Orion Ross: Celebs Rumors

EXCLUSIVE: Disney‘s VP of International Animation is to keynote the Manchester Animation Festival next month.

Marta Balaga Disney Branded Television and Disney Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) looks set to reveal a slew of new titles at France’s Annecy Animation Festival. Apart from “Disney Junior’s Ariel,” a new series inspired by “The Little Mermaid,” pre-school adventure series “Magicampers” has also been greenlit.  Set at a day camp for magical creatures – its protagonists, Darly and Loomis, are half-pig and half-Pegasus, and half-donkey and half-unicorn – and created by Obie Scott Wade, it’s set to premiere globally on Disney+ and Disney Junior next year.

Lise Pedersen Disney will unveil a raft of new animated series productions Wednesday at the Annecy Intl. Animation Film Festival, and show sneak peeks of the upcoming slate of new original animated shows to air on Disney+ and other Disney-owned platforms in 2023 and beyond.Highlights include second season greenlights for hit Disney+ series “Monsters at Work” and “Chip ‘n’ Dale: Park Life,” and seasons three for “Marvel’s Spidey and his Amazing Friends” and “Mickey Mouse Funhouse.”Additional episode orders for some of Disney Television Animation’s upcoming series, including “Hamster & Gretel,” “Kiff,” “Hailey’s On It” and “Primos” will also be announced.“The announcements out of Annecy today further cement Disney as the leader in animation,” said Ayo Davis, president of Disney Branded Television.

Emilio Mayorga “Journey to Yourland,” “Lumières!” and “Sex Symbols” proved standouts  at Cartoon Next, a new event launched by European association Cartoon Media to explore the ever more hybrid reality of the animation industry as well as other current cutting edge trends.VR, Extended Reality (XR), cross-media and IP extensions were the event’s buzzwords.In a format similar to Cartoon Springboard, which focuses on a new generation of animators, at Next, creators and producers also pitch projects to a bevy of high-profile experts who offer suggestions on how to improve development or the titles’ completion.Among such experts at Cartoon Next’s inaugural edition were Japhet Asher­, founder of U.K. consultancy and IP creation company Polarity Reversal; Orion Ross, VP of original programming and animation at Disney EMEA; Aymeric Castaing, founder of French XR company  Umanimation; Luce Grosjean, who launched France’s Miyu Distribution, devoted to young talents and student films; producer Sébastien Onomo at France’s Special Touch Studios; and producer Anna Schur, head of content at Spanish gaming animation company ZeptoLab.

Jamie Lang Disney EMEA hosted its annual Studio Focus at this year’s Annecy Animation Festival, lamentably pre-recorded for the second edition in a row, where the company announced a pair of new African series, the sci-fi anthology series “Kizazi Moto: Generation of Fire” led by “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” co-director Peter Ramsey, and a musical kids show titled “Kiff” from South Africa.“This year’s fest is about celebrating African animation,” said Orion Ross, VP of original programming and animation for Disney EMEA.

Disney EMEA Animation Studio this morning unveiled a group of new and returning animated kids projects out of Europe and Africa. Among the new titles is Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire, a 10-part sci-fi anthology executive produced by Oscar-winning Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse co-director Peter Ramsey.