Chris Houghton and Shane Houghton (pictured), the creators of Big City Greens, have signed a new overall deal with Disney Branded Television, expanding on a previous agreement with Disney Television Animation originally signed in 2021. 

The pair will continue to produce animated kids projects for Disney Television Animation and develop live-action concepts for Disney Branded TV. Their agreement also includes the option to work on adult-skewing toons with 20th Television Animation.

The Houghtons created and executive produced hit series Big City Greens (85 x 22 minutes), which has racked up more than two billion hours of watch time on Disney Channel and Disney+ since its 2018 premiere. This offbeat comedy targets six to 11s with a story about a mischievous country boy and his family adapting to life in the big city. 

There’s more Big City Greens content coming down the pipeline, with a movie slated to launch this summer. And Disney, ESPN and the NHL are partnering for a second time this year to re-create a hockey game in real-time animation featuring the show’s characters.

Clockwise from top-left: Percy Jackson and the Olympians, SuperKitties, Zombies 3 and Pupstruction.

Disney Branded TV has also just announced a handful of greenlights, renewals and a spooky new movie project. Zombies 4 (working title) will see the film franchise’s zombie and human/alien cheerleader lead couple embark on a road trip. Disney is already planning tie-in products including fashion dolls (Mattel), apparel, accessories and costumes. Since launching in 2018, Zombies has been a consistent ratings generator for Disney, with the premiere telecasts of its last three films ranking first among kids ages six to 11 and nine to 14. 

Disney Junior has greenlit third seasons of SuperKitties (Sony Pictures Television–Kids) and Pupstruction (Titmouse). And Disney+ has renewed two original live-action series—the anthology horror show Goosebumps and book-to-TV adaptation Percy Jackson and the Olympians.

All of this content news comes right on the heels of Disney announcing its Q1 financials and buying a US$1.5-billion stake in developer Epic Games last week.