HIT Preps New CGI Production of Angelina Ballerina

NEW YORK/LONDON, April 8: HIT
Entertainment has inked a deal for a CGI version of its classic series Angelina
Ballerina with co-production
partners Thirteen/WNET New York and Nick Jr. UK.

The new series, Angelina
Ballerina: The Next Steps, will be produced by SD Entertainment with executive
producer Karen Barnes from HIT Entertainment. The show is based on the classic Angelina
Ballerina books by author
Katharine Holabird and illustrator Helen Craig and follows an 8-year-old
Angelina as she embarks on the next stage in her life at a school where she’ll
experience new forms of music and dance. Fans will be introduced to Angelina’s
new home in a neighborhood on the other side of Chipping Cheddar, a new
performing arts school called Camembert Academy, new friends, a new teacher and
many new adventures.

Angelina Ballerina: The
Next Steps is slated for a fall
2009 premiere as a weekly series on PBS KIDS in the U.S. and Nick Jr. in the
U.K. The new series has been packaged into two formats: 40×30-minute episodes
for PBS and 80×12-minute episodes for Nick Jr. UK.

“After 25 successful years
in publishing, we are excited to be celebrating Angelina Ballerina’s anniversary with a fresh, new CGI-animated
look,” said Lenora Hume, the executive VP of
production and programming at HIT Entertainment.
“This style of animation allows us to move Angelina in a much more fluid way so
that young fans can follow Angelina’s steps in many more genres of dance, as
well as traditional ballet.”

The new series will be
supported by a full licensing and merchandising program.

—By Mansha Daswani