Watch Next is developing a Mr. Men Little Miss toon

The French studio has locked down TV rights to the legacy kids publishing brand and will start production on a 2D-animated preschool concept in 2026.
November 6, 2024

Mr. Men Little Miss is heading back to the small screen in a new 2D-animated comedy series in the works at Watch Next Media (Nate is Late).

The French prodco has picked up TV and streaming rights to the 53-year-old brand owned by Sanrio in Japan. It plans to spend the next year developing a 78 x seven-minute treatment for preschoolers, aiming to send the project into production in 2026. The company’s distribution arm Kids First will shop the series globally.

Created by British author and cartoonist Roger Hargreaves, the Mr. Men Little Miss books have sold 250 million copies worldwide since their publishing debut in 1971. Set in a world called Misterland, each book spotlights a different character whose defining personality trait is reflected in their name and appearance.

Watch Next’s animated series concept will feature some of the franchise’s most iconic characters, such as Mr. Happy, Mr. Messy, Little Miss Sunshine and Little Miss Chatterbox. James Walsh (Hey Duggee) and Myles McLeod (Lloyd of the Flies) have already penned two scripts, and Ciaran Murtagh (Mr. Bean: The Animated Series) and Andrew Barnett Jones (Toad & Friends) are working on a third. 

This marks the second partnership for Sanrio and Watch Next, which previously worked together on Hello Kitty: Super Style! (2022). This Amazon Kids+ series has sold into territories including Germany (Super RTL), Canada (CBC) and France (Canal+).

There have been various Mr. Men Little Miss TV adaptations over the years, including ’70s cartoon Mr. Men and a Little Miss spinoff series that followed in 1983, both produced by Flicks Films to air on BBC 1. Flicks teamed up with Marina Productions in the ’90s on Mr. Men and Little Miss, and then Renegade Animation and Chorion produced The Mr. Men Show, which launched in 2008.

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