Grisù, MeteoHeroes, and The Gruffalo among highlights of Mondo TV’s digital BLE stand

Mondo TV, one of the largest European producers and distributors of animated content, has announced that at the digital edition of BLE it will be highlighting three of its hottest prospects for 2022: Grisù, MeteoHeroes and The Gruffalo.

Mondo TV Group, Toon2Tango and ZDF Enterprises are jointly co-producing a new series, based on the classic property Grisù, created by its original authors Nino and Toni Pagot. The new series of Grisù will consist of 52 new episodes of 11 minutes each and is expected to be completed in the second half of 2022.

The series follows the adventures of Grisù, a brave, positive, determined young dragon – just like the firefighter he wants to be when he grows up. There’s just one problem: he is supposed to be a fire-breathing dragon when he grows up! This ambition is the theme of all of his adventures – and his positive can-do attitude will give his 4-to-7-year-old audience a little hero that they can identify with.

ZDF Enterprises will also be responsible for the worldwide distribution of the audiovisual rights (excluding Italy, France, Spain and China, which will be handled by Mondo TV). Already confirmed are broadcasting agreements with ZDF in Germany and Rai YoYo in Italy.

As well as strong content, the new Grisù series has strong merchandising potential. In fact an agreement has already been finalised with the Giunti Group publishing house, covering story books, activity books, colouring books and a Grisù magazine. In addition, a toy offering has already been developed and presented to the main market players. Many other companies are evaluating the property with great interest.

Inspired by the enduring fondness for the character, Mondo is also aiming to create nostalgic products using retro images from the classic series, particularly in the fashion and accessories categories.

Launched just over a year ago and now firmly established as a hit kids’ animated show, MeteoHeroes follows the adventures of six superpowered kids who can control weather phenomena. It is the only cartoon in the world dedicated entirely to climate and environmental issues.

Series one launched in July 2020 on Cartoonito and is performing strongly. The final quarter of 2021 sees the launch of 25 MeteoHeroes Capsule Stories (90-second versions of MeteoHeroes that explain specific weather phenomena for young viewers), and two TV movies. In October Cartoonito is broadcasting new episodes of series one followed by a four-episode sneak preview of season two (52 x 13’).

The show has secured TV exposure in over 140 countries. It launched in a number of countries In 2021 including Spain, France, Turkey, Greece and Hungary. Poland is expected to launch soon. Many other countries will launch in 2022.

The Italian MeteoHeroes licensing programme is growing fast; more than twenty partners are already on board. A new deal with Sammontana will see MeteoHeroes ice creams on sale in summer 2022. Board games and epiphany socks are on the way in the coming months. And, of course, the popular MeteoHeroes sticker album will be back in 2022 in a second edition.

Overseas markets are already showing strong interest. ELC was recently appointed as agent for CEE countries and Lisans as agent for Turkey. The licensing programme in these two key areas will begin with toys.

Meanwhile fans are eagerly awaiting the worldwide launch of a MeteoHeroes videogame in a number of formats in 2022. It has been developed in association with Sony Interactive Entertainment España (SIE España) and game developer Gammera Nest.

The videogame has the support of PlayStation®Talents in its area of PlayStation Alliances, the company’s programme that promotes the development of videogames in Spain. The MeteoHeroes videogame will launch on PlayStation® in spring 2022. Launches on PC and Mac platforms will follow later the same year.

And there’s a lot more broadcast and licensing activity planned for this environmentally savvy, colourful, funny, exciting and topical show – as virtual visitors to BLE will find out.

The Gruffalo, the classic book illustrated by Axel Scheffler and written by Julia Donaldson, was initially published in 1999 and has gone on to sell over 24 million copies across multiple formats in 99 languages. The story is a delightful tale of how a tiny mouse outwits a number of animals intent on eating him, including the big, scary Gruffalo.

Two animated films – The Gruffalo and The Gruffalo’s Child – are available internationally as well as on Amazon Prime, iTunes and many dedicated children’s channels. In Italy the films boast extraordinary ratings every time they appear on Rai YoYo.

The property is also a licensing hit. Global licensor Magic Light Pictures appointed Mondo to develop a licensing programme for The Gruffalo in Italy, Spain and Portugal in late 2019. Numerous licensed products have appeared in the Italian market this year with strong sell-through, underlining the enormous appeal of this license to consumers and its status as a timeless classic.

Children can now listen to the Gruffalo story everywhere thanks to storytelling sound boxes from FABA. They can also learn while playing Gruffalo games from Ludattica and puzzles and memory games from Ravensburger. And there’s even more creative fun available thanks to Pon Pon colouring and activity books and Multiprint stamps.

Emmeci epiphany socks, an RCS sticker album and Illustrabimbi tailor-made fabrics and beddings are on the way. Many new categories – such as food – are being discussed.

Possibly the happiest news of all is the return of the Gruffalo touring musical in Italian theatres, interrupted last year due to Covid and now back with 15 performances between October and early January.

Valentina La Macchia, Licensing Director of Mondo TV, says: “We’re expecting strong interest in Mondo’s output from online visitors to BLE – and especially in these three properties, all of which have well-established international appeal. We’ve got a busy and very exciting 2022 planned – in both broadcasting and licensing terms – and we’d love partners and potential partners to get in touch and ask us about it!”

This year Mondo TV will attend the online edition of BLE. To arrange meetings with the Mondo team, email giorgia.frattini@mondotvgroup.com