Barcelona based GoldBee closed a raft of international sales for Sphere Animation and Studio Bozzetto’s The Game Catchers’ season 1 (52×7.5’).
CBeebies in the UK acquired all linear rights and iPlayer rights exclusively of the preschool series. The Game Catchers will be voiced by British actors, and is planned to be launched in the Spring of this year.
In separate agreements, Ireland’s RTE acquired Free-to-Air and non-linear rights for the Republic of Ireland, while Ceska Televize acquired Free-to-Air rights for the Czech Republic. This marks the sixth public-service broadcast deal for The Game Catchers. In Asia, Taiwan’s Momokids acquired the series for both its linear Pay TV and SVOD services.
The series was previously picked up internationally by broadcasters including Italy’s Rai YoYo and Radio-Canada Télé both coproducers of the series, Canada’s The Knowledge Network and Toon-a-Vision, Finish pubcaster YLE, Canal Panda in Spain and Portugal (KidsMe-DeAgostini), Singapore’s MediaCorp, Hong Kong’s PCCW, and China’s Wing Sight.
Following its successful launch, both RAI Kids and ICI Radio-Canada Télé confirmed the commissioning of a second season of 52 new episodes.
The Game Catchers (52×7.5’), a series directed at preschoolers tells the story of a group of five friends on their interstellar journeys to explore fantastic planets, with the aim of learning about, playing and collecting games so they are never lost, while making new friends along the way. Active and engaging playground games, relatable for the whole family, are at the heart of each episode, where our tiny heroes make new friends along the way.
The Game Catchers won the Pulcinella Award for Best Preschool series at the 25th edition of Cartoons on the Bay.
Christophe Goldberger, GoldBee Managing Director: “The Game Catchers has been performing so well for the commissioning broadcasters, we are happy to see the property reaching new audiences with such great partners, just as production started on season 2. The series promotes an active lifestyle with relatable playground games for the whole family, a truly universal theme.”
GoldBee has been appointed as distributor for global rights except for Spanish speaking territories and Central Europe, and was voted Distributor of the Year at Cartoon Forum 2022.
