The House That Studio100 Built

With a second-season order from Nickelodeon in the U.S., the live-action tween show House of Anubis has become one of Studio100 Media’s most valuable brands.TV Kids Weekly catches up with Patrick Elmendorff, managing director, to talk about the hit kids’ format, the company’s younger-skewing CGI updates of three veteran German brands, and its new theme park outside of Frankfurt.

Since its humble beginnings on Nickelodeon in the Benelux, House of Anubis has emerged as one of the biggest brands in European live-action kids’ content. The show, geared at kids aged 8 to 12, is already in its sixth season on Nick in the Netherlands and Belgium, where it is known as Het Huis Anubis. The success of the series spawned two feature films as well as stage shows. This September, meanwhile, Nick Germany will roll out the third season of its own version of the show, Das Haus Anubis, which has also rolled out in Austria and Switzerland, among other territories. A German feature film for the series premieres in the spring of 2012.

With their TV and film success, the European versions of House of Anubis have inspired a broad licensing and merchandising campaign, from books and DVDs to console and computer games, puzzles, stationery, apparel and more. Studio100 Media, which owns the House of Anubis brand, is optimistic that the property will be as lucrative in the U.S., now that the American version has built up a solid following on Nickelodeon.

Launched earlier this year, the Nick U.S. edition, shot with an American and British cast in Liverpool, averaged almost 3 million viewers in its debut season, prompting a renewal by the network. Production on 45 new half-hour episodes kicks off in the U.K. this summer. To watch a clip, click here.

“The exciting story here is that you have a format that started in a relatively small European country,” says Patrick Elmendorff, the managing director of Studio100 Media. “Now we have this English version that we are also promoting on the market for international distribution, especially outside of English-speaking territories. We are very excited about the results, very happy about our cooperation with Nick on a global scale and we are very positive that we will have great success regarding international distribution.”

Elmendorff attributes the success of the format to a number of factors. “It’s very well written. In every episode there is a certain amount of drama and every episode has comedy and this mystery aspect that goes over the whole series. It’s a kind of telenovela because it’s an ongoing story arc. The results speak for themselves.”

House of Anubis is not the only live-action kids’ format in the Studio100 stable. Elmendorff notes that conversations are ongoing with clients about properties like Mega Mindy and Amika, and there are other shows currently in development.

On the animation front, meanwhile, a key initiative this year has been the CGI reboots of three German classics: Maya the Bee, Vicky the Viking and Heidi. Maya is set to be available in 2012, followed by Vicky in 2013 and Heidi in 2014. “We’re trying to keep the same look and feel for all three productions using state-of-the-art technology,” Elmendorff says. “We see that all three of them are very strong brands, not only in German-speaking territories, but on a worldwide scale.”

Beyond the TV and merchandising exploitation, Studio100’s brands are also being extended into the theme-park arena. Studio100’s Plopsa division already runs four parks in the Benelux, and last year acquired Holiday Park in Hassloch, southwest Germany. New rides include the 12-meter-high free-fall tower inspired by Maya the Bee, a 260-meter-long canal drive based on Tabaluga & Co, and the 70-meter-high Anubis Free Fall Tower. About 3 million euros have been invested in Holiday Park since its new owners took over, and a further 100 million euros will be invested within the next five years in further parks in Germany.