Although Hollywood’s Big Five (Disney, Paramount, Sony, Universal and Warner Bros.) have dominated the global theatrical business for decades, a mix of market factors is convincing more indie studios to throw their hats in the ring.

Kids IPs from the small screen, as well as some with digital media origins, have been taking a dip in big-screen waters lately—and it’s proving to be a lucrative opportunity. ZAG and Mediawan Kids & Family’s Ladybug & Cat Noir: The Movie grossed nearly US$40 million worldwide last year. And in partnership with Cinemark, Moonbug Entertainment distributed its one-hour special Blippi’s Big Dino Adventure in theaters across the US for one week last August.

“We saw that theaters were interested in bringing more young families back after COVID,” notes Andy Yeatman, Moonbug’s MD of the Americas. Though it was a limited cinematic release leading into broader distribution on Netflix and YouTube, Blippi’s Big Dino Adventure represented a conscious step to expand the footprint of a digital brand theatrically. And to stoke interest, Moonbug dropped a YouTube music video titled “Going to the Movies,” in which Blippi and Meekah break down for preschoolers all the thrills inherent to the cinematic experience (like eating popcorn and laughing along with a big audience).

So why now? From stalled productions to the rise of AI, here’s a look at how the current industry landscape is setting the stage for a potential indie renaissance.

Market factors

Strike-induced delays have trimmed this year’s theatrical inventory from the heavy-hitters, prompting more opportunities for indies to break out. December 2023 data from Gower Street Analytics is projecting a 5% decrease in 2024 worldwide box-office ticket sales (US$31.5 billion), compared to last year.

The factor driving this is not lack of demand—there’s actually plenty of that—but rather a shortage of product. (For example, with release dates for Pixar’s Elio and Disney’s live-action Snow White moved to 2025, there are currently no kid-friendly US releases planned around the prime time of Easter break this year, other than Kung Fu Panda 4.)

At the British Screen Forum Conference in November, Tim Richards, founder and CEO of cinema chain Vue International, called on indies to fill cinemas with faster-produced content for 2024 and beyond. “We need more small and medium-sized films,” he urged, citing variety as an important secondary benefit of not relying on the Hollywood studios so heavily in the supply chain. Recent tech advancements are also making feature filmmaking more accessible than ever. AI-powered tools offered by software like Toon Boom Harmony and Wonder Studio are already helping to simplify repetitive tasks that are so plentiful in animation—a boon for resource-strapped studios looking to save both time and money on creative-focused tasks.

“The advent of AI in animation is nothing short of revolutionary, particularly for indie filmmakers,” says Lion Forge Animation’s co-founder Carl Reed, who launched his new Composition Media studio last year.

And it’s not just the prospect of box-office receipts that’s attracting producers to cinema. A big-screen launchpad can help a project stand out in the market so that it already has a fanbase established by the time it hits VOD. This appears to be especially true for family-friendly titles on US streamers. Several kids movies that were released theatrically first were among the most-viewed films on Netflix, Disney+ and Paramount in 2022, as per a March 2023 report from The Cinema Foundation, which notes that a theatrical launch boosts home viewing as “a signal of quality for streaming consumers, and, not incidentally, provides real revenue to the bottom line.”

Animation rules

On the heels of the pandemic, Reed sees a real hunger for animation on the big screen from all ages—but he notes that this momentum needs to be sustained with both quantity and quality, or it could dissolve. This lofty ambition is proving to be possible at a manageable cost. For example, when it adapted the PAW Patrol TV series for film, Spin Master Entertainment elevated the visual quality of the animation to amp up its characters and their world for the big screen. And it still came in at a reasonable budget ranging from US$26 million to US$30 million.

