Odeon & Toon2Tango Bring ‘Paluten Freedom’ to the Big Screen

Kids and family entertainment venture Toon2Tango, a Leonine Animation Studios company, has announced will co-produce Paluten Freedom, an animated film for the whole family based on gamer-influencer Paluten’s hit world of web videos, books and comics. The project is co-produced by Odeon Fiction, which secured the property’s film rights.

“In 2012, I started with Minecraft videos on a small monitor and now I’ve got something on the big screen! No joke, if someone had told me that back then, I would have taken them straight to hospital!,” Paluten joked in the announcement. “It’s still just as incredible to me today that nine volumes of Paluten Freedom have now been published! So if you see someone in the cinema with a little tear in their eye, it could be me. Because Freedom has become so much more than ‘just’ a story.

“I met many of my best friends in the early days. When the book series started, I met my wife and now that I’m a father, the Freedom film project is starting. An incredible journey. I’m very happy and grateful for everything I’ve been able to build over the last few years through the overwhelming support of my community. A cinema film, people! Un-belie-vable!”

Slated to hit theaters in 2027, Paluten Freedom will be distributed by Leonine Studios, which recently made headlines with the live-action/CG kids’ & family franchise The School of Magical Animals. The third movie in the series is currently one of the most successful films of 2024, with more than 2.6 million cinema viewers in Germany alone.

“I am very proud that Palle and his agency 2nd Wave have placed their trust in us to bring Paluten Freedom to the big screen,” said Philip Voges, Producer at Odeon Fiction. “I am also delighted that we are able to tackle such a high-profile in-house project in which production and distribution are realized together under the umbrella of Leonine Studios.”

Ulli Stoef, Producer & CEO of Toon2Tango, added, “We are delighted that Toon2Tango is part of this fantastic project, excited to be working with one of the best-known social media stars in Germany, and confident that together we can develop a popular and successful franchise with Paluten Freedom that will build on and expand its massive online success.”

The Paluten Freedom IP includes the successful YouTube series of the same name, which now boasts more than 380 episodes, a nine-volume bestselling book series with more than 1.8 million books sold, and a hit comic. This hugely popular brand, created by Paluten (Patrick Mayer), now ventures into its first animated film adventure, featuring new stories from the Paluten Freedom world and its characters, including Paluten, Pig Edgar, Professor Duck, Dieter, Karla, Captain Greasepants and Evil Paluten.

Mayer and Klaas Kern are developing the screenplay for the film together, continuing their collaboration beyond the book series.

Paluten is a German social media star who entertains millions of followers with his takes on gameplay, videos, challenges and collaborations with other YouTubers. His Paluten YouTube channel, which launched in 2012, boasts over 5.46 million subscribers — the most subscribers for gaming-related content in the German-speaking world —  and over 5.4 billion views. A second channel, Team Paluten, currently has 1.62 million subscribers and over 823 million views. Together, the channels make Mayer one of the most successful YouTube personalities in Germany.

Additionally, Paluten is followed by 2.2 million people on Instagram and his Twitch channel has over 827,000 followers. But that’s not all. Paluten also runs a popular weekly podcast — Äffchen mit Käffchen — with his old school friends Denno and Malte, which is available on all popular platforms.

The Paluten Freedom animated feature is a production of Odeon Fiction, a Leonine Studios company, in co-production with Toon2Tango, a Leonine Animation Studios company. The agreement with Paluten was made through Boris Lehfeld, the manager of Paluten and MD of the agency 2nd Wave.

The film’s producer is Philip Voges (Türkisch für Anfänger, Erkan & Stefan, Wo ist Fred?). Its co-producers are Toon2Tango founders Ulli Stoef (Mia and Me, Maya the Bee – The Honey Games, Leo Lausemaus, Agent 203) and Jo Daris (Wissper, Agent 203, Monster Loving Maniacs). Leonine Studios will distribute the film in theaters.