April 2 – Artificial intelligence powered animation studio Toonstar on Thursday unveiled a multi-year partnership with News Corp-owned HarperCollins to produce a slate of original animated series based on select titles from the book publisher.
The partnership aims to expand access to HarperCollins’ literary catalog through digital-first animation.
The first project in development under the deal is “Friendship List”, based on Lisa Greenwald’s popular series for tweens about friendship, self-discovery and the challenges of growing up.
A graphic novel inspired by the Toonstar series will be published by HarperAlley, the graphic novel imprint of HarperCollins.
Los Angeles-based Toonstar was founded by former Disney and Warner Bros. executives John Attanasio and Luisa Huang to build a new pipeline of direct-to-consumer animated IP.
HarperCollins, which is part of News Corp’s book publishing segment, saw revenue rise 6% to $633 million in the second quarter.
The company has a print and digital catalog of more than 250,000 titles and publishes about 10,000 new books every year in 16 languages, according to its website.
(Reporting by Juby Babu in Mexico City; Editing by Tasim Zahid)
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