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Warner Bros. Discovery U.K. has confirmed a wide theatrical release plan in the U.K. and Ireland for the Spanish animated feature “Buffalo Kids” from producers 4 Cats Pictures. Warner Bros. also previously acquired the film for Italy as a pre-buy.

Since the film’s Aug. 14 release in Spain, J.J. Garcia Galocha and Pedro Solís’ “Buffalo Kids” has surpassed $5 million at the Spanish domestic box office, making it the highest-grossing independent animated film in the country this year and the second-highest-grossing Spanish film overall. It has sold more than 740,000 admissions in the country.

“Buffalo Kids'” Spanish launch was supported by co-producers Atresmedia Cine and A3 Media, who, alongside Wbd Spain, led an ambitious promotional campaign across traditional and digital media platforms. More than a month after its release, “Buffalo Kids” posters can be seen in metro stations and on the sides of newspaper stands in Madrid.

Wbd and 4 Cats will...

Transatlantic distribution company Pink Parrot Media has acquired global rights to David Baute’s animated feature “Black Butterflies” following a successful summer festival run, which included an Annecy Contrechamp competition world premiere.

Pink Parrot is meeting with distributors around the world and has already closed a deal with Sideral Cinema in Spain, co-producers of this year’s Spanish Oscars submission “Saturn Returns.”

“Black Butterflies” will be released in Spanish theaters on Dec. 5 after getting its domestic premiere on Oct. 4 in the official selection at Sitges. Baute will attend the Catalan screening with screenwriter Yaiza Berrocal, composer Diego Navarro, production designer and animation director Pepe Sánchez and director of photography and art María Pulido.

Other upcoming festival appearances include Animasyros, DocsMx and the Manchester Animation Festival.

A 2D-animated climate change documentary, “Black Butterflies” is inspired by Baute’s live-action 2020 film “Climate Exodus.” The new film merges intimate and personal narratives from women climate refugees from Kenya,...

Beverly Hills-based Cinema Management Group has closed a first round of distribution deals for the animated kids and family feature “Buffalo Kids,” screening in this year’s Annecy Presents section at the prestigious French festival.

Adapted from the short film “Cuerdas” (“Strings”), “Buffalo Kids” is a frontier tale about two recently orphaned Irish siblings. The duo emigrate to America, landing in the urban wilderness of New York City, where their uncle Niall was meant to pick them up. When Niall, who normally resides in California, is a no-show, the kids set out to try and find their distant kin. What follows is a trans-continental odyssey across North America, including wild action sequences, new friends, and picturesque landscapes.

Producer and co-writer Jordi Gasull said of the film: “The idea of adapting ‘Strings’ into a full-length feature has been in my heart for years, and to see it come to life is...

Ikiru Films, Tinglado Film (“Ona”) and Anangu Grup (“Mummies”) are readying David Baute’s “Black Butterflies” (“Mariposas Negras”), an animated climate exodus film three years in the making that illustrates the journey of three women fleeing uninhabitable terrain towards new lives that prove far from welcoming. The trials and tribulations of each are relayed via 2D renderings.

“I’m thrilled to be producing David Baute’s “Black Butterflies” with Tinglado Film, Anangu Grup and Tunche Films. It’s a global tale necessary to relay, with the focus placed on people whose tragedies are largely unknown to our society,” asserted Ikiru Films founder, Edmon Roch.

Sharing an exclusive first look image with Variety, he adds, “The World Bank projects that climate change will drive 143 million people in Latin America, Africa, and South Asia alone to leave their homes by 2050. Most of them come from poor regions that have contributed little to global warming.

Barcelona, Spain – May 18th 2023. Publisher Selecta Play and developer Gammera Nest are thrilled to announce that everyone’s favourite explorer is returning in the 2D action adventure game Tad The Lost Explorer launching for Nintendo Switch on July 7th 2023. Inspired by the animated movie Tad The Lost Explorer and the Emerald Tablet, the game is loveling created using stunning 2.5D visuals with the story told through comic book-style cutscenes.