Recent hits like Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse also indicate a strong four-quadrant appetite for animated films, and especially those that experiment with visual styles. That’s why Composition is looking to deliver more stylistic animation to captivate audiences it’s aiming to reach. The studio is producing its upcoming feature Sky & Luna in CG, but in “a hybrid style with 2D expressions of exaggerated squash and stretch,” Reed notes. “Otherwise, why do this in animation? Are we fully taking advantage of the medium if we’re only doing a one-to-one motion capture of a human’s performance?”

While ambitious visual styles were once the exclusive domain of big studios, Reed underlines how tech developments are leveling the playing field. “With the advancing technology in AI, virtual production and CG, the cost of producing a hybrid film could be dramatically reduced.”

With a compelling premise about an 11-year-old girl and her extraterrestrial bestie on the run, Sky & Luna is part of an eight-movie deal that Composition signed with PoC Studios last year. The companies are producing the pic with Man of Action Entertainment and Creation Station (which created the concept). While sending a brand-new IP direct to theaters may seem counterintuitive in risk-averse times, Reed emphasizes that originals do have a novelty edge and sometimes break out because there aren’t any preconceived expectations about them. To balance the risk, the team is also planning to develop the occasional book adaptation.

For now, Composition and PoC are prepping another original kids feature—Once Upon Again (pictured above)—that Reed describes as “a twisted fairytale in the same vein as Shrek.” With a more edgy female protagonist than the typical animated princess, it could appeal to the same underserved girl audience that made Barbie such a runaway hit last summer. The film stars a witch who’s cursed to turn into a dragon every time she’s emotional, and she constantly burns everything down (including the prince she has a crush on). But she also has the power to rewind time, kicking off a Groundhog Day-style cycle of repeatedly trying to overcome her curse and win over the prince.

Eventful storytelling

Albie Hecht has a deep understanding of what makes established kids IPs work on the big screen. He was formerly president of film and TV entertainment at Nickelodeon, producing box-office hits like The Rugrats Movie (1998) and Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius (2001).

Now, as the CCO of pocket.watch, he is busy directing the upcoming live-action/ animated hybrid Ryan’s World the Movie: Titan Universe Adventure (pictured below), starring kidfluencer Ryan Kaji.

Ryan’s World the Movie: Titan Universe Adventure features both live-action segments and an anime-driven style designed for a compelling big-screen experience.

Sunlight Entertainment is producing this film with pocket.watch, and it’s a first experience for both companies. Launching theatrically helps refresh the brand, giving fans who grew up with Ryan a new and eventful way of seeing him, Hecht explains. The blended format also creates the best of both worlds, drawing in the widest possible audience.

“The film [starts with a] half hour of live action, and then the characters jump into a comic book to have their adventure in animation,” he teases. “It’s an anime-driven style that looks amazing on the big screen.”

The pic is eyeing a theatrical and streaming release in late 2024—a mixed distribution model designed to reach more kids, based on how they want to experience the movie. “It’s also appropriate for a digital-born franchise,” adds Hecht. Sunlight CEO Shion Kaji (Ryan’s father) reiterates that now is “the right time to enter the film world,” given that the Ryan’s World brand is firmly established in the small-screen domain, with 2023 releases like animated series ELEMON and the live-actioner Ryan’s World Ninja Adventures.

Franchise expansion 

With budget cuts affecting linear kids TV, diversification is key to surviving and opening up more revenue streams. “We want to connect with the audience beyond linear broadcasting,” says Mélanie Errea, head of sales and acquisitions at MIAM! animation. This Paris-based indie studio made its cinematic debut in November with the local release of L’hiver d’Edmond et Lucy (45 minutes), which has been available in 150 to 200 theaters each week and has sold more than 75,000 tickets to date.

MIAM! originally planned to develop its first theatrical project from scratch, but then realized the team could fast-track it by simply combining existing episodes from preschool series Edmond & Lucy. This approach was suggested by Valentin Rebondy, MD of distributor Cinéma Public Films (which had overseen a similar strategy for past releases like La Grande aventure de Non-Non in 2018). Popular in Europe, this compilation tactic is rolling out on a global scale this year: Hasbro will release Peppa’s Cinema Party, an hour-long Peppa Pig movie featuring several season 10 episodes, in theaters worldwide this February.

