Mercury Filmworks & Sun Creature Adapting ‘Macanudo’ to Animated Series

King Features Syndicate, a unit of Hearst, today announced that the internationally acclaimed newspaper comic strip Macanudo will leap from the page to the screen in a new animated show titled Macanudo: The Series. Currently in development, the 26 x 11′ series is a co-production between Canada’s Mercury Filmworks (Hilda) and Sun Creature’s (The Heroic Quest of the Valiant Prince Ivandoe) French studio, with King Features managing sales and rights globally (excluding Canada and France).

“Macanudo is a singular piece of storytelling — poetic, philosophical and full of joy — and it presents a rare opportunity to create a series that resonates as deeply with adults as it does with kids,” said Clint Eland, CEO of Mercury Filmworks. “We’re thrilled to partner with Sun Creature and King Features to bring Liniers’ whimsical world to life through animation, and to introduce a whole new generation to the quiet magic that Macanudo offers.”

Charlotte de La Gournerie, Co-Founder & Executive Producer at Sun Creature Studio, added, “Sparkling magic and poetry to children in a way that also resonates with their parents is something we need more of! I’m thrilled to be part of this ambitious adventure alongside such a talented team!”

With a circulation of over 12.5 million in print and digital, and over 50 books published for a global audience, Macanudo is described as ‘a whimsical and witty comic strip with the same playfulness and warmhearted spirit as classics like Calvin & Hobbes and Peanuts’. Argentine cartoonist Ricardo Liniers Siri (Liniers) has written and drawn Macanudo daily for the Argentine newspaper La Nación since 2002, and the strip has been distributed (in English and Spanish) worldwide since 2018 by King Features. Macanudo follows the adventures of characters including duendes, witches, penguins, Henrietta (and her cat Fellini), Olga, The Mysterious Man in Black and a Sensitive Robot.

Macanudo: The Series, which targets kids 6 – 11, focuses on Henrietta and Martincito, two kids destined to be best friends living in Nuevo Aires. Their ever-expanding curiosity, imagination and creativity give them the power of ‘Macanudo’, the ability to see the invisible, magical world underlying the lives of children everywhere. Along with their partners, Fellini the talking cat and Olga the imaginary monster, these four upstarts celebrate the wondrous years of childhood and inspire other kids (and a few unusual adults) to use their own Macanudo and find the magic in the mundane, reminding all audiences that childhood is not something meant to grow out of but something you are meant to take with you.

“We are lucky to partner with an amazing cartoonist like Liniers to develop this beloved comic property beyond print and into entertainment,” said C.J. Kettler, President of King Features. “This is our latest children’s entertainment project as we look to adapt our iconic comic strip properties for families worldwide. The extraordinarily talented team — including Andrea Fernandez, Mercury Filmworks and Sun Creature Studio — will bring Macanudo: The Series to life, making audiences worldwide fall in love with its fanciful characters and finding wonder in everyday moments of life.”

“Macanudo isn’t just a comic — it’s a beloved voice in Latin American storytelling, and we’re honored to help it reach new audiences,” said series director and showrunner Andrea Fernandez (The Cuphead Show!, Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Unikitty!).

As one of the projects selected to be featured in the Annecy International Animation Film Festival’s Mifa Pitches Program this year, the studios will showcase the visual development on Macanudo: The Series to date, including character designs, backgrounds, thumbnails and scripts.