Serious Kids Secures Sales for The Ghastly Ghoul

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Serious Kids has secured a raft of sales for Lupus Films and Dream Logic Animation Studios’ Halloween animated special The Ghastly Ghoul in various European territories.

Canal+ acquired the exclusive French pay and VOD rights, while KMBO picked up the rights to release the film in theaters in France later this year. In the Nordics, Finland’s Yle, Denmark’s DR and Sweden’s SVT bought the 30-minute special.

In addition, deals in three more major territories are in the works.

The Ghastly Ghoul is written by Emma Hogan and directed by Kealan O’Rourke and Maurizio Parimbelli, with assistant director Corinne Ladeinde. It is produced by Brian Willis and Stephen Smith and executive produced by Ruth Fielding and Camilla Deakin. It is a Dream Logic Animation Studios and Lupus Films Production in association with Sky, Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland, KiKA of ARD/ZDF Germany and UK Global Screen Fund, financed by the U.K. government’s Department for Culture, Media and Sport and administered by the BFI, with the support of the Creative Europe MEDIA Programme of the European Union.

The special follows the antics of Gary, a cute and fluffy monster who doesn’t believe in himself, and Beatrix, a young girl who is struggling with her own fears around the holiday. When Gary leaves Halloween Town to come to Earth for a night of Halloween mischief, he decides to disguise himself as the much scarier Ghastly Ghoul. However, when he misses his gateway back to Halloween Town and gets trapped in the human world, he forms a friendship with Beatrix.

Ruth Fielding, co-founder Lupus Films, said: “We are thrilled with Serious Kids’ early sales success for The Ghastly Ghoul. The seasonal special combines beautiful animation, a charming story and universal themes with the spine-tingling magic of Halloween and we hope it goes on to delight and scare audiences around the world in equal measure.”

Dream Logic’s Willis said: “Genevieve and her team at Serious Kids are doing a tremendous job, and we are delighted with the response to The Ghastly Ghoul since its launch last October.”

Serious Kids’ Leila Ouledcheikh added: “Although the film was delivered right on time for Sky in the U.K., we have been amazed at the swift pickup for transmission across the globe in October 2023 and anticipate many more platforms coming on board in the next few months.”