Mondo TV reveals 2020 plans at Kidscreen Summit
Animation & Characters
MeteoHeroes launch highlighted alongside strong and varied production portfolio
With a presence across multiple platforms and a strong and varied production portfolio, Mondo TV, one of the largest European producers and distributors of animated content, has a lot to talk about at this year’s Kidscreen Summit in Miami from 10-13 February, including new and returning shows such as MeteoHeroes, Sissi the Young Empress, Invention Story, House of Talent, YooHoo to the Rescue and Robot Trains.
Mondo TV and Toon2Tango will also be showcasing some of the projects in development since the launch of their strategic alliance, first announced in 2019. Toon2Tango is the new kids and family entertainment venture headed up by long-time television and movie industry experts Ulli Stoef and Jo Daris. The alliance will focus on developing, producing and distributing unique and high-quality programmes — at least eight new animated TV series in the next four years, which Mondo TV Group and Toon2Tango will co-produce and distribute.
MeteoHeroes is set to premiere from autumn 2020. On 22 April, the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, there will be a major media campaign during which the stars of MeteoHeroes will play their roles as ambassadors in the fight to protect our planet.
Mondo TV will also be promoting this year’s return in January on Cartoonito of season three of the much-loved animated series Sissi the Young Empress in a brand-new format: a 26 x 11’ series in 3D CGI. Sissi, married to Franz, now lives in Schönbrunn, where she starts a new life as an empress. However, she’s still the free-spirited, strong-willed princess everyone loves. Each episode is full of adventure as Sissi seeks to help her many human and animal friends around the estate.
This year also sees the arrival of the funny and clever animated series Invention Story (52 x 11), which will debut on free-to-air TV starting from April 2020 on Frisbee in Italy, Karusel in Russia and TV2 Kiwi in Hungary. A major pay TV deal for the Americas – North, South and Central America – is also on the way and will be formally announced very soon for this 3D CGI comedy that encourages its young audience to have a creative approach to problems as they find out more about science and how it works.
But Mondo TV is today even more than a major name in animated entertainment. The 260-episode, web-based show House of Talent, which debuted on 9 September, is a major new undertaking for Mondo – and a big success. House of Talent is already a phenomenon: a crew of over 20 talented teenage online influencers boasting more than half a billion monthly impressions that has also inspired two novels (with more to come) and multi-venue fan meet-and-greets that have attracted over 80,000 fans since the beginning of 2019. The launch of the web series last September saw the crew test their talents in different areas such as cooking, science, fashion, music and more in the rooms of a real house. House of Talent is now expanding into more formats, to be revealed very soon.
The second season of the animated action adventure Robot Trains – which is now rolling out across multiple markets – was quickly followed by an agreement between Mondo TV and CJ ENM, one of South Korea’s largest content and media companies, for the production of a third season of the series, featuring exciting new adventures for the Railwatch team members. The 52 x 11’ 3D CGI series will debut in autumn 2020. Mondo TV, which was the distributor and licensing agent of series one and added co-production to its portfolio for series two, is in charge of the whole production, along with distribution and licensing, for series three.
