Toonz Media & SMF Pact for Aliens in My Backpack

Soyuzmultfilm (SMF) Studio has signed a strategic partnership deal with Toonz Media Group to co-produce the brand-new animated series Aliens in My Backpack.

Created by Rob Lee and James Driscoll (Fireman Sam, The Shoe People), Aliens in My Backpack brings to life a family of characters from a distant planet with perfect ecological settings, who are on a mission to share their secrets with Earth. Production will be handled by Toonz and SMF Studio, with the partnership responsible for video distribution and licensing and merchandising.

Production of the 52×11-minute CGI series will start late in 2020 and the first episode will be available to show to potential media and broadcast partners by mid/late 2021.

Yuliana Slascheva, chairman of the board of SMF Studio, said: “Partnering with Toonz is a significant milestone for SMF Studio growth, as one of our strategic goals is to establish our company in the international market. Both our companies have powerful creative potential and Toonz has undoubted experience in the global promotion of content. The defining reason for this partnership is, of course, the values that the animated series introduces to the audience: animation is the best way to convey to children complicated issues in a simple language.”

P. Jayakumar, CEO of Toonz Media Group, said: “We are delighted to partner with a studio of such deep heritage as Soyuzmultfilm. For Toonz this is a very exciting project as it upholds the universal value of environment conservation, which would appeal to kids and families across the world.”