Turner EMEA has greenlit a second season of its first Boomerang Original, The Happos Family, which will return with longer adventures featuring the lovable characters as well as fresh digital content. Season two, comprising 25 seven-minute, non-dialog episodes, will launch on Boomerang channels starting January 2018.
The series follows the lives of a family of animals living in a safari park. By day, they loll about for the edification of drive-through human tourists, but when the park closes they jump out of their mud wallows, get dressed and embark on their own adventures. Season two will also introduce three brand-new characters to the family: Football Happo, Scientist Happo and Acrobat Happo. Created in partnership with Italy’s Ferrero, season two will be produced by Paris-based Cyber Group Studios, which also recently signed a co-production deal with Boomerang for Taffy.
“We immediately fell in love with The Happos Family and it’s not at all surprising that the show is already resonating with kids and families around the world,” said Cyber Group’s Chairman and CEO, Pierre Sissmann. “We’re delighted to be partnering again with Turner and coming on board to produce the second series of Happos, this time with longer stories and great new characters.”
In addition to the new TV season, the Happos will appear in a variety of interactive digital initiatives, including the popular Boomerang Make n’ Race app — which has been downloaded more than 20 million times — alongside other Boomerang favorites such as Scooby-Doo and Tom and Jerry.
“The great audience reaction, channel exposure and performance of Happos to date are all positive signs that we have an exciting new franchise on our hands,” said Johanne Broadfield, VP, Cartoon Network Enterprises EMEA. “We’ve seen kids actually belly-laughing while watching the content and demonstrating really strong engagement with the humour and characters. Taking the show to a new level, with longer episodes and extensive support across digital, stands us in very good stead for a successful consumer products program – and we’re looking forward to the reaction we get from prospective partners here at [Licensing Expo] Vegas.”