Tad The Lost Explorer – Craziest and Madness Edition takes you on an exciting new global adventure to uncover the origins of a mysterious curse accidentally released by Tad. Join the lost explorer and his faithful companions as they travel through bustling cities on an epic journey solving intricate puzzles, facing off against crazy adversaries and reconstructing parts of the past to reveal the secrets of the Emerald Tablet.

Welcome to Global Breakouts, Deadline’s fortnightly strand in which we shine a spotlight on the TV shows and films killing it in their local territories. The industry is as globalized as it’s ever been, but breakout hits are appearing in pockets of the world all the time and it can be hard to keep track… So we’re going to do the hard work for you.

We’re off to sunny Spain this week to unwrap the story of Mummies — Warner Bros Pictures’ animated hit that combines ancient Egyptian tropes with classic family comedy. Now the second biggest Spanish animation ever, worldwide box office takings are over $50M and growing, and talks of a sequel are emerging.

Name: Mummies

Country: Spain

Producer: 4 Cats Pictures, Warner Bros Spain

For fans of: Tad: The Lost Explorer, Capture the Flag, The Mummy, family animation

Worldwide distribution: Warner Bros Pictures

The...

Malaga’s Animation Day showcases some of the most important animation features in the pipeline in Spain, all made with international partners.

On Tuesday, March 14, five recent outstanding Spanish animated works in progress will be pitched by their producers to the international industry during the event.

Animation Day forms part of Spanish Screenings Content at Malaga Festival’s industry zone Mafiz, supported by Icex Spain’s Trade & Investment entity with the collaboration of Diboos, the Spanish Federation of Animation Producers and the VFX Production Companies Associations.

The five Wip animated titles selected are “4 Days Before Christmas,” a produced by 3Doubles Producciones and Capitán Araña with Canada’s Pvp Media; Barcelona-based Doce Entertainment’s Latin American project “Dalia and the Red Book”; Salvador Simó’s Spain-China toon feature “Dragonkeeper”; Abano Producions, El Gatoverde and Uniko’s German co-production “Sultana’s Dream”; and “Rock Bottom,” a Spain-Poland co-production from Alba Sotorra, Jaibo Films and Gs Animation.

Refresh for latest…: Coming out of its second weekend, Disney/Marvel’s Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania has grossed $363.6M globally. Of that, $167.3M is from domestic and $196.3M from the international box office.

The sophomore overseas frame was $46.4M in 52 markets with a slighter drop than in North America, coming in 57% behind last weekend’s bow — which itself was nevertheless lower than projections owing in part to softness in Asia Pacific. It’s not the worst drop for Marvel, but it’s not great either.

The same theories from last weekend’s offshore start continue to apply: Early critical scores dampened wannasee, sci-fi of the Star Wars ilk is a hard sell in some Asian markets and the gap between Marvel movies in China may be a challenge (amid a certain lack of appetite for Hollywood movies there in general). More will be borne out over the coming...

Adventure animation expected to be ready for release by Q3 2024.

Cinema Management Group will kick off EFM sales in Berlin next month on Buffalo Kids from 4 Cats Pictures and Atresmedia Cine, featuring a voice cast led by Gemma Arterton, Sean Bean, and Stephen Graham.

The new production comes hot on the heels of 4 Cats Pictures’ Mummies, which is currently in theatrical release in Australia via Warner Bros and is scheduled to become the most widely distributed Spanish feature released by a Hollywood studio.

Buffalo Kids centres on two orphans from Ireland who sail to New York and embark on...

Spain’s Madrid region is riding the crest of a wave towards becoming one of the most important animation/VFX hubs in Europe.

Taking in the country’s capital, the Madrid region hosts more than 32 of Spain’s active audiovisual companies and around 31 of its animation and VFX firms.

