Cartoon Network’s newly unveiled portfolio of content for the 2017-18 upfront season features six brand-new series, seven returning hits including We Bare Bears and Mighty Magiswords, as well as more than 20 original mobile and console games.
In continuing to nurture its own creative talent, Cartoon Network has tapped George Gendi from The Amazing World of Gumball, Matt Burnett and Ben Levin from Steven Universe and Julia Pott from Adventure Time for three newly announced series.
Gendi’s Apple & Onion (pictured) is a friendship comedy starring two lovable buddies who don’t let their naivety get in the way of a move to the big city.
Burnett and Levin, meanwhile, have created Craig of the Creek, a wilderness adventure series featuring three best friends who journey to a kid utopia where tribes of children rule over tree forts and dirt bike ramps.
The third newly announced series, Summer Camp Island, is based on the critically acclaimed original Cartoon Network short written and directed by Pott that made the rounds at notable festivals this year, including the Sundance Film Festival and SXSW. Summer Camp Island follows the adolescent misadventures of Oscar and his best friend Hedgehog at a magical summer camp.
Cartoon Network’s recently announced series OK K.O.! Let’s Be Heroes, Ben 10 and Cloudy with A Chance of Meatballs round out the new original launches. Greenlit earlier this month, OK K.O.! Let’s Be Heroes is created by Ian Jones-Quartey (Steven Universe) and is set to premiere in the US this summer, followed by a console and PC game version in the fall jointly developed with Toronto indie video game studio Capybara Games. The series is based on the network’s first original standalone mobile game, OK K.O.! Lakewood Plaza Turbo, that was developed from a pilot in Cartoon Network’s shorts program.
The long-awaited re-imagined Ben 10, meanwhile, from Man of Action Entertainment will debut April 10 and follows 10-year-old hero Ben Tennyson, his cousin Gwen, and Grandpa Max as they travel the country during summer vacation.
The sixth new series in the slate is the TV adaptation of the hit Sony Pictures Animation feature Cloudy with A Chance of Meatballs. The series premiered earlier this month and is produced in association with DHX Media, Sony Pictures Animation and Corus Entertainment.
As for popular returning series, We Bare Bears, The Powerpuff Girls (season two), Mighty Magiswords (season two), Adventure Time (eight-part miniseries), Steven Universe, Teen Titans Go! (season four) and The Amazing World of Gumball will all be heading back to the network.
Among new digital and console games, a Powerpuff Girls pack is being added to toy and video game hybrid Lego Dimensions, action brawler console and PC game OK K.O.! Let’s Be Heroes is expected to launch this fall, runner Ben 10: Up to Speed lets users play as Ben and his 10 alien alter egos, and coding-inspired mobile game Glitch Fixers-The Powerpuff Girls is based on the show’s popular episode “Viral Spiral.”
In addition, Mighty Magiswords-based mobile game Surely You Quest lets players collect different swords and can be synced to previously launched integrated app MagiMobile. (Surely You Quest hit iTunes, Google Play and Amazon for free on February 16.)
Rounding out new game titles, Steven Universe: Save The Light is a new RPG console title, and sequel to the 2015 hit mobile release, Attack the Light, featuring an original story by Steven Universe series creator Rebecca Sugar.
Cartoon Network’s complete digital and mobile portfolio, to date, includes 44 apps that have combined for nearly 150 million worldwide downloads.