Studio 100 Media is set to produce a brand-new animation film about the famous little girl from the Swiss Alps “Heidi”. Studio 100 is the rights holder of the classic 1974 anime series and producer of the CGI series from 2015, followed by a second season in 2019. The adventurous series, all adapted from the timeless novel about the orphan girl from Switzerland, written by Johanna Spyri, has still not lost its sparkle and fascination.
Planned for completion in 2024, the film currently in pre-production stage is a co-production between Studio 100 Media and Fabrique Fantastique and scriptwriter is Rob Sprackling, best known for “Gnomeo & Juliet”. Studio 100 Film will be responsible for the international sales, with LEONINE Studios already on board as distribution partner for the German-speaking territories. Pre-sales with Adler in Italy, Kaleidoscope in the UK, NOS Lusomundo in Portugal, FilmHouse in Israel, and Blitz for Ex-Yugoslavian territories have also been confirmed.
Thorsten Wegener, Executive Producer says: “To stay true to the spirit of the original work and its characters that generations of children and adults have loved and embraced, coming up with a new storyline was indeed challenging. However, we have remained loyal to Heidi's personality as a brave, cheerful, and extremely sensitive girl. In this new film, Heidi combines all the qualities of a positive heroine while touching on environmental topics for a global and modern audience.”
Heidi teaches the importance of a simple life, the preservation of nature, kindness, and compassion. All these qualities are Heidi’s recipe for a happy life - living in harmony with your surroundings and putting others before yourself. Playing an important role in this new film is a lynx family. Introducing these remarkable cats into the story ties in with the current situation, where they are being bought back from extinction and into their natural habitat in the Alps.
“Heidi is one of the world's most well-known and beloved children's literary characters - and has been for over 100 years! So, it’s a great honour to revive her and the wonderful world of Dorfli in this sequel to the original story.” comments writer Rob Sprackling.
Farbrique Fantastique’s Tom Van Gestel, director and producer of the film, adds: “There are several reasons why we want to produce this film. First, it’s refreshing to see something with a leisurely and calm tempo that Heidi’s film has to offer. The execution of this film has really taken time, which is in stark contrast to the more recent animation films or series now available. We see this as a fun challenge and want to preserve this calm aspect throughout. In addition, the film takes a special stand on ecology, nature, and deforestation, which is now more topical than ever.”
Studio 100 Film will present first looks of this ambitious project at this year’s AFM in Santa Monica.
Studio 100 Film
Studio 100 Film is an international, independent sales agency for upmarket children’s and family movies. The Munich-based company is a subsidiary of Studio 100 Media representing its own animation feature films and in addition it acts as a sales agency for selected third party films. Studio 100 Film’s focus is to represent a well-chosen portfolio of films internationally with due attentiveness. www.studio100film.com
About Fabrique Fantastique
Fabrique Fantastique was founded in 2014. It’s a Belgian production company with an in-house 2D/3D animation studio, situated in the Flanders region near Antwerp. Our company mainly focuses on creating its own IP's and concepts. Aside from that we also can take part in a production as a co-producer and do service work in our studio. A multi-talented core artistic team allows us to work on a vast variety of styles. In the past we successfully collaborated on publicity campaigns, artistic short movies, TV specials and TV series. Currently Fabrique Fantastique is employing up to 30 people, artists and production staff.
Studio 100 Media
Studio 100 Media is an internationally active production and distribution company for high-quality children’s and family entertainment. Among the well-known brands under Studio 100 Media’s umbrella are "Maya the Bee", "Mia and me", "Heidi", "Vic the Viking" and “100% Wolf”. The company is a subsidiary of the Belgian Studio 100 Group and has an extensive program portfolio, develops and produces new animated series and feature films and distributes them worldwide. Other business areas include international licensing of brand rights, the home entertainment label Studio 100, the company’s pay TV channel Junior and its animation studio Studio Isar Animation founded in 2018. Within the Studio 100 Group, Studio 100 Media brands also have a home in nine theme parks - in Belgium, the Czech Republic, Germany, the Netherlands and Poland. Studio 100 is one of the largest independent European companies for kids and family entertainment. www.studio100group.com
28.10.2022 | American Film Market Dailies's blog