From Universal and DreamWorks Animation, Fast & Furious: Spy Racers Homecoming embarks on its ultimate mission to save the world when the final season debuts on Netflix onDecember 17. Recurring guest stars returning to the final season include Paul “Big Show” Wight, Danny Trejo, Jimmy Tatro and Similce Diesel. The Season 6 trailer debuted with the date announcement.
S6 synopsis: The Spy Racers meet their match in a mysterious villain who steals their spy tech, sending them on their most dangerous international mission yet. In a race against time, the team traverses Europe from the Swiss Alps to Berlin only to find themselves back home in Los Angeles for an epic showdown. And it’s going to take the entire Toretto family to save the world one last time.
The Pokémon Company International revealed a mid-series trailer for Pokémon Evolutions, the new animated limited series created to celebrate 25 years of the global entertainment franchise (pokemon.com/25). This eight-episode series takes fans on a journey through all the known regions of the Pokémon world explored in the popular core video games since their launch 25 years ago. Featuring the regions in reverse chronological order to their original discovery, each episode brings a fresh perspective to familiar Pokémon tales. So far, fans have been taken back to Galar, Alola, Kalos and Unova. The remaining four episodes will feature Sinnoh, Hoenn, Johto and Kanto.
Fans can catch up on the first four episodes of Pokémon Evolutions in preparation for the return of the series on December 2, exclusively on the official Pokémon YouTube channel and Pokémon TV: “The Champion” featuring the Galar region, “The Eclipse” featuring the Alola region, “The Visionary” featuring the Kalos region and “The Plan” featuring the Unova region. Upcoming episodes are:
- Thursday, December 2 — “The Rival” featuring the Sinnoh region
- Thursday, December 9 — “The Wish” featuring the Hoenn region
- Thursday, December 16 — “The Show” featuring the Johto region
- Thursday, December 23 — “The Discovery” featuring the Kanto region
YouTube Originals announced its collaboration with Moonbug Entertainment in partnership with UNICEF for the premiere of Supa Strikas: Rookie Season out of the U.K., along with the release of the official trailer. This prequel to the global hit soccer series, Supa Strikas, consists of 12 episodes, with the first six launching December 3 on The Supa Strikas YouTube Channel and the YouTube Kids app. The six remaining episodes will roll out in early 2022 and will also be available then in Brazilian Portuguese, Spanish, German and Russian catering to the brand’s global audience.
Supa Strikas: Rookie Season is the original story of star striker Shakes, and how he made it to the world’s greatest soccer team, the Supa Strikas! This prequel series that has its roots with a comic-book classic launched in South Africa in 2001, uncovers some earth-shattering revelations for fans including the mystery of Shakes’ missing father and how his biggest on-field nemesis was once his best friend.
During a global fan event, Netflix and Riot Games confirmed a second season of hit animated event series, Arcane, based on the videogame smash League of Legends. Created by Christian Linke and Alex Yee, produced by Riot, animated by Fortiche Productions and exec produced by Christian Linke, Marc Merrill, Brandon Beck, Jane Chung, Thomas Vu. Hailee Steinfeld (Vi), Ella Purnell (Jinx) and Katie Leung (Caitlyn Kiramman) will reprise their voice roles. The rest is under wraps!
“We’re beyond happy about the positive response to Arcane‘s first season and are working hard with the creative wizards at Riot and Fortiche to deliver our second installment,” said co-creators Linke and Yee.
According to top10.netflix.com, Arcane was the No. 1 English-language series on Netflix for the week of Nov. 15-21, racking up 38.4 million hours of viewing.
Netflix also revealed its new release schedule for the month of December. Animation highlights include the new Aardman holiday special, Shaun the Sheep: The Flight Before Christmas (Dec. 3), Centaurworld Season 2 (Dec. 7), Aussie animal adventure Back to the Outback (Dec. 10), Hilda and the Mountain King (Dec. 30) — plus the VFX fantasy and horror of The Witcher Season 2 (Dec. 17)
Additional Netflix original toons coming soon:
- JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: STONE OCEAN (12/1) The legacy of the Joestar family continues with Jolyne as she and her companions take on new Stand users behind the bars of Green Dolphin Street Prison.
