Angry Birds live-action series in the works

In partnership with Big Fish Entertainment, Rovio's new live-action game show Angry Birds Challenge will be the iconic brand's first move to television.
June 1, 2018

As part of the Finnish company’s new multi-year content roadmap, Rovio Entertainment is partnering with New York’s Big Fish Entertainment to launch Angry Birds Challenge (working title), a live-action game show that will serve the IP’s first-ever TV series.

Featuring large-scale obstacle courses inspired by the popular mobile game—including a human slingshot, villainous green piggies, and defense zones comprised of water, wood, ice and stone barriers—teams of contestants must collect bird ammo, destroy guard towers and race to a castle tower to save as many eggs as possible in the shortest amount of time. The show also adds a unique twist in that teams get to pick their own challenges.

President Dan Cesareo and chief creative officer Lucilla D’Agostino are executive producing for Big Fish, alongside Jeff Bennett (NBC’s The Wall) and Rovio’s head of content licensing, Joe Lawson.

Since launching in 2006, full-service prodco Big Fish has made waves in the live-action reality, lifestyle and documentary space for adults, producing hit shows such as unscripted crime series Live PD (A&E), Black Ink Crew: New York, Chris Paul’s Chapter 3 (ESPN), and culinary docu-series Hustle & Soul (WE tv).

Rovio’s recently announced content roadmap will be driven by Sony Pictures’ September 2019 theatrical release of The Angry Birds Movie 2, a new long-form animated series for 2020, new live stage shows, location-based entertainment projects and original live-action and animated content for Angry Birds’ popular YouTube channel.

The content slate arrives after a 75% first-quarter profit increase for Rovio, which was largely due to record revenue from its top game Angry Birds 2 and a strong performance for Angry Birds Friends.

Angry Birds Challenge also falls in step with an industry uptick in new all-ages game show productions, including Nickelodeon’s rebooted Double Dare, marblemedia’s Just Like Mom and Dad, Cartoon Network’s Ben 10 Challenge and Forte Entertainment’s Snapshots.

About The Author
Jeremy is the Features Editor of Kidscreen specializing in the content production, broadcasting and distribution aspects of the global children's entertainment industry. Contact Jeremy at jdickson@brunico.com.

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