PARIS – Rolling off “The Little Prince” and the upcoming “Playmobil,” Paris-based ON Animation Studios is teaming with PGS on “Tall Tales: The Magical Garden of Antoon Krings.”
PGS, the investment and sales company launched by Philippe and Guillaume Soutter, is co-financing and handling sales on “Tall Tales.” The movie will mark the directorial debut of French-Danish children’s author and illustrator Antoon Krings and is based on his bestselling book series, “Droles de petites betes” (“Funny Little Bugs”).
Published by Gallimard, and with more than 20 million copies sold worldwide, Krings’ series features more than 200 characters (crickets, beetles, ladybugs, bees and other friendly insects) living in an enchanted woodland setting.
“Tall Tales,” which has an estimated budget of $22 million, turns on Apollo, a vagabond cricket who is a singer. The movie follows Apollo as he sets off to start a new life in the magical garden and gets involved with the wrong people.
“Tall Tales” will be released in France on Dec. 13 by Universal and Gebbeka. French pubcaster France 3 Cinema has picked up TV rights.
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ON Animation worked for six years on coming up with the best way to transpose Krings’s hand-drawn aquarelles into CGI animation.
“‘Tall Tales’ brings back many of the memorable, classic stories we have all grown up with and shared with our children,” said ON Animation’s co-president and producer Aton Soumache, who runs the company with Dimitri Rassam.
“This innovative movie will reinvent classic animation and bring this world of adventure to the high standard of CG animation,” added Soumache, whose production slate also includes “Playmobil,” the animated feature film based on the iconic toy franchise and repped by Lionsgate.
“Antoon Krings has been successfully reinventing the kids publishing world by bringing modern stories through a unique aesthetic that children and parents love,” said Guillaume Soutter, who noted that the movie is PGS’ first feature film.
Philippe Soutter said the movie was “inspired by the visual worlds of Beatrix Potter and Dr. Seuss, as well as Disney movies.”
Bidibul Productions (“108 Demon-Kings”) is co-producing the film.
ON Animation’s latest production, “The Little Prince,” grossed more than $97 million worldwide.
