Canal+, Rai order comedy toon The Crunchers, Bulgarian pre-sale agreed

The Crunchers follows a family of trolls in the big city

Pay TV broadcaster Canal+ in France and Poland has teamed up with Italian pubcaster Rai to jointly commission an animated comedy series for children aged seven-plus.

The Crunchers (52×11’) is being coproduced by two-year-old Turin-based studio Animato, which pre-sold the series to Rai, and by Bulgarian company Studio Zmei, which has pre-sold it to national public broadcaster BNT.

The 2D animated comedy will air on Canal+ in France and Poland and on tween channel Rai Gulp and streamer Rai Play in Italy in the autumn of 2023. It has received support from French funding body the CNC and Italy’s Ministry of Cultural Heritage & Activities, as well as Europe Creative Media.

Created by Cédric Stephan and Aurélien Bouillon and developed by French studio Je Suis Bien Content, The Crunchers tells the story of a family of trolls who are forced to leave their home in the countryside and move to the big city, where they must adapt to human society while staying under cover.

Paris-based distribution company Kids First has picked up the global rights. Head of sales Marie Lassal described the show as “a new family comedy with fish-out-of-water characters and filled with slapstick comedy.”