Toonzians had one of the best Christmas celebrations this year at our office premises in Trivandrum and the mood was upbeat with lot of fun activities. The entire 2D and 3D Studio and corporate office was beautifully decorated with balloons, stars, and serial lights conveying the spirit of Christmas. The Christmas Bay decoration was the cynosure of all eyes as different departments decorated their bays in creative ways. CEO Mr. P Jayakumar in his special address shared about the life and teachings of Jesus Christ and asked the employees to live by the humanistic and ethical ideals taught by Jesus Christ. Earlier the event began with cake cutting followed by dance performance and prizes for best bay decoration and best team photo. The event concluded with employees finding their Christmas buddies and sharing the gifts.

Toonz Media Group has been appointed as the Sales Agent for three new feature films from the house of Belgium-based nWave Pictures. The feature films titled The Inseparables, Chicken Hare & The Hamster of Darkness, and Bigfoot & Family will now be represented by Toonz in the assigned territory to market and promote the film at film markets and festivals. Toonz as the Sales Agent will now have the distribution rights which includes theatrical & non-theatrical rights, VOD rights, and mobile rights among others. nWave Pictures is a leading European animation studio and has several leading films including the famous Toy Story to its credit.

Toonz Media Group has announced its strategic collaboration with Ele Animations, a fast-emerging animation company based in Odisha to bring "Jay Jagannath\" a charming multi-genre series that will appeal to kids and families everywhere. Born out of Ele Animations' commitment to share the lesser-known stories of Lord Jagannath with the wider audience, "Jay Jagannath\" presents these narratives in an animated and entertaining storytelling format. Ele Animations, as the intellectual property owner, has granted exclusive distribution rights to Toonz Media Group for this 52x11” animated series. The collaboration aims to target kids as well as families, combining action, humor, and fun to celebrate the power of devotion, the beauty of friendship and cultural heritage of India.

Mr. Anish Narayanan Kutty, Director - Media Sales (APAC) represented Toonz at the Asia TV Forum & Market held in Singapore between December 5 and 8. ATF provided an ideal platform to meet industry colleagues and partners and the event was full of productive meetings for us. “ATF 2023 was special as the market happened during one of the crucial times but there was a flurry of activities with record number of participants and booths,” Mr. Anish said. According to him, this market will have positive impact for all of us at Toonz as there is increased visibility and growth opportunities in the southeast Asian counties.

Mr. Arun S M, Senior Manager – Corporate Communications at Toonz has won a sub-category title at the Malayali Manka – Kerala Sreeman 2023 contest organised by Technopark Today, a community media platform for IT professionals in Kerala. Malayali Manka – Kerala Sreeman 2023 is a 3-level contest and Arun was selected as one of the 17 finalists from over 400 applicants initially. The Grand Finale happened at Technopark on December 17 and the judges conferred the ‘Best Hair – Kerala Sreeman’ award on him during the event.

The Power of Thought episode from Tales of Nasreddin Hodja series, which is from the stables of our wonderful Hungarian partner KEDD Animation Studio has raked in as the Official Selection to the prestigious 7th International Folklore Film Festival! Toonz Media Group is the proud partner to distribute this series, produced in Hungarian by Kedd, for Indian and English-speaking audience across the world through YouTube and other digital platforms. It may be noted that 7th International Folklore Film Festival (IFFF) organised by the International Film Festival of Thrissur (IFFT) will be held between January 5 and 9, 2024.

Sales of the month

-           Cartoon network – Zoonicorn for Philippines and with Dexyco in the Balkans.

-           Alpha Pictures - Chacha Chaudhary for Air India Express.

-           Tevekids channel - Raccoons for Dominican Republic.

-           Launching the first operation with Telecom italia on their SVOD platform for 3 shows Baby Einstein Ocean Explorer, Cat & Keet and Rat-a-tat with Telecom Italia.

Upcoming markets

Participation in Content America in January

Headquarters visit

Bernhard Stephan and Bruno Zarka visited Toonz in Trivandrum

Deals in the pipeline

Whispers - Zoonicorn should be announced soon in India and MENA.