41 Entertainment Taps Rich IP for Reinvigorated YA Animation

41 Entertainment Founder and Managing Director Allen Bohbot foresees that the kids’ content industry is approaching the “next frontier of animation.”

Bohbot, who has been creating and producing animation since launching Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog and The Mask in the early ’90s, “believes that we are on the cusp of an animation expansion to reach the kids that the industry has lost,” according to Kiersten Halstead, the company’s VP of creative services, development and acquisitions. These kids that the industry is losing? They’re the 8-to-12-year-olds that had long comprised the core of the original 6- to 12-year-old target.

“It is not about creating animation that is ‘high-quality CG’ or adapted animation based on successful action-oriented theatrical films,” says Halstead. “It is about creating engaging stories that this audience cares about.” And that means horror, the paranormal and science fiction, with the kind of writing that targets 18- to 34-year-olds but that appeals to those in the 12-to-17-year-old bracket, according to Halstead. “We believe that 41 Entertainment is the first animation company to announce this new strategy, but we expect many competitors to strive to expand into what is potentially the ‘next frontier of animation,'” she says.

41 Entertainment’s new strategy was born out of realizing that there is room for innovation in the young adult animation space, that Japanese animation is getting a second life on streaming platforms, as well as an awareness of the popularity of young adult book series, and notably, the enduring enthusiasm of fans of the original 1999 Roswell Conspiracies project. With all of these factors adding up to what looked to be a new trend, 41 Entertainment went forth “to create a new market for animation that is YA animation that is not raunchy comedy or anime, but rather fully scripted, entertaining content for young adults from 12 to 34, depending on the project.”

Paranormal title Supernatural Prison, an adaptation of the successful book series from Jaymin Eve that includes Supernatural Prison and Supernatural Academy, is set in space and more female-driven. “We acquired the animation rights from Jaymin Eve to adapt the project for television,” explains Halstead. And then, of course, there is Roswell Conspiracies, which is in the science-fiction genre and loosely adapted from the 1990s kids project. “We created Roswell Conspiracies internally and completely anew,” says Halstead. “Our 2019 Roswell Conspiracies was developed from scratch with a new story and designs to appeal to a much older and sophisticated audience, targeting males 12 to 24.”

Animating the aforementioned IP may not have been an intuitive move for every company, but 41 Entertainment found the material to be better served by the medium in which it has long excelled. “The old rule of animation is that one should never create in animation what can best be done in live-action,” says Halstead. “In the case of Supernatural Prison and Roswell Conspiracies, we can world build and develop characters in a way that taps into animation magic that is prohibitive in live-action.”

In addition to the creative flexibility that animation allows in adapting the material, 41 Entertainment took the liberty of producing longer episodes than are typically found in animated projects. The company was of the understanding that when aiming for an older target, series require more room for character development. “Short formats are not ideal for titles with an older target as there is not enough time to properly develop the characters and tell a serialized story,” says Halstead. “Thus, for older kids and young adults, we need the longer episode length.”

41 Entertainment has set itself apart in the animated space for the past decade by focusing on developing and producing iconic brands like Pac-Man, Skylanders, King Kong and Tarzan. “Even our Super Monsters brand was based on kids of famous monsters like Dracula and Frankenstein,” Halstead points out, adding, “We understand the importance of leaning into well-known IPs to set our titles apart from an already very competitive landscape. We believe that focusing on nostalgic characters, ideas and themes will give us an edge.”

This approach is alive and well when it comes to 41 Entertainment’s new young adult projects Supernatural Prison and Roswell Conspiracies. As Halstead notes, “We are utilizing that strategy as we are scaling up to older kids and young adults by focusing on two timeless genres—paranormal and science fiction.”