Germany’s Studio 100 Media has started production on feature film Maya the Bee 2 – The Honey Games, which is set to hit theaters in 2017/18.

The sequel is being co-produced by Studio 100 Media with Australian production company Studio B Animation, in association with Flying Bark Productions. Munich-based Studio 100 Film is the international sales agency for the worldwide rights.

Maya the Bee 2 will see the titular character venture beyond the hive to meet new friends and opponents that will present new challenges. Her best friend Willy, the loveable but clumsy ants Arnie and Barney and her trustworthy advisor, Flip the grasshopper, will be by her side.

The sequel will follow on the success of the first Maya movie, Maya The Bee 1 – First Flight, which bowed in 2014 and sold to more than 160 countries worldwide. Maya the Bee 2 – The Honey Games already has pre-sales in South Korea, Turkey and the Middle East.

The 100-year-old Maya the Bee brand first launched in 1912 as a children’s book by German author Waldemar Bonsels. It has since inspired a comic book series, a Japanese anime TV series in the mid-’70s and a current CGI series that launched in 2012.