'Adventures of Pinocchio' to hit small screen by this year end

Italy's animation pioneer Iginio Straffi has inked a co production deal with ToonzMedia Group to produce a children's series based on Carlo Collodis masterpiece 'The Adventures of Pinocchio,' the fairy tale which has inspired multiple generations of children worldwide.

The 26 x 12 CGI show is expected to hit the small screen by the end of 2021 and will target four to seven-year-olds, a press release from Toonz, established at Technopark here in 1999,said here on Tuesday.

"The new Pinocchio I imagined speaks to children in a light-hearted, educational way and empowers theirdreams.Families will love this compelling series and kids will find their new TV hero in Pinocchio", said Iginio Straffi, Founder and CEO of Rainbow Group.We are glad to partner with Toonz,combining the great expertise of both our solid and international teams, which will be indeed an asset of this great production for a worldwide audience," he said.

PJayakumar, CEO of Toonz Media, said they are happy to have got a great partner in Rainbow to take up this challenge and deliver Pinocchio as a top-notchseries with very high- quality content.Paying tribute to Collodis avant garde work, Straffi reimagined a story that many studios have tried to adapt but with fresh eyes and a modern twist.Rainbows visionary transports the classic character into todays world of bustle and smart phones,filling his world with adventure, comedy, fun and educational elements while bringing out the essence of what makes the original character of Pinocchio so inspirational and timeless.

Pinocchio is an enchanted puppet living in todays world, one where anything is possible.He grows alongsidehis best friends Grandpa Geppetto, pirate doll Freeda and the Talking Cricket - as he dreams of one daybecoming a real boy by following the advice of the Fairy with Turquoise hair.Characters from the originalstory are joined by new ones in the series.

While the pre-production, post-production and supervision operations will be done at Rainbow studios in Italy, the animation - from 3D asset creation to final LRC (Lighting, Rendering & Compositing) - will be done at Toonzs studios.Toonz will handle distribution rights ofthe show in the Indian sub-continent, South East Asia, Spain, and Portugal.

Toonz will also hold the Licensingand Merchandising (L&M) rights of the show in the Indian sub-continent.Distribution and L&M rights in the rest of the world will be handled by Rainbow.Rainbow was established in 1995 by Iginio Straffi, President and CEO of the group.The group comprises Emmy Award-winning studio Bardel Inc., Italys IvenGroup and publishing Tridimensional.

Ranging from creating animated and live-action content for TV and cinema for kids and families, Rainbow also licenses and produces animated content for third parties. The group has a product portfolio aired in over 130 countries through different broadcasters and ranksin the top positions on the annual Top 150 Global Licensors List with more than 500 licensees worldwide.

It has over two decades of experience and one of Asia's most active animation production studios (over 10,000 minutes of 2D and CGI kids and family content peryear).

Toonz has worked with many leading entertainment studios, channels and networks, including Marvel, Nickelodeon, Turner, Disney and Netflix, and has several animationand live action series, as well as feature films to its credit.

(IMAGE CREDITS:AP)