The real-time animation pipeline for Edmond & Lucy meant the show’s assets could easily be used to develop two minutes of additional footage for the special—intended to smooth transitions between episodes and create a more cohesive cinematic feel. The overall budget (including the original costs of the four episodes) came out to just about US$769,000. Post-movie Edmond & Lucy workshops also took place in around 100 theaters, letting kids and families take part in fun activities that related back to the themes/characters of the special (making Christmas tree decorations, for example). Cinéma Public Films supplied free activity kits to theaters that were interested in hosting these events. “It’s essential now to offer something more or create something unique around the movie to make the experience [worth the effort] for audiences,” Errea says, hinting that more initiatives along these lines are brewing for future releases.

L’hiver d’Edmond et Lucy screenings were accompanied by workshops in select theaters as part of a strategy by MIAM ! to provide a more eventful moviegoing experience to kids and family audiences.

Regionally tailored

The French theatrical market is particularly open to animated specials as a way to “diversify their programming,” Errea theorizes, noting that French families tend to like a short-and-sweet family movie outing; the 44-minute Louise et la Légende du Serpent à Plumes sold more than 43,000 tickets in 2022, as per AlloCiné.

Cinéma Public Films also recommended a November release in order for MIAM! to capitalize on a gap in the winter theatrical schedule. It’s an important tactic to boost indie visibility, explains Sola Media’s head of sales, Johannes Busse. The German sales agent specializes in kids/animated indie features like Moonbound (2021), which grossed US$8 million globally. “Our distributors meticulously analyze the local theatrical distribution calendar [for] holidays and special events that attract a larger family audience,” Busse says. For wider distribution, Sola also advocates for casting locally known talent when dubbing animated features for various territories. “Choosing voices that are already familiar to the local audience [brings] more exposure in the domestic market.”

Scoring distribution in major multiplexes is not the only option. Indies can also build a roadmap to theatrical growth by focusing on getting their projects into independent cinemas and arthouse venues—a key strategy at Cartoon Saloon, which has perfected the art of releasing an animated theatrical film every three to four years.

The Irish studio’s MD, Gerry Shirren, emphasizes developing a network of regular distribution partners in many territories, noting the studio often discusses projects with such partners early on. Cartoon Saloon has also worked with WestEnd Films, a London-based agent that helped introduce the studio to its now-regular distributors. “Our distribution partners have rarely been distribution chains,” Shirren says. “They’re more often specialized independent distributors—not dissimilar to what we are as producers—and this means we are like-minded in many ways. “We [also] try to keep festival rights where possible, or at least jointly manage these rights with local distributors so we can engage with festivals and events and be able to have theatrical and non-theatrical screenings,” he adds.

The bottom line

It all comes down to using advantages that big studios may not always have, from speediness and creative freedom, to the power of niche and novelty.

For those taking their first swing at the theatrical market with existing IPs, Hecht advises: “You need a hook that explains why it’s a movie and not a TV show or a YouTube series.” For its part, pocket.watch is interested in bringing more creators to the big screen to grow this fledgling sub-genre. But Hecht says it will be a slow-and-steady approach. “You can’t rush it. You have to build that fanbase [to bring] a theatrical audience.” For Ryan’s World, the indicators were clear: 76 billion views on YouTube and an expansion onto 45 streaming platforms across 80-plus countries.

Even with a wide variety of formats and markets, independent studios share a bullish outlook on theatrical films. Seeing demand in eye-catching animation for co-viewing audiences, Reed is especially excited about more grassroots films ushering in the next golden age of animation on the big screen. “We live in a time when technology is allowing indies to compete with the big boys.”

This story originally appeared in Kidscreen’s February/March 2024 magazine issue.