The Jim Henson Company has signed on with Chinese partner Nine Eyes Stone & Shanghai Animation Film Studios to co-produce the CGI animated Sid the Science Kid: The Movie, based on Henson’s popular digital puppet series for PBSKIDS preschool lineup. The film will be the company’s first animated movie to be available in both 3-D and standard HD—Henson will represent worldwide rights outside China, including theatrical, TV, DVD and digital and will be meeting with international buyers at MIPTV next month.
The movie will feature Sid and his classmate Gabriela as they enter a science experiment contest and win the chance to visit a new modern science museum before it opens to the public. There they meet contest winners from China and together they encounter a quirky robotics scientist (voiced by Back to the Future’s Christopher Lloyd) whose rogue robot causes the kids to band together to save the day. Show-runner Bradley Zweig penned the script and serves as exec producer with Lisa Henson and Halle Stanford for JHC and Al F. Barry of Nine Eyes Stone. NES’s David Miller is producer.
“The Sid the Science Kid television series has proven to be incredibly popular in many key territories around the world. We know there is high demand for 3-D movies across all platforms so the time is right to extend the brand into its first, full-length feature, with our new co-production partners Nine Eyes Stone & Shanghai Animation Film Studios,” said JHC CEO Lisa Henson during the joint announcement.
