Mattel and Aardman Team-Up on Stop-Motion, Animated ‘Pingu’ Series

Barbie big Mattel is teaming up with award-winning animation studio Aardman (Hen Run, Shaun the Sheep, Wallace & Gromit) to co-develop a brand new stop-motion, animated Pingu tv collection.

The collection is impressed by Mattel’s beloved cheeky penguin who lives within the South Pole and has stayed on our screens for many years, well-known for his mischief and catchphrase, “Noot Noot!” Designed by Otmar Gutmann within the Eighties, the present first aired on the U.Ok.’s BBC One in 1990.

Josh Silverman, chief franchise officer of Mattel, informed The Hollywood Reporter at MIPCOM Cannes on Monday: “You couldn’t ask for a extra excellent marriage [than between Mattel and Aardman]. I used to be simply with their their crew. We’re overjoyed concerning the challenge. It’s going to be actually, actually particular. Pingu simply continues to, organically, have an amazing quantity of affection and a focus. And an amazing quantity of relevance.”

The Pingu collection will likely be co-developed by Sarah Cox and Alan Thorpe for Aardman, and Sidney Clifton, Rob David and Melanie Shannon for Mattel Tv Studios. The toy firm acquired Pingu by way of its buy of HIT Leisure in 2011.

Silverman spoke about Mattel’s mission to capitalize on what may be finest described as “new-stalgia” — reveals, successfully, that resonate with each adults and kids due to Mattel’s long-lasting legacy. For instance, the acquainted purple dinosaur Barney who received a brand new premiere with the rebooted Barney’s World on Oct. 14. “It’s an IP that’s nostalgic for adults, however new for preschoolers.”

He continued: “And so Barney actually matches very fairly effectively there. It’s actually entertaining and enjoyable for teenagers, however permits adults to hearken again to their childhood, their emotional connection to a chunk of IP, to this story, this narrative. As an alternative of watching with youngsters, you might be watching together with your youngsters and having fun with it collectively. And I believe that it’s one thing actually distinctive, and one thing we’re going to proceed to so lean into as we mine our portfolio.”

Are Mattel attempting to copy the magic in tv that they had been capable of obtain with Greta Gerwig’s billion-dollar hit Barbie? “What we’re actually attempting to not do is evaluate or distinction,” Silverman stated. “Every challenge actually stands by itself. Barbie was an unimaginable partnership, clearly, with Greta who is among the most unimaginable creatives on the planet, and it was such a particular collaboration.”

“I believe, on the content material facet, we work with the most effective creatives who’ve an actual connection to the [project], we collaborate and we belief, and that’s the elements, in some ways, of what you noticed come by way of with Barbie.” Aardman, it appears, represents the sorts of creatives that Mattel wish to place their bets on.