Deals in Brief – May 29, 2025

CAKE picks up South Korean mermaid princess toon Bubblegem, Tulipop Tales sells to buyers in the UK and Hungary, and Brands With Influence will build a licensing program for Bollywoof.

By Sadhana Bharanidharan

May 29, 2025

CAKE has picked up global distribution rights (excluding APAC and CIS) to Bubblegem (pictured), a 52 x 11-minute series for six to nines that’s produced by South Korea’s Campfire Aniworks for EBS Korea and Tencent Video in China. This CG toon tags along with a mermaid princess learning to navigate life on land. It has been greenlit for a third season that will launch in 2026—and its footprint in the APAC region is growing with acquisitions from Netflix Korea, Singapore’s Mediacorp and Mentari TV in Indonesia.
Iceland’s Tulipop Studios has sold its flagship series Tulipop Tales (52 x seven minutes) to British net Tiny Pop and Hungary’s TV2 Group following recent streaming launches on Kidoodle.TV/Zone.tv in North America and e-Junior in the Middle East. Both new deals were brokered by in-house sales execs Hannah Dubcoff and Jonathan Abraham, who came on board in January to support a global push for the preschool property.
Licensing agency Brands With Influence has been appointed to manage an international L&M push for Bollywoof, a new family feature film from Cantilever Media and Newscope Films in the UK. Launching in fall 2026 on Sky Cinema, this CG-animated pic is all about a spaniel who gets lost in India and must seek help from a local street dog in order to reunite with his family.
Leveraging a white-hot anime trend to engage younger baseball fans, the Los Angeles Dodgers have partnered with Toei Animation to stage a game-day promotion for its popular series One Piece on July 3. This Dodger Stadium event will feature co-branded straw hats (inspired by the show’s protagonists, the Straw Hat Pirates) given out to ticket-holders, plus a special One Piece-themed drone show after the game.
Restaurant/entertainment chain Dave & Buster’s has partnered with Mattel to introduce a new arcade racing game called Hot Wheels Victory Lap this summer across its US locations, which will also feature a limited-time menu with Hot Wheels-themed delicacies starting on June 2.