By Allison Watkinson
TLL Reporter
Corus Entertainment’s Nelvana studio has entered a development deal with Polygon Pictures to deliver Japanese animated childrens’ content.
Founded in 1983, Polygon Pictures is a Japan-based digital animation studio that produces high-quality entertainment content.
The new development collaboration leverages Polygon’s reputation in the Japanese market with Nelvana’s experience bringing Japanese animated properties to global audiences.
Nelvana is an international producer, distributor, and licensor of animated and live-action content. Nelvana produces content such as comedy series, preschool series, action series, and ancillary consumer products programs. Nelvana’s series air on Corus Entertainment’s kids channels in Canada and in over 180 countries around the world.
“Nelvana has enjoyed tremendous success over the years working with several notable Japanese content companies on such brands as Bakugan, Beyblade, and Cardcaptor Sakura, and we are excited to team up with Polygon Pictures to uncover the next big global hit,” said Corus EVP, Colin Bohm. “We’ve long admired Polygon Pictures, a truly innovative and creative studio, and we couldn’t be happier to be working together.”
Japanese animation expert Rika Sasaki will assist Nelvana and Polygon with the new venture using her extensive experience managing Japanese IP for global export. Rika has previously held roles at ADK Emotion, Shogakukan-Shueisha Productions, and d-rights Inc.
“Over the past 10 plus years, Doug Murphy, president and CEO of Corus Entertainment, Colin, and I have had many impassioned discussions about how we can synergise our strengths to create global hits out of properties originating from Japan,” said Polygon Pictures president, Shuzo Shiota. “With the help of Rika, I believe the time is finally ripe to achieve this goal. I am beyond excited at the prospect of what this partnership will bring.”
The collaboration will focus on both new and existing Japanese properties aimed at younger audiences across lifestyle, publishing, animation, and design.