Following its very successful BIONICLE: MASK OF LIGHT release ($25M), Miramax Home Ent. has acquired the North American distribution rights to IN SEARCH OF SANTA, a new 3D-animated feature co-produced by Tundra Prods. and Colorland Animation Prods.
In the tradition of Christmas movies of holidays past, IN SEARCH OF SANTA tells the tale of two feuding penguin princesses who embark on a Pole-to-Pole journey to find Santa Claus. The sisters brave hostile pirates and hungry predators to save their parents' throne. In the process, the princesses form a closer bond and ultimately discover the true spirit of Christmas. Voice casting is currently underway for an exclusive-to-DVD/video release timed for holiday 2004.
"As evidenced by the fantastic success of BIONICLE: MASK OF LIGHT, animated programming has become a very important part of the exclusive-to-video market, and we are thrilled to distribute this seasonal gem in North America," said Miramax Home Ent. evp Kevin Kasha.
"Working with Miramax is always exciting. Kevin Kasha has created the mechanism to maximize the opportunity of the expanding DVD market with original product and has the track record to prove it," said Seth Willensen, IN SEARCH OF SANTA'S exec producer. "
The deal was negotiated for Miramax by Kasha, Jeff Tahler, vp of acquisitions and Sarah Sobel, sr. director of business affairs.
In another show of support for animation, Miramax recently acquired rights to three classic animated shorts produced by Paul McCartney for DVD release this spring: Tropic Island Hum," "Tuesday" and "Rupert and the Frog Song."
Founded in 1991, Colorland Animation Ltd. (www.colorland-animation.com) is a Hong Kong and Shenzhen, China-based animation production facility. Colorland provides 2D and 3D CGI animation services internationally for TV, video, features, games and the Internet. In the last 10 years, Colorland has been responsible for more than 500 hours of animation; previous projects include the half-hour series WHEEL SQUAD, TABALUGA and FLIPPER. The company is operating as an animation content provider as well as a service provider. Colorland Animation is listed on the main board of the Singapore Stock Exchange.
Since 1994, Tundra Prods. Inc., has been an independent animation producer focusing exclusively on creating and producing animated family entertainment. Tundra created BUSTER & CHAUNCEY'S SILENT NIGHT for Columbia Tri-Star. Among Tundra's production credits are STELLALUNA, a video based on the well-known children's book, for Scholastic Ent. and distributed by MGM, RUDOLPH THE RED-NOSED REINDEER: THE MOVIE and RUDOLPH THE RED-NOSED REINDEER and THE ISLAND OF MISFIT TOYS.
Bill Desowitz, former editor of VFXWorld, is currently the Crafts Editor of IndieWire.
