongeBob SquarePants, PAW Patrol, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Blue’s Clues & You!, the first-ever SpongeBob spinoff, Kamp Koral: SpongeBob’s Under Years, and an all-new animated Star Trek series, Star Trek: Prodigy.
Jazwares has been named as the global master toy partner for The Smurfs brand.
Created in 1958 by Belgian cartoonist Peyo, pen name of Pierre Culliford (1928-1992), the Smurfs (French: Les Schtroumpfs) evolved from secondary comic characters in Peyo's Johan and Peewit (French: Johan et Pirlouit) comic series and spinning off into their own series the following year, in which they became the small centerpieces of the massive franchise that skyrocketed to global fame with the 1981 launch of The Smurfs (Smurfs' Adventures) Saturday morning cartoon series, which, produced by Hanna-Barbera aired new episodes on NBC until 1989, running for more than 250 episodes and several specials over nine seasons. It would eventually manifest in live-action CG-animation hybrid splendor on the big screen. The 2011 feature film of the same name and its 2013 sequel, The Smurfs 2 were produced by Sony Pictures Animation and released by Columbia Pictures. Hank Azaria and Neil Patrick Harris starred in live-action roles, with voiceovers by Anton Yelchin, Jonathan Winters, Katy Perry (famously providing the voice of Smurfette), Jayma Mays, and George Lopez. A fully CG-animated standalone movie, The Smurfs: Lost Village was released in April 2017, featuring the voices of Demi Lovato, Rainn Wilson, Ellie Kemper, Julia Roberts and Mandy Patinkin. The Smurfs have also featured in two shorts.
The Smurfs' popularity lives on; in March, 3,549 fans thumbed their blue noses at science and gathered in France to break the world record for the largest gathering of Smurfs, despite warnings not to gather in large groups during the global pandemic.
ATF 2020 runs between Dec. 1-4. For more information, visit https://www.asiatvforum.com.
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