Rai, Radio Canada call on Game Catchers

The Game Catchers is distributed by GoldBee

Italian children’s pubcaster Rai Yoyo and Société Radio Canada have commissioned an animated preschool series created by Milan-based Studio Bozzetto.

The Game Catchers (52×7’) tells the story of a group of five friends and their interstellar journeys to explore the planets as they learn about, play and collect playground games.

The series is produced in collaboration with Rai and Société Radio Canada, where it will premiere at the end of 2021, with Montreal-based Sardine Productions also on board.

The English-speaking rights in Canada are held by kids’ net Toon-A-Vision and Knowledge Network. The series also received financial support from Canada’s Shaw Rocket Fund.

GoldBee holds the global distribution rights to The Game Catchers, except for Spanish-speaking territories and Central Europe, where ForFun Distribution will manage the rights. KidsMe has the non-linear rights for Italy and all audiovisual rights for Spain and Portugal.

“We conceived the series with the desire to bring attention back to playground games – those of the past, the ones we all grew up with – while placing them in a new and captivating context for the little ones. This is why the game Capture the Flag will be set on another planet and have a different name: a sci-fi mix that certainly would have had a different flavour if contextualised on Earth,” said Andrea Bozzetto, series director and creative director of Studio Bozzetto.

“Learning that, after having seen an episode, the children play the game with their friends in their backyard or in the playground, would be a wonderful goal achieved for us.”