Hard on the heels of a highly successful MIPCOM, kids and family entertainment venture Toon2Tango, a LEONINE Animation Studios company, is maintaining the positive momentum established at Europe’s leading entertainment content market with its first-ever appearance at the Asia TV Forum & Market (ATF) in Singapore from 3-6 December.
Visitors to stand K22 at the show, taking place at the Marina Bay Sands, can hear more about an impressive roster of existing and imminent Toon2Tango hits as co-producer or distributor that includes Agent 203, Monster Loving Maniacs(second seasons for both of which are now in preparation), Dinomite & Lucy, The Wee Littles, Hey Fuzzy YellowandPocats. They can also find out more about a big co-production deal that’s just been announced for Paluten Freedom, an animated film for the whole family.
InAgent 203, one of Toon2Tango’s biggest hits to date, you are invited to meet Zoe Stranek and share her surprise when she finds out her dad used to be a secret agent protecting our planet against alien invasions! Together with her new alien bestie Ulav and her best friends Quigley and Rock, she follows in his footsteps, protecting our planet from General Gore, the ultimate badass alien, hoping to find out what happened to her father.
A 26 x 22’ CGI adventure comedy and the world’s first Spy-Fi show, primarily targeted at girls aged 6-10, Agent 203 is a co-production between Toon2Tango, Mondo TV and Cosmos Maya Animation distributed by Toon2Tango and Mondo TV. Season one, commissioned by leading broadcaster SUPER RTL of Germany, has already sold to over 100 countries.
The clever, original and very funny kids’ animation Monster Loving Maniacs, a 52 x 11’ 2D comedy for 6-10-year-olds, is about three siblings trained as monster hunters by their tough old grandfather. There’s just one problem: these kids are massive horror fans. So they find a way to save the monsters.
The show, commissioned by leading broadcasters SUPER RTL of Germany and DR of Denmark, is a ratings success internationally: in the UK it has ranked consistently among CBBC’s top shows and is now available in over 150 countries.
Monster Loving Maniacs is produced by Ja Film and co-produced by Mondo TV, Belvision and Ginger Pictures and distributed by Toon2Tango and Mondo TV.
With pre-schoolers in mind – and offering an appeal to children across all cultures – comes The Wee Littles, the new 46 x 5’ animation for 3-6-year-olds, commissioned by Ireland’s public broadcaster RTE and produced by MagPie6Media in a unique style: simulated stop-motion animation using puppets made by leading puppet-making studio Mackinnon & Sunders.
The Wee Littles is about a family of four very small creatures – Mum, Dad, Bitsy and Itsy – living in a great big forest world and working together figuring out how to overcome life’s little obstacles – like raindrops the size of your head! – with imagination, positive support and humour. After a strong response from broadcasters, Toon2Tango and Mondo TV are jointly distributing the show internationally.
Fully available next year – and already showing in Ireland – and with a lot of industry buzz behind it, is Hey Fuzzy Yellow (52 x 11’), a fresh, highly original 2D animated series for kids aged 3-5, with unpredictable comedy and an entertaining, magazine-style format which supports early education concepts. This is a spirited, very amusing new spin on childhood edutainment with a focus on thinking and self-expression through exploration and play, with fun, and very funny, original songs.
The show was created and developed by Måns Swanberg and Toon2Tango and commissioned by the Irish public broadcaster RTE. Educational guidance was provided by Crandall Consulting and funding includes support from Creative Europe, the Government of Ireland and Screen Ireland.
Hey Fuzzy Yellow, which is a co-production by Toon2Tango, Treehouse Republic and Hotel Hungaria Animation, is currently in production with 26 episodes available now; the remaining 26 episodes are set for delivery in spring 2025. But Irish viewers don’t have to wait till 2025: the RTE-commissioned show is streaming now on RTE Player!
The show has already been acquired by Warner Bros Discovery in Latin America, while Cookbook Media LLC, a premier global franchise management agency, has been appointed as North American content distributor.
Coming to screens at the beginning of 2025 – and now showing on a major German channel – is Dinomite & Lucy, a wild, and wildly original, new show set in an alternative prehistoric world in which dinosaurs are the superior species.
This eagerly awaited new animated 39×11’ show about Dino, an inventive dino boy, and his extraordinary pet, headstrong cavegirl Lucy, their friendship and their crazy ideas, delves into the adventure of childhood and all the small and large challenges that come with it, not to mention all kinds of fun!
Dinomite & Lucy is based on an internationally successful series of books by German author Ute Krause. Admired animation experts TRIKK17 and M.A.R.K.13™, together with Fabriques d’Images, are co-producing this delightful new venture.
Toon2Tango has also entered into a partnership with ZDF Studios, the commercial subsidiary of ZDF, to jointly work on the distribution of this fantastic new show. Toon2Tango will be in charge of the French-speaking territories, Italy, Iberia and China, while ZDF Studios will handle distribution in all other territories worldwide. But German viewers can see it now! The German-language version of Dinomite & Lucy premiered on free-to-air television channel KiKA on 15 November.
For older pre-schoolers, there’s poCats. The poCats are tiny beanbag kittens – or are they? Adults believe they are merely toys, but children know that they possess magical abilities. The poCats consistently find themselves in various adventures, and each episode narrates the complications that arise from these escapades. Fortunately, solving these issues requires only a bit of magic, a few tricks – and cooperation with the kids!
Thirteen seven-minutes episodes of this cartoon series have been fully developed by Hungary’s Ionart Studio. Toon2Tango is working on the financing of another 39 episodes.
Toon2Tango has also announced that it is to co-produce Paluten Freedom an animated film for the whole family based on a wildly successful web video series. It will co-produce the film alongside renowned production company Odeon Fiction, which has secured the film rights to the web video series that inspired the film. The theatrical release will take place in 2027.
Turning 25 this year, ATF is Asia’s co-production and entertainment content market and conference where the world gathers to trade, collaborate, share the best-in-class ideas, and champion the next generation of Asian content. It’s also timed perfectly for Toon2Tango as co-founder Ulli Stoef explains.
‘Since we became part of the LEONINE group, the already strong interest in our work has grown’, he says. ‘After a very successful MIPCOM we now want to tell the key players in the Asian market about all our exciting plans for 2025 and beyond – and where better to do that than at our first-ever ATF? Stand K22 is the place to be to hear about the genuinely diverse, innovative and incredibly entertaining shows supported by Toon2Tango – as both co-producer and distributor’.
