Gutsy Animations’ popular animated series Moominvalley (13 x 22’) has been acquired by SF Studios across the Nordics, NRK in Norway and RÚV in Iceland through deals negotiated by PGS Entertainment.
The series, based on the beloved Moomin stories by Finnish-Swedish author and artist Tove Jansson, is commissioned by Yle in Finland and Sky in the UK, and produced by Gutsy Animations. PGS Entertainment represents the series for worldwide distribution excluding the UK, Finland, Japan, South Korea and China.
Commenting on the deal, Gutsy Animations creative director and Moominvalley executive producer Marika Makaroff said, “Moomin has a great history and following in the Nordics. So we are very happy to be able to share new Moomin content with new and existing fans. The core values of Moomins are currently highly important as we need love, respect for nature and friendship now more than ever.”
Seasons one and two of Moominvalley will be available on DVD and digital copy across the Nordics in December 2020 and on SF Studios’ SVOD platform SF Kids in Sweden, Norway and Denmark. In Norway, Moominvalley season one will launch in Autumn 2020 on NRK Super, NRK Super TV and NRK TV. The series will debut in Iceland on RÚV.
“NRK is very happy to be able to present Tove Jansson’s beloved universe to a new generation of children, as well as giving fans of all ages a chance to return to Moominvalley. These stories represent an important part of our Nordic cultural heritage,” added NRK Super acquisitions executive Kåre Snipsøyr.
Moominvalley has been sold to over 30 countries to date, including UK (Sky), Finland (Yle), Japan (NHK) and Germany (ZDF). It recently won the Best Children’s Series Award at the noted British Animation Awards, in addition to taking prizes at both the TBI Content Innovation Awards 2019 and Golden Venla 2019.
The Moominvalley series has also been translated into three different Sami languages. The first Sami dialect version, Northern Sami, starts to air on Yle TV1 on 13 April. The Northern Sami Moominvalley episodes will also be available on Yle Areena globally.