Regional animation and VFX players – structured around Pixel Cluster Madrid – scored last year a net revenue of €72.6 million (72.6 million) and generated 1,855 jobs.

“Animation and video games are strategic sectors within the economy of Madrid,” says Ignacio Carballo, head of audiovisual industries in the Madrid region. “They are elements of the future, dynamizers.”

The region is proving the cradle of high-profile toon productions reaping international recognition, an increasing trend in recent years.

Its importance is proved by several standout moves, often related with animated films:

*With its third instalment, “Tad The Lost Explorer. The Emerald Tablet,” currently dominating Spanish box office, the “Tad” saga,...

Tad the Explorer – aka Tad Stones the Chicago bricklayer – is onto his third adventure in new Enrique Gato feature, Tad the Lost Explorer and the Curse of the Mummy (or Tad the Lost Explorer and the Emerald Tablet in some regions) and is as accident-prone as ever as he tries to gain acceptance into the upper echelons of archaeological circles.

Indeed, we first see Tad (voiced by Trevor White) making a major discovery on a dig in Mexico led by the University of Chicago’s archaeological department which (naturally) all ends in disaster. Expelled from the site and leaving ever patient girlfriend Sara (Alex Kelly) behind, a crestfallen Tad returns home to decomposing old friend Mummy (Joseph Balderrama) who is as addicted to gadgets and social media as any youth is today (parents/guardians unite in rolling their collective eyes to the cinema ceiling in weary recognition here). However, in the chaos that follows,...

Voltage Pictures’ ‘After Ever Happy’ tops 12 markets on 7.9m total.

World box office August 26-28, 2022 Rank Film (distributor) 3-day (world) Cume (world) 3-day (int’l) Cume (int’l) Territories 1. Minions: The Rise Of Gru (Universal) 17.7m 868.9m 14.9m 514.1m 85 2. Bullet Train (Sony) 15m 173.6m 9.4m 95.4m 62 3. New Gods: Yang Jian (various) 12.9m 43.6m 12.9m 43.6m 1 4. Moon Man (various) 12.2m 421.9m 12.2m 421.9m 1 5. Top Gun Maverick (Paramount) 11.5m 1.4bn 6.7m 731.2m 65 6. Nope (Universal) 10.5m 148.7m 8.3m 31.1m 79 7. Warriors Of Future (various) 9.8m 91.1m 9.8m 91.1m 2 8. Beast (Universal) 8.9m 36.2m 3.9m 16.1m 61 9. Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero (various) 8.8m 67.8m 4.2m 37m...

Voltage Pictures’ ‘After Ever Happy’ tops 12 markets on 7.9m total.

World box office August 26-28, 2022 Rank Film (distributor) 3-day (world) Cume (world) 3-day (int’l) Cume (int’l) Territories 1. Minions: The Rise Of Gru (Universal) 17.7m 868.9m 14.9m 514.1m 85 2. Bullet Train (Sony) 15m 173.6m 9.4m 95.4m 62 3. New Gods: Yang Jian (various) 12.9m 43.6m 12.9m 43.6m 1 4. Moon Man (various) 12.2m 421.9m 12.2m 421.9m 1 5. Top Gun Maverick (Paramount) 11.5m 1.4bn 6.7m 731.2m 65 6. Nope (Universal) 10.5m 148.7m 8.3m 31.1m 79 7. Warriors Of Future (various) 9.8m 91.1m 9.8m 91.1m 2 8. Beast (Universal) 8.9m 36.2m 3.9m 16.1m 61 9. Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero (various) 8.8m 67.8m 4.2m 37m...

Isabel Díaz Ayuso, president of Madrid Region announced Friday that she aims to transform Madrid into will the most important animation and VFX “hub” in Southern Europe, via an ambitious plan for incentives and other support programs.

