Jan. 2023 Chinese streaming giant, iQIYI’s hit preschool animated series, “Momo” is starting its maiden global voyage with distributor Bejuba! Entertainment. The 32 x 5” series about curiosity and adventure follows the exploits of a smart but over-eager young octopus, her decidedly unadventurous father, and all her young undersea friends in their public aquarium home. iQIYI is now ramping up for the production of season two, and is developing books and merchandise to augment the release.
The creator-producer is Wang Huiyu. She is the head of Wonderworks, an internal division dedicated to kids and animation content of iQIYI. The series has been racking up impressive numbers and enthralling family audiences on its streaming premiere in China.
iQIYI has selected Bejuba! Entertainment for its global release. “Tatiana Kober has really impressed us with her commitment to the series.” Says Wang. “And her record of success speaks for itself.”
“Huiyu had great foresight when planning this show,” said Kober. “Momo was created and produced in China, but Huiyu brought on a directing team from The Netherlands, an American head writer, and the show was mastered in English.”
Joost van den Bosch and Erik Verkerk directed the series through their Ka-Ching Cartoon shingle, based in Rotterdam, The Netherlands (The Lummels, 3D-Machine, George and Paul); and American scribe Mark Byers (Watch the Skies, Spider vs Fly, Brightheart) served as head writer, keeping the scripts fun and exciting, but culturally neutral.
“Momo is a preschool series, with important touchpoints for young audiences” added Wang, “but from the beginning I designed Momo for co-viewing, with enough sophistication to the characters and the storylines that will appeal to the whole family.”
x x x
iQIYI
iQIYI is a Chinese online video platform based in Beijing and Shanghai launched on April 22, 2010. iQIYI is currently one of the largest online video sites in the world, with nearly 6 billion hours spent on its service each month and over 500 million monthly active users.
