Yoram Gross-Village Roadshow, an Aussie-based animation studio, has inked a co-production alliance with EM.TV & Merchandising, a Munich-based distribution and merchandising company, and will partner on 10 animated series over the next five years. The value of the deal, signed at last week’s Mipcom TV trade show in Cannes, is worth more than $80 million, according to the partners.
L.A.-based Village Roadshow Pictures Television, which joined forces with Yoram Gross Film Studios in January, will partner in the financing and worldwide distribution of a number of projects resulting from the alliance.
EM.TV will handle distribution and merchandising for the 260 half-hours of animated TV throughout all German-speaking territories, and will distribute and handle merchandising for many of the projects in other European territories.
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The first two series greenlit by the partners are “Flipper and the Milihune” and a second season of “Tabaluga,” featuring Germany’s popular animated dragon.
Thomas Haffa, EM.TV’s chairman and CEO, said in a statement: “After producing ‘Blinky Bill’ and ‘Tabaluga’ with the prestigious Yoram Gross Film Studios, it was a logical step for us to further expand our working relationship.”
