The producers of CoComelon, the popular children’s YouTube channel and Netflix show, are developing a movie based on the successful animated characters, according to people familiar with the matter.
Moonbug Entertainment Ltd. is working with DreamWorks Animation to create the film and aims to release the picture in theaters, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the project is still in development and could fall apart.
Moonbug, which also makes the children’s hit “Blippi,” is working to turn CoComelon into a worldwide entertainment franchise. The brand is already the kings of kids on YouTube. The channel has more than 158 million subscribers, and its videos have been viewed more than 100 billion times.
Most of the largest kids’ entertainment franchises began as movies, TV shows, books or toys. Moonbug is taking CoComelon from YouTube into these other industries. The company produces CoComelon programs for Netflix Inc. that rank among the paid streaming service’s most-popular shows.
The company has also announced plans to launch a themed CoComelon playground at a resort in the Dominican Republic and has partnered with Cameo, which sells paid celebrity shoutouts, to launch artificial intelligence-produced, customized videos to send to fans. Parents can buy a happy birthday message, for example, starring the show’s main characters.
Moonbug was founded in 2018 by Rene Rechtman and John Robson, who previously worked in web video at other companies. Candle Media, an independent, entertainment studio backed by Blackstone Inc. and founded by former Walt Disney Co. executives Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs, acquired Moonbug in 2021 for $3 billion.
At the time, Mayer told Bloomberg News the “best intellectual property for children is digital in origin — it happens on YouTube.” CoComelon, which is aimed at preschoolers, features animated characters singing nursery rhymes and other kid-appropriate songs.
Universal Pictures, which owns DreamWorks Animation, has challenged Disney in kids’ entertainment. Its current release, the Illumination Entertainment feature The Super Mario Bros. Movie, is the biggest movie of the year so far. The film has grossed more than $700 million globally after opening earlier this month.
DreamWorks Animation produces the Shrek franchise, including the spinoff Puss in Boots: The Last Wish.
Officials with Moonbug and Universal, a division of Comcast Corp., declined to comment.
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