The second season of Max Original adult animated series gen:LOCK debuts Thursday, November 4 on HBO Max. Set 50 years in the future where an oppressive authoritarian force threatens to conquer the world, the series is executive produced by Michael B. Jordan, who stars alongside Dakota Fanning, Maisie Williams, Golshifteh Farahani, G.K. Bows, Asia Kate Dillion, Kōichi Yamadera and David Tennant. Alana Mayo is also an executive producer. Jordan’s Outlier Society co-produces the series alongside Ryan P. Hall and Dan Shorr for WarnerMedia’s Rooster Teeth.
In S2, a war leaves behind only a handful of highly skilled soldiers fighting for the future of humanity as a deteriorating Earth, due to an unstoppable climate collapse, has two distinct visions for the future of the human race: The Polity and the Union. The Polity and the Union remained locked in a brutal and unforgiving war, when, after sustaining devastating injuries, pilot Julian Chase (Jordan) returns from the dead in the form of a Holon warrior, one of a select few whose mind is compatible with the mech-suit gen:LOCK program. As Dr. Weller (Tennant) works to crack the gen:LOCK code, it’s up to Chase, Miranda (Fanning), Cammie (Williams) and their team of intrepid Polity fighters to fend off the authoritarian Union. But as the war rages on, Chase must decide if he’s willing to sacrifice everything – including friends, family and his own humanity – to save an increasingly hostile world.
Fred Rogers Productions has been awarded a $2.7 million multi-year funding grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) for Alma’s Way, which launched October 4 on PBS KIDS. The grant covers a broad range of production, promotional, and educational engagement activities for the show, created by actor/writer Sonia Manzano.
Aimed at viewers ages 4-6, Alma’s Way (40 x half-hour) follows six-year-old Alma Rivera, a proud, confident Puerto Rican girl, who lives in the Bronx with her parents, Abuelo, and younger brother, Junior, as well as a diverse group of close-knit and loving friends, family, and community members. Each episode models self-awareness, responsible decision-making, and empathy, while encouraging kids to generate and value their own ideas and questions. The episodes showcase different aspects of Latino culture through music, food, language, and more.
Roger and His Humans from Dupuis Edition et Audiovisuel is returning to YouTube for a second season (36 x 2′), having enjoyed a successful launch in July 2020 which has totted up 45.9 million views, 585,000 followers and a Silver Trophy from YouTube. Adapted from the comic book by Cyprien & Paka and aimed at teens and young adults, the digital 2D series is directed by Alexandre Coste and produced by Arthur Colignon; Caroline Audebert and Caroline Duvochel are associate producers. Mediatoon handles international distribution.
Delivered with caustic YouTuber humor, geek references and snappy punchlines, the cartoons centers on a robot named Roger who takes up residence with a human couple, and persistently deconstructs their habits and social norms as he seeks to understand how the human world works. In the next season, Roger will continue to venture into the world to ask acerbic questions about death, escape rooms, night clubs and even dating.
Jetpack Distribution has picked up international rights (outside the U.K.) for live-action/animated comedy Silly Animals, commissioned by Sky Kids and co-produced by Rebel Television and Media and Silver Star Productions. The 20 x 6′ series for kids 5-12 stars Alan Carr as Gary the vlogging dog.
In the show, Gary sneaks into an underground vault on a mission to show the world what animals are really like, broadcasting nature’s greatest fails, fumbles and feral tomfoolery to prove that wild animals are not as clever and graceful as boring humans would have you believe. Using state of the art VFX “muzzle replacement,” Gary introduces and narrates the clips, while a team of impressionists voice a wealth of comic characters.
ABC (U.S.) has slated its holiday programming lineup, including the return of festive animated favorites. These include:
- Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town (Nov. 26 & Dec. 23, 8 p.m.)
- Olaf’s Frozen Adventure (Dec. 2 & Dec. 24, 8 p.m.)
- Toy Story That Time Forgot (Dec. 2, 8:30 p.m.)
- Shrek the Halls (Dec. 24, 8:30 p.m.)
- Prep & Landing and Prep & Landing 2: Naughty vs. Nice (Dec. 24, 9 & 9:30 p.m.)
Acquisition and Expansion Updates:
- Malaysia’s Astro has picked up multiple hits from Animasia Studio, bringing Dragon Force: Monsters Rise, Beyblade Burst, Harry & Bunnie and Chuck Chicken to its TA-DAA! channel and On Demand platform Astro GO in the coming months, continuing on to VOD platforms Astro B.yond and Astro IPTV.
- Zodiak Kids, part of Banijay, has secured a pre-sale to KiKA (Germany) for upcoming heritage-property series Mumfie (78 x 7′, preschool), directed by Daniel Dubuis and co-produced by Zodiak Kids Studio (France), Animoka (Italy), France Televisions and Rai.
- Monster Entertainment is enjoying a successful year with Irish animation, building The Day Henry Met into a worldwide hit (4 seasons, airing in 192 countries) and developing international audiences for Pins and Nettie (Kids Street U.S., YLE Finland, DR Denmark, ABC Australia, TVO Canada, Showmax Africa, Hopster, Minno), Peek Zoo (KiKA Germany, SRF Switzerland, MG Alba U.K., Ninova Turkey, Al Jazeera Middle East, SVT Sweden, DR, YLE) and Urban Tails (Kid Street, TVO, Showmax, Epic, Azoomee, Kidoodle).
- Global gaming company ZeptoLab has inked a deal with Tencent for the exclusive Chinese broadcast of Om Nom Stories latest seasons (17-19), following its prior exclusive for S8-10.
- India’s largest kids’ platform Voot Kids now offers more Pokémon content than any other digital destination in the country, with 21 movies and over 10,000 minutes of the anime series.
- APC Kids secured a wave of international sales for 2D preschool series DinoCity, produced by Riki Group in partnership with Animax Production. New partners include Piwi+ (France), YLE (Finland), ERT (Greece), Ketnet (Flemish Belgium), MBC (MENA) and Menart (Balkans), following the series debut on DeA Junior (Italy) and Tiny Pop (U.K.)
- One Animation announced new deals across the short-form, long-form and seasonal specials of its hit CG series Oddbods and Insectibles (52 x 11′). Peacock (U.S.) will debut 20 half-hour compilations of the short form and Insectibles S1 in July. Further Oddbods deals include Ketchup TV (S1 long form + themed compilations) for U.S., U.K. and Australia; Discover (S2 short form, S1 renewal) for U.K. VOD; WarnerMedia (S3 long form + The Festive Menace) for LatAm; Prime Video (S1&2 long form) for LatAm, France, Japan and more; and Migo (short for compilations) for Indonesia SVOD.
- Global syndication aggregator BINGE Networks has inked a deal with Plane Characters Productions to distribute and create a new on-demand pipeline for travel-inspired kids’ series Let’s Go See from Little Dot Studios.
- ViacomCBS Networks International launched 40 original channels with Pluto TV‘s arrival in Italy, including kids & family collections Super! Heroes and Super! SpongeBob, and series/movie offerings including SpongeBob SquarePants, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Kung Fu Panda, Penguins of Madagascar and adult comedy South Park.
