French animation studio Xilam Animation announced that its new CG animated slapstick comedy series Karate Sheep (78 x 7’) is making its worldwide premiere on Netflix starting 2 March. This series marks the launch of Netflix’s first animated commission that is supported by the French public funding body CNC.
The show follows Trico – an enthusiastic sheep who loves to share new objects and ideas with the rest of the flock. This causes ruckus in the mountain pastures, which inevitably ends up at Wanda’s expense, a tough ewe whose job is to keep the sheep safe. No small feat, especially when Wolf is always lurking, waiting to make the most of this newfound chaos.
Xilam has developed an extensive digital and social media campaign to build awareness for the Netflix launch. As part of the activity, Xilam has created a Karate Sheep YouTube channel, which features episodes, compilations and shorts and has achieved nearly 500K views since its launch in January.
Alongside this, a dedicated TikTok account has generated 3M views and a branded Karate Sheep filter is now available for use on the platform. On TikTok, over 25 per cent of the show’s audience is from the U.S. Xilam is also developing a Karate Sheep gaming app for launch later this year.
“Slapstick comedies are a core part of our company’s legacy and DNA, so we’re excited to be collaborating with Netflix to bring another series in this genre to international audiences,” said Xilam Animation founder and CEO Marc du Pontavice. “Karate Sheep is a unique blend of themes – there’s friendship, teamwork and accepting the differences of others, but there’s also martial arts, plenty of humour and a celebration of nature in the mix too. The response and engagement for our Karate Sheep digital campaign has been really positive.”
Karate Sheep (formerly Trico), aimed at six to nine year olds, has been created by Xilam Animation’s Hugo Gittard (Zig & Sharko, Mr Magoo). The series premiered on Super RTL in late 2022.
Xilam holds second-window global linear TV distribution and merchandising rights for the series.
