PGS Entertainment boards Yle hit animated series Moomin Valley

World distributors’ were instantly charmed by the state of the art 2D/3D CGI animation, the humour geared at adults as much as kids and heart-warming universal themes typical of Tove Jansson’s work. Creative director/executive producer and Gutsy Animations founder Marika Makaroff told nordicfilmandtvnews.com: "The Moomin stories are timely as they promote values such as tolerance, respect for nature, being part of a family, belonging and each episode in the series will focus on a particular theme”.

A former creative director at Fremantle and Filmlance International, Makaroff said she used her drama background to put together the A-list creators, including UK writing duo Mark Huckerby and Nick Ostler, and director Steve Box (Academy Award-winner for Wallace & Gromit-The Curse of the Were-Rabbit).

The most expensive animation Finnish series ever with a price tag of €26m for 26 episodes of 22 minutes, was produced by Gutsy Animations in association with Yle and Sky in the UK. “When I started and got the creative team together people said the budget for the series was too high, and I would never get prime-time slots, but we had brave broadcasters,” said Makaroff, who also hopes that in the future, “people will talk about Nordic animation as much as Nordic noir.”

Moomin Valley’s stellar UK voice cast includes Taron Egerton (Moomintroll), Rosamund Pike (Moominmamma), Matt Berry (Moominpappa), Bel Powley (Little My), Warwick Davis (Sniff), Joe Wilkinson (Hemulen-Male), Kate Winslet (Mrs Fillyjonk), Jennifer Saunders (Mymble) Akiya Henry (Snorkmaiden) and Edvin Endre (Snufkin).

Launched in Finland on February 25, the series had a record start as one out of four Finns watched it across Yle’s various platforms. Ville Vilén, Yle’s Director of Creative Content told nordicfilmandtvnews.com that the series continues to attract more than 1 million viewers per episode, with the broadcaster’s online platform Yle Areena driving numbers.  The series was launched in Japan on NHK B4K on April 4 and the UK launch is set for April 19 on Sky One, Sky Kids and Now TV. Makaroff said she is negotiating a theatrical release in Scandinavia and expects season 2 to also get a silver screen treatment in Finland.

French distribution group PGS Entertainment which handles major IPs such as Alvinnn !!! and the Chipmunks and The Little Prince will do a big market launch at the Annecy Festival.

See the trailer CLICK HERE.