Warner Home Video has inked a worldwide home video distribution agreement with Toronto-based Breakthrough Animation for the animated series Atomic Betty. The Canada-France co-production was created by Atomic Cartoons and co-produced with Breakthrough Media and France’s Tele-image Kids, in association with TELETOON Canada and with the participation of the Shaw Fund and the Canadian Television Fund. It began airing weekly on Cartoon Network in September.
Under the terms of the agreement, Warner Home Video will distribute the first two seasons, consisting of 52 half-hour episodes, in the U.S. and most international home video markets.
Atomic Betty employs Flash animation and some CG to chronicle the exploits of an extraordinary little girl from the Canadian town of Moosejaw Heights. To her friends and family, Betty is the sweet and brainy girl next door. But when the galaxy beckons, she sheds her humdrum persona and becomes Atomic Betty, Galactic Guardian and Defender of the Cosmos. The property was conceived by Atomic Cartoons principals Trevor Bentley, Mauro Casalese, Rob Davies and Olaf Miller.
Commenting on the home video deal, Davies tells Animation Magazine Online, "We’re extremely happy because it’s been a really long road to get to this point. Obviously, Warner Home Video is the largest distribution company on the planet, so it’s a huge deal for us to be given the thumbs-up by them."
The series is the first original production for Atomic Cartoons, which up to this point has been solely involved in providing animation services to clients. Davies tells us the studio is currently developing other properties as it continues to do service work and to produce the continuing adventures of Betty. He notes, "We’re hoping the success we’re having with Betty will send the positive message, ‘Hey, these guys not only have the ideas but they can also pull them off."
Davies says and his colleagues would also like to be involved in DVD bonus features and other aspects of Atomic Betty’s home video presentation. "Our fingers are crossed," he comments. "It’s our baby, so we would like to be involved wherever we can. Atomic Cartoons has enjoyed terrific creative collaboration with our co-production partners, Breakthrough Animation and Teleimages Kids, and we are looking to expand on that model in other mediums and areas. We’ve animated Atomic Betty bumpers, movie trailers and commercials and are planning on being as actively involved as possible with the merchandising art and the licensees. The Joy Tasjien Marketing Group handles the master license and we’ve built a strong relationship with them to help bolster and maintain the ever-growing Betty brand. Video games is another area we’d like to be involved in and there are negotiations in place for that."
The Warner Home Video agreement closely follows Breakthrough’s recent Atomic Betty partnerships with such industry leaders as Playmates (master toy license) and Penguin Books.