- Kayko and Kokosh S1 & 2 (12/1) Two Slavic warriors do everything in their power to defend the village of Mirmiłowo from the evil order of Knaveknights.
- Jurassic World Camp Cretaceous Season 4 (12/3) The campers leave Isla Nublar behind, only to wash ashore on strange new terrain that’s crawling with threats — and closely guarded secrets.
- Go Dog Go Season 2 (12/7) Adventurous pups Tag and Scooch are going everywhere this season, from exciting places all around Pawston to the bright lights of Chew York City!
- Saturday Morning All Star Hits! (12/10) Wildly irreverent and slightly disturbing, this adult animation, live-action hybrid celebrates the campy Saturday morning shows of the ’80s and ’90s.
- StarBeam: Beaming in the New Year (12/14) Summersette’s biggest baddies join forces on New Year’s Eve to battle Zoey and the Beam Team. But cool cousin Zara powers up to help save the day!
- Aggretsuko Season 4 (12/16) Retsuko turns up the volume to stop Haida from making the biggest mistake ever when a sly new company president takes the office to a new extreme.
- STAND BY ME Doraemon 2 (12/24) Nobita travels to the future to show his beloved grandma his bride, but adult Nobita has fled his own wedding. Can he ever be a good husband to Shizuka?
- Seal Team (Dec. 31) Fearless seal Quinn assembles a squad of misfit recruits to stand up to ruthless sharks with razor-sharp teeth and reclaim the open sea.
This month, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Barbie in the Nutcracker, Mattel is bringing the magic of Barbie to your home this holiday season. As part of this iconic anniversary, Mattel will be livestreaming the final act from Barbie in the Nutcracker on loop on YouTube until December 27 to allow families to relive this fan-favorite film together.
Over the last 60+ years, Barbie has evolved from a fashion doll to a cultural icon and emerged as a relatable character and role model, sharing her own story and unique perspective with the world. This month marks two decades of Barbie content, which has come to 36 specials and countless episodic and YouTube series so far. Today, Barbie is the #1 girls toy brand on YouTube, with over a billion views in 2021. Mattel is continuing to expand the Barbie content universe in innovative ways, with Greta Gerwig, Noah Baumbach and Margot Robbie set to star in a feature film, an unscripted competition series, Barbie Fashion Battle, and multiple more projects in development.
Global kids and family content distributor Jetpack Distribution has signed 14 new deals with VOD) and linear platforms across the globe for 964 hours of TV series from its burgeoning catalogue of kids’ character driven shows. The deals are heavily focused on VOD rights and are testament to the growing demand for VOD content from both platforms and audiences worldwide. The following European networks have paid for rights for a selection of hit animated shows.
- Discovery Italy bought both linear and SVOD rights for pre-school animation Yoko (S1-3).
- C+ in France renewed the PTV and SVOD rights for Talking Tom & Friends (S1-3) and licensed both rights for Kitty Is Not a Cat S1.
- Kidzone TV (Baltics, Middle East and North Africa) is taking pay TV and SVOD rights for Dennis & Gnasher: Unleashed! S1 and pay TV rights for Kazoops, The Sisters S2, Talking Tom & Friends S1-3, Talking Tom Heroes and Talking Tom Minis.
- Minimax bought pay TV and VOD rights across Central Eastern Europe for Oswaldo and Marsupilami S1-3.
- JimJam bought the Pay TV and VOD rights for Daisy & Ollie S3-4 for their pan-Europe feed.
- Pop (U.K.) acquired the free-to-air and FVOD rights for Rainbow Butterfly Unicorn Kitty.
- NRK in Norway is taking the free-to-air and FVOD rights for Welcome to Cardboard City.
The following VOD networks across the globe have paid for the rights to air a further selection of animated series across all age groups:
- HBO Max in Latin America acquired the SVOD rights for Chuggington S6, Talking Tom & Friends S4-5, Talking Tom Heroes and Talking Tom Minis S1-4.
