Mediawan Kids & Family, its Amsterdam-based company Submarine and Canada’s Sinking Ship Entertainment are teaming on a feature film adaptation of Judd Winick’s bestselling graphic novel series Hilo.
The book series, which has sold one million copies worldwide since its launch in 2015, follows a mysterious young boy who crashes on earth and begins a journey to discover who he truly is. The partners’ longtime vision is to create a high-end 3D animation for family audiences out of the Hilo IP, and a global franchise.
Submarine’s past credits include Apollo 10½: A Space Age Childhood, They Shot The Piano Player, Fox and Hare Save the Forest, while Sinking Ship Entertainment has previously worked on Dino Dana The Movie, SpongeBob Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie and Apple TV+’s Jane.
The company is among seven labels gathered under the Mediawan Kids & Family banner including France-based Method Animation (The Three Musketeers), Somewhere Animation (Artefacts – Thieves of Thieves), Elliott Studio (Boule & Bill) and Mediawan Kids & Family Cinema (A Magnificent Life)
Alongside Submarine, its international subsidiaries also include Palomar Animation in Italy (The Enchanted Village of Pinocchio) and Wildseed Studios in the UK (Tuff Pom).
Mediawan Kids & Family also hosts the distribution of all the children’s and family content within the Mediawan group, including Miraculous – Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir, which is now produced by Miraculous Corp and sold 150 countries.
“We have always been big fans of Sinking Ship. We love their ambition for content and permanent quest for innovation. By joining our forces, we are bringing together complementary creative and production strengths to translate the world of the book Hilo to screens and new audiences,” said Julien Borde, President of Mediawan Kids & Family.
Sinking Ship Entertainment Partner and Executive Producer Matt Bishop said the movie project would lean into the company’s technical expertise and innovation honed on projects like SpongeBob Saving Bikini Bottom and Jane.
“Bringing Judd Winick’s Hilo to the screen requires a unique blend of heart, humor, and high-end visual spectacle, exactly the kind of challenge our Emmy Awarding winning team thrives on,” he said.
Submarine co-founder Bruno Felix pointed to the shared vision of building Hilo into a longtime audiovisual brand.
“Mediawan’s experience in developing multiple globally appealing IPS including Miraculous, The Little Prince and The Three Musketeers into global franchises demonstrates a truly international approach to IP creation,” he said.
“Together with Sinking Ship’s creative and technical expertise, our goal is not only to produce a feature film, but to develop a rich universe that can grow across formats and generations.”