TVKIDS
WarnerMedia is transforming Cartoon Network Studios Europe into Hanna-Barbera Studios Europe, its flagship television animation studio in EMEA.
Sam Register, president of Warner Bros. Animation (WBA) and Cartoon Network Studios (CNS), and Vanessa Brookman, head of kids EMEA, will co-lead the London-based studio.
Hanna-Barbera Studios Europe will build on the pipeline of local productions that already includes The Amazing World of Gumball, The Heroic Quest of the Valiant Prince Ivandoe and Elliott from Earth while seeking out new production opportunities. The studio will focus on developing and producing new originals while embodying the spirit of its library of characters. Projects in development include The Amazing World of Gumball Movie (working title).
Tom Ascheim, the president of Warner Bros. Global Kids, Young Adults and Classics (GKYAC), said: “Earlier this year, we aligned two of the industry’s most powerful animation studios in Warner Bros. Animation and Cartoon Network Studios and their collaboration is already yielding some very exciting results. Now with Hanna-Barbera Studios Europe, these three brands represent some of the most talented artists, iconic characters and properties in the entire history of animation, making us more than formidable in the increasingly competitive global media landscape.”
Register said: “There are few names in the animation industry that elicit such reverence and joy as Hanna-Barbera. Saturday mornings and series animation would not be the same without the work that came out of that studio and, as television is once again evolving, it’s only fitting that Hanna-Barbera returns to be an impactful part of it. I cannot wait to get started and I’m humbled at the opportunity to be creating cartoons under this banner again.”
Brookman added: “It is an enormous privilege to be expanding our EMEA studio in the name of one of the most prestigious and beloved brands in animation history. Sam and I share an ambitious vision for growing our European pipeline of content, fueled by the talented team behind the award-winning success of our existing productions across the region. We look forward to bringing our kids and family audiences around the world even more exceptional content as we start this new chapter in our global animation strategy.”