- Semillitas pay TV channel and SVOD services in U.S., Central America and Caribbean Flix Latino and Pinguinitos picked up the rights for Chuggington S2-3.
- Lingopie, educational app for language learning based on TV content to learn languages, took rights for The Sisters S1 (German and Italian), Wolf S1 (German and Italian), Talking Tom and Friends (Italian) S3-5 and Yoko S1 (Italian).
- Toon Goggles in the U.K., U.S.A. and Canada bought the AVOD and SVOD rights for Boj, Daisy and Ollie S1-2, Emmy & GooRoo, Kitty Is Not a Cat, My Petsaurus S1-2, Talking Tom & Friends S4-5 and Yoko S1.
- Tet Sia in Latvia takes the SVOD rights for Talking Tom & Friends S3-5 and Dennis & Gnasher: Unleashed! S1-2.
- Kartoon Channel in the U.S. and Canada bought the AVOD and SVOD rights for Boj, Kitty Is Not a Cat S2 and Yoko S1.
- Indonesia’s Mola TV bought the SVOD rights for Emmy & GooRoo S1-2 and is renewing Wolf S1-2.
Boris & Rufus has now been released in more than 80 countries since its original release in Latin America on Disney XD in 2018. In January 2021, a new season of the series was released, which Disney Channel Russia started broadcasting in August 2021. UYoung also recently picked it up for Mainland China, and Genius Brands International licensed the series for its Kartoon Channel! in the U.S. and Canada. Additional sales include Amazon Prime Video, Blim TV, Canela, Pluto and Vix, as well as LATAM Airlines. The series is distributed worldwide by Pacotinho Filmes, led by Brazilian Executive Ana Paula Silva, in collaboration with Circular Media, a Uruguayan company founded by Nicolás Valdés.
Created by Brazill’s Belli Studio, the series tells the story of Boris, a cranky dog, and Rufus, an excitable ferret who believes himself a dog. They belong to Enzo, a teenager in love with his neighbor, Jennifer, who owns an internet-famous cat, the insufferable Leopoldo. When the owners are not around, the animals stop behaving like pets; they use electronic devices, access the “interpetnet” (the animals’ web), play video games and get involved in all sorts of shenanigans. The conflicts between Boris’ and Rufus’ personalities, plus their encounters with fantastic beings and items, lead to great adventures that can go far beyond the “real” world.
Emmy Award-winning French animation production and distribution company Dandelooo announced pre-sale deals for Season 2 of the charming, pre-school series Ernest and Célestine – The Collection (26 x 13’), based on the cult books by Belgian author and illustrator Gabrielle Vincent and the César-winning, Oscar-nominated animated feature. Onboard for S2 are France TV, TV5 Monde, TVP (Poland), RTP (Portugal), DR (Denmark), Ceska TV (Czech Republic), RTBF (Belgium), CLS (Russia), HRT (Croatia), LTV (Latvia), RTVS (Slovenia), YLE (Finland) and RTS (French-speaking Switzerland).
Produced by Folivari (France) and Melusine (Belgium), the new episodes will be available in April 2022. The series follows the thrilling adventures of a big eccentric bear and a mischievous little mouse. S2 will introduce three new characters and focus on Célestine and her mice friends.
Sandbox Kids, the leading provider of digital subscription content services for children and families worldwide, has launched Hopster Learning, an educational entertainment channel for preschoolers, on Prime Video Channels in the United States. Hopster Learning brings together educational shows, songs and nursery rhymes from all over the world in a safe and ad-free environment. The channel is already available via PVC in the U.K., France, Italy, Netherlands and Spain. Hopster Learning is also available in the U.S. through select Pay TV/OTT services such as Comcast Xfinity, Roku, DISH and Sling TV.
The new channel focuses on children’s social emotional learning with programs such as Pingu, teaching kids how to interact positively with others, and Love Is Love, which encourages inclusivity and diversity through music. Hopster Learning also has a robust selection of curricular programming, such as British animations Numberblocks and Alphablocks, teaching kids numeracy and literacy skills, respectively, and The Fixies and Messy Goes to Okido, which are fun, science-themed shows that introduce children to STEM subjects.
