European partners board Ploey 2, Niko 3, Valemon: The Polar Bear King

Ploey 2, Niko-Beyond the Northern Lights and Valemon: The Polar Bear King are thrilling mega big Nordic animated film projects, based on popular IPs, reuniting some of the best animation experts. The three projects will be pitched next week at Bordeaux’s Cartoon Movie industry platform (March 8-10).

Iceland’s Ploey 2-The Legend of the Winds, the sequel to the 2018 hit Ploey-You Never Fly Alone (2018) featuring the young golden plover, will be directed by Gunnar Karlsson, who was assistant director to the late Árni Óli Ásgeirsson. Haukur Sigurjónsson is producing for GunHil. “The first draft of the script was written by Árni before he passed away [in April 2021]. He was working with his friend and screenwriter Otto Geir Borg on the story, and Otto took care of the re-write and polishing,” explains Sigurjónsson.

The story follows a young idealistic plover who gathers a group of unlikely feathered heroes, to foil the plans of the evil Ice Queen and her fearsome army, signalling the arrival of spring, in order to fulfil an ancient legend.

Discussing the plot, the producer says: “In Iceland, we always talk about the golden plover bird bringing the spring and every year it is headline news when the first Plover is sited anywhere in Iceland. This is something we wanted to play with in Ploey 2. What happens if the Plovers does not make the journey north?”

So far the €5m 3D computer-animated project is in the early financing stage and has received development support from the Icelandic Film Centre. Playmaker (formerly Arri Media Sales) who licensed the first Ploey movie to over 60 territories, is attached again. Sigurjónsson will be looking for co-producers at Cartoon Movie.

Meanwhile Niko the little reindeer who charmed worldwide kids and their families in his first adventures Niko-All the Way to the Stars (2008) and the follow up Niko-Little Brother, Big Trouble (2012) will return for a third time in Niko-Beyond the Northern Lights. “We have pretty much the same good old crew together [writer Marteinn Thorisson, co-directors Kari Juusonen and Jørgen Lerdam], and I’m super happy about that,” said Finnish co-producer Antti Haikala, CEO at Anima Vitae. I love how the universe we have created earlier grows much bigger here,” adds Haikala.

In the upcoming film, Niko the flying reindeer is still hoping to become a member of Santa’s Flying Forces. But he gets challenged by a super talented reindeer girl who breaks that dream. Niko needs to choose between trust and loyalty.

The film is produced by Hannu Tuomainen for Animaker, in co-production with Anima Vitae’s Antti Haikala, Ulysses Filmproduktion’s Emely Christians (Germany), A Film Production’s Anders Mastrup (Denmark) and Moetion Films’ Moe Honan (Ireland).

Co-financiers confirmed so far include the Finnish Film Foundation, the Hamburg Film Fund, Screen Ireland, the Danish Film Institute and FFA (Filmförderugsanstalt). Distributors lined up include Nordisk Film for Scandinavia, Telepool for Germany and Bac Films for France.

Haikala said support from the Finnish Film Foundation in particular was crucial for the development stage. About 86% of the €7.2 budget is secured. Production partners at Cartoon Movie will be looking for further pre-sales via Global Screen.

Also to be pitched at Cartoon Movie’s ‘In Development’ is Valemon: The Polar Bear King, the latest adaptation of the beloved Scandinavian folk tale.

Multi-awarded author and screen writer Maja Lunde (Battle, The Crossing) has written the modern adaptation. A live action film inspired by the fairy tale The Polar Bear King was created in 1991, but this is the first full animation version.

Producer Cornelia Boysen said Maja Lunde herself brought the script to her production outfit Maipo Film. “It was easy to see that this would make a wonderful animated feature,” Boysen said, underscoring Lunde’s modern feminist twist to the story, as “the main character is a young woman who makes her own choices”. “That has been really important for us and as in all of Maja Lunde’s work, nature plays a big and important part in the story. It is a story of love, greed and courage. How the wish for love sometimes can lead you to the wrong path, but you can find the right path in the end.

Mikkel Sandemose, behind two Asha Lad family adventure films for Maipo Film, is serving as director. “This is Mikkel’s first animated feature, but believe it or not, he basically grew up in an animation studio, and has a great understanding and knowledge of animation,” said the producer, who feels his strong experience in VFX features will be very helpful. “One of Mikkel’s strengths is that he trusts his Head of Department, and this is a good trait in this process, which is very different than that of a live action feature,”, noted Boysen.

The €8.2 million film set up as a Norwegian/Belgium co-production, is in the financing stage. The producer will be looking for pre-sales at Cartoon Movie.

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