The result, Díaz Ayuso added, will be the creation of employment in this buoyant sector.” Madrid’s president made the announcement during a speech as she was officially reconfirmed as head of Madrid’s regional government having won new regional elections in May with a landslide victory.

The regional investment in animation would mark the first direct aid for the animation sector in Spain marking it out as a strategic priority for economic growth. Historically, Spain has sorely lacked specific incentives for animation and suffered from low TV pre-buys compared to much of Europe. In very recent years, however, given the recent and escalating demand for animation content led by global streamer studios,...

Of all Spain’s film sectors, none has grown its international impact in recent years more than animation. At January’s Annie Awards, “Klaus,” made at Sergio Pablos’ Madrid-based Spa Studios, which produced with Spain’s Atresmedia Cine, won best feature, having just snagged an Academy Award nomination.

“Another Day of Life” won best animated feature at the 2018 European Film Awards. “Buñuel in the Labyrinth of the Turtles” took an Annecy Jury Award in 2019 and, again, best animated feature at the 2019 European Film Awards. The first two installments of “Tad the Lost Explorer” scored at the Spanish box office.

70% of the total turnover of Spanish animation companies comes from outide Spain, according to Spanish Federation of Animation and VFX Producers (Diboos). However, much Spanish talent, and the country’s technical capacity, is still not working at full capacity, the trade body argues.

Suddenly, however, in the midst of Covid-19 confinement...

Barcelona – Rémi Chayé’s “Calamity, a Childhood of Martha Jane Cannary,” Anca Damian’s “The Island,” Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal’s “They Shot the Piano Player,” and Enrique Gato’s “Tad the Lost Explorer and the Curse of the Mummy” are among the sixty-six projects from twenty countries to be pitched at the 22nd Cartoon Movie, Europe’s leading animated movie co-production event. Cartoon Movie will take place in the French port city of Bordeaux, kicking off March 3rd.

Projects will be accessible for buyers and potential partners and will be pitched in different stages of production: 28 in concept, 27 in development, six in production and five sneak previews. The five projects at the sneak preview showcase and the six in production have previously been to Cartoon Movie in preliminary production stages. Twenty-three projects are co-productions.

A family adventure, Rémi Chayé’s (acclaimed “Long Way North”) sophomore feature depicts the...

Barcelona— Ibermedia, the multi-million dollar pan-regional fund which is a financial lifeline for many for films in Latin America, is finally getting serious about animation. As announced at Spain’s Málaga Film Festival, a showcase for Spanish-language cinema, the Ibero-American fund has allotted $200,000 for animation work development, as $30,000 per work.

Amounts may look small: There are sufficient, however, for animators in much of Latin America a significant amount of time and cost coverage to develop project.

The new incentives follow on a work session at the 1st Quirino Awards for Ibero-American animation, won by Mexico’s “Ana and Bruno” (pictured), which took place in April on the Canary Island of Tenerife. Attended by industry body reps, the session debated a package of possible incentives for the region’s animation industry which is beginning to build, sometimes energetically, though from a low-base, especially in Spain, Mexico, Brazil and Colombia.

Presented to Caci,...

Spanish producer to make 25 feature films and TV series over the next three years.

Spanish media giant Telefónica has unveiled global ambitions for production outfit Telefónica Studios.

The brand will handle all the projects produced by the company, which over the next three years will involve 25 high-quality feature films and several television series.

Telefónica Studios, launched during the San Sebastian Film Festival, stated its intention to establish itself as a significant player in the international market, a source of top-quality projects first in Europe and Latin America and later also in the English-speaking markets.

Currently, Telefónica Studios generates an output of between ten and 12 films a year.

In the last five years, three divisions of Telefónica have produced films and TV series: Telefé, Telefónica Producciones Media Networks and Telefónica España.

Among these projects were The Secret in Their Eyes (El Secreto de sus ojos), The Adventures of Thaddeus Jones (Las aventuras de Tadeo Jones) and Chinese Takeaway...