Finnish production company Gutsy Media and a design studio Piñata are developing a new animated series based on Tove Jansson‘s beloved Moomin novels and comics. The series is planned to be launched in the beginning of 2019.
Gutsy Media is run by producer Marika Makaroff, who already started the project in her previous post as a creative director for the renowned Swedish company Filmlance, behind many successful tv dramas. She came back to Finland and started her own company. Makaroff believes that Moomin stories could find their place in prime-time drama slots and be targeted at kids and adults alike.
No broadcasters have yet been announced, but Makaroff said recently to a Finnish journalist for Helsingin Sanomat that there are big ones already committed to the project. Moomins have been extremely popular in Japan, Poland, Russia and UK along with all Nordic countries, not only novels’ and comics’ sake but thanks to earlier animated versions. The new series is targeting also US market still to be conquered by the brand that has proved to be a success among licensers.
The budget for the first 26 episodes is over 20 million euros. One % of the budget (200K USD) will be gathered through the crowd-funding campaign opened on Indiegogo on the 6th of March – for the first two days just for the Moomin fan mail subscribers, when it already reached over 12% of its goal!
Just a few concept art images have yet been published, but the technique will be a mixture of 2D and 3D with some matte painting. Money collected from fans will be used for creating visuals.
Along with Finnish TV and animation professionals the project team includes Aardman director Steve Box and producer John Woolley. One perk available for Moomin series backers is an hour-long Skype session with the producer for 500 USD. For 10K USD 3 lucky backers get an exclusive Finland tour including a night in an igloo watching auroras and visiting Tove Jansson’s Helsinki studio with Sophia Jansson, her niece, as a hostess. The Family has not made any changes in the studio, where Tove both lived, painted her art and wrote most Moomin stories.
