Karlstad, Sweden and Toronto, Canada-based animation studio The Nuttery Entertainment has signed an exclusive agreement with Storytel, one of the world’s largest audiobook publishers, for the animated and ancillary rights for the Swedish kids’ IP Håkan Bråkan. Under the deal, this legacy property with over 30 standalone books is making the jump into animation for the first time.
“It is humbling and an incredible privilege to work on such an amazing IP as Håkan Bråkan. This kid is the standout character in the highly successful Andersson Family universe, combining heart, curiosity, imagination and crazy antics,” said Magnus Jansson, co-founder & CEO of Nuttery Entertainment. “Can’t wait for kids all over the world to fall in love with the unique hero that Sören and Anders have created!”
The IP centers on Håkan, the younger brother of Sune Andersson of the Sune book series. While he is really a kind and caring little boy, his puckish ingenuity often causes trouble for himself and others — leading Sune to nickname him “Håkan Bråkan” (Håkan the Troublemaker). The impish character appeared in his first standalone book in 1998, starring in a live-action series produced by SVT in 2003 along with a follow-up live-action feature film in 2004.
Co-founder & producer Erik Öhrner added, “It is very inspiring and engaging to step into Håkan Bråkan’s fantastic world. There is so much heart and recognition in the stories. It is a wonderful opportunity to work with Storytel and Sören and Anders to create new stories for animation. The series have a lot of warmth and excitement, adventure and laughter.”,
The Nuttery is developing the brand into an animated series with its creators, the popular children’s/YA book authors Sören Olsson and Anders Jacobsson. The show will be based on completely new material but will take inspiration from the body of work created so far around the character, focusing on Håkan Bråkan and his fantastic, exaggerated world full of adventure, and aimed at an international audience.
“Animation is by far the best way to further develop our character Håkan Bråkan and his imaginative world,” commented Olsson and Jacobsson. “We are convinced that Håkan Bråkan will be a perfect fit for this medium. The collaboration with Nuttery Entertainment feels very inspiring! It is fun to be part of brainstorming ideas and developing completely new stories about Håkan Bråkan — who is transformed into Super Bråkan when you least expect it!”
The animated series development is taking place alongside Storytel’s major push for the authors, with several new books from Olsson and Jacobsson in the works. As recently announced, Nordic Film will release two new live-action movies based on Håkan Bråkan, the first one releasing next year.
“It’s super exciting that Anders and Sören’s stories about Håkan-Bråkan are becoming an animated series! One of our goals is to have our fantastic content reach out to audiences in new and creative ways and Nuttery Entertainment is the perfect partner to help us do this,” said Sara Hasselström at Storytel Agency.
Nuttery Entertainment will develop and executive produce the animated series alongside Storytel, with Olsson and Jacobsson on board to help craft the creative materials. The project will be approaching co-producers early next year.
