41 Entertainment Pacts with HBO Max for S.M.A.S.H!

41 Entertainment has secured deals for its animated series S.M.A.S.H! with HBO Max in the U.S. and Super RTL for Germany and German-speaking Austria and Switzerland.

In addition to HBO Max taking first-window exclusive SVOD rights and Super RTL picking up exclusive content rights for the series, Discovery Family Channel and Discovery Familia in the U.S. have secured exclusive linear rights. Created by Allen Bohbot and based on an original idea by Kaaren Lee Brown, who developed the idea for TV with Kiersten Halstead, S.M.A.S.H! is slated to launch worldwide in 2022.

In the series, S.M.A.S.H! is a sleepaway camp located in Bavaria, Germany, where four kids with superpowers—Streak from St. Petersburg, Russia; Rocket from Cape Town, South Africa; Flare from Glasgow, Scotland; and Vitória from São Paulo, Brazil—are preparing to become the next generation of superheroes while their super-powered dogs train to become superhero sidekicks. At the center of the team is Mei Lien, a clever and charismatic mechanical genius from Guangzhou, China, who invents customized vehicles and accessories for her teammates with the help of her mechanical pet.

Halstead said: “We have built a great team of writers to bring the S.M.A.S.H! adventures to life, including Josh Haber (My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, Skylanders Academy, Spider-Man) and Eric Rogers (Skylanders Academy, Futurama, Brickelberry). We are also fortunate to have a fantastic production team to build out the Camp S.M.A.S.H! world. Each episode focuses on fun and engaging superhero adventures that require teamwork, problem-solving and a sense of humor.”

Nancy Koff, VP of sales and marketing, added: “It is thrilling to be announcing an initial lineup of such stellar international broadcasters. The response from the market to S.M.A.S.H! has been very encouraging and we look forward to announcing additional broadcasters and platforms soon. We believe the property is attractive to customers worldwide due to the high-quality CG animation, cultural diversity of characters and earnest storylines, which revolve around the children honing their skills and powers while realizing how much they still need to learn in order to become a superhero like their parents Torpedo, Silver Streak, Rocket Man and Flame.”