Another big-ticket independent animated feature is coming to market in the shape of “Ladybug & Cat Noir Awakening.” Sierra/Affinity has boarded sales and has the project at Cannes. Six-time Grammy-winning producer and composer Harvey Mason Jr. (“Dreamgirls”) is composing the music for the movie project with Jeremy Zag, who directs.
Zag is the creator of the “Miraculous” universe. On TV, the “Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir” is a popular series, and has sold to over 100 countries. It has played on Disney in Europe, the Middle East and Asia, Nickelodeon in the U.S., TF1 in France, ABC in Australia and EBS in Korea. Netflix also has it in numerous territories.
Skydance landed the rights to work up a live-action version of the property last year. There is also an extensive licensing and merchandising program in place in a kids TV business in which ancillary revenues are often the real money earner.
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Production is under way on the movie, which is billed as a romantic fantasy adventure. It will follow two Parisian teens who transform into the Ladybug and Cat Noir superheroes. They “embark on a quest that teaches the audience about family, bonds, responsibility and the hearts of two young souls at the center of the story,” the producers said.
The film is being made by the Zag Company and The Awakening Production. Producers include Zag and Aton Soumache and exec producers Alexis Vonarb and Emmanuel Jacomet.
The built-in “Miraculous” fanbase gives “Ladybug & Cat Noir Awakening” an edge in a market that is seeing an increasing number of indie toon features rub shoulders with the studio franchises. Projects at Cannes include Mac Guff’s “Around the World” with Studiocanal on sales.