– Insektors sequel in the works

PARIS: French public broadcaster France 3 has given the go-ahead for animation company Fantôme to begin work on 13 x 26-minute episodes of the award-winning 3-D animated series Insektors. Other partners in the project include Canal+, Ellipse Programme and Neurones of Belgium. The budget for the project is set at FF32 million (US$6.6 million). The series will be available for fall 1998.

-M5 takes over France Animation distribution

PARIS: France Animation, which was recently bought by the public telephone company France Télécom Multimédia (see page 19 of KidScreen’s December 1996 issue), no longer handles the international distribution of the 150 hours in its animation catalogue. Since January, France Animation’s distribution department is now being handled by France Télécom’s subsidiary M5. Programs in France Animation’s catalogue include Albert, The Fifth Muskateer, The Babaloos and Ivanh’e.

-New company down under

SYDNEY: Aussie companies Village Roadshow and Yoram Gross Film Studios have joined forces to form Yoram Gross Village. Village Roadshow acquired a half interest in the animation company. The partnership’s first effort will be a new Blinky Bill animated feature film based on the popular Australian children’s book character.