Happy Wednesday!

After a slight hiatus, we’re back to exploring the world of Kids’ media! I hope you are taking breaks and giving yourself grace when needed, even Drake is taking breaks to focus on his health. You should too!

The UK gets “Odder” and other Reboots Across the Pond

From “The Office” to “Power Rangers” the US has a strong history of creating adaptations of foreign television shows and localizing them for American audiences. But every so often we see foreign adaptations of North American-based properties.

Last week, Sinking Ship Entertainment and BBC Studios Kids & Family announced a UK revival of the “Odd Squad”, the math-based series originally produced by Sinking Ship and Fred Rogers Productions for PBS KIDS and TVOKids in Canada. “Odd Squad UK” is currently shooting with a predominantly British cast and will be released sometime in 2024.

With the announcement of “Odd Squad UK”, I decided to take a look at other US-based IP that have been exported across the world.

Powerpuff Girls Z

"Powerpuff Girls Z” is a Japanese anime adaptation of the popular American animated series "The Powerpuff Girls" created by Craig McCracken. "Powerpuff Girls Z," reimagines Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup as Japanese schoolgirls and retains the essence of girl power and crime-fighting while incorporating tropes from magical girl anime. The series was animated by Toei Animation, the studio behind “Dragonball Z”, “Sailor Moon”, and the original “Transformers” animated series. Despite Cartoon Network retaining the IP rights to the series, the series never aired on Cartoon Network or Boomerang in the United States.

Stitch!

"Stitch!" is a Japanese anime series based on Disney's American animated franchise, "Lilo & Stitch," created by Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois. In "Stitch!," Yuna Kamihara, a Japanese girl, takes the place of Lilo. The series follows the adventures of Yuna and Stitch following similar storylines as Lilo & Stitch: The Series while integrating Japanese culture and themes. The series, animated by Madhouse (One Punch Man, Hunter x Hunter) was eventually dubbed in English and aired on Disney XD in the US in 2011, but mysteriously came off the air after just five days.

Sesame Tree/The Furchester Hotel

"Sesame Tree" and "The Furchester Hotel" are international adaptations of "Sesame Street". "Sesame Tree" is the Northern Irish version of the series, set in a park in Belfast that ran from 2008 to 2011, while "The Furchester Hotel" is a British adaptation set in a family-run hotel running from 2014 to 2017. Both shows maintain the educational and entertaining format of "Sesame Street" but incorporate regional themes, cultures, and languages. “Sesame Tree” mainly featured a new cast of muppets, with the series centering around Potto, a book-loving monster inventor. While, "The Furchester Hotel" featured familiar "Sesame Street" characters like Elmo, Cookie Monster, and the Count, interacting with a new character, Phoebe Furchester-Fuzz, and her monster family.

Wizards of Warna Walk

"Wizards of Warna Walk" is an Indonesian adaptation of the American live-action sitcom "Wizards of Waverly Place" created by Todd J. Greenwald. The original series revolved around the Russo family and their magical antics, while in the Indonesian adaptation, the setting shifts to the vibrant neighborhood of Warna Walk and the Baskara family. The show retains the supernatural elements and family dynamics, offering a fresh take while still exploring the humorous challenges of growing up with magical powers. The series ran for just one season in 2019.

📰 In Other News

• 9 Story Media Group is launching a FAST Channel

• Ryan’s World is getting an anime from the studio behind Dragon Ball Z

• DreamWorks Animation faces layoffs as the studio shifts production to international studios

• Disney isn’t going to “Let it Go” quite yet, with the announcement of Frozen 3’s development

•  The Spiderwick Chronicles is going to Roku after Disney let go of the series to cut costs

• It’s officially spooky season, and Monster High 2 was a big ratings win for Nickelodeon

Happy Filipino American History Month

October is Filipino American History Month! Looking for something to watch to celebrate Filipino actors, artists, and stories? Check out a list of 20 Titles to Celebrate FAHM I put together!

📺 Hispanic and Latino Heritage Month Content Merchandising: Disney+ and Hulu

Hispanic Heritage Month is coming to a close in the United States on October 15th. Throughout the month, we’ve examined how popular SVOD services are merchandising content to celebrate Hispanic voices and stories in the kids’ space and in this newsletter, we’ll take a look at how The Walt Disney Company has merchandised content on Disney+ and Hulu.

Note: Review of Merchandising on Disney+ and Hulu occurred on Sunday, 10/8/2023 through web access on Google Chrome, the platforms were navigated using a Kid’s profile if available. The aforementioned services may have shifted their content strategy before or after the publication of this newsletter and the experience may vary across mobile, CTV, etc.

If you want to see how Netflix, Max, and Prime Video merchandised kids’ content for Hispanic Heritage Month in 2023, check out a previous edition of Jomo’s Corner: Bloxbusters: TV and Movie Premieres in the Metaverse!

Hulu

Similar to the SVOD services we looked at previously this month, Hulu’s home page for kids’ profiles does not have any reference to Hispanic Heritage Month. But unlike some of its competitors, Hulu does merchandise some of its original series in Spanish in a row titled “Para la Familia”.

The row features Spanish language versions of Hulu original series based on key DreamWorks franchises like “How to Train Your Dragon” and “The Croods”. Although the row doesn’t seem specifically created for Hispanic Heritage Month, it does seem like Hulu is attempting to capture Hispanic-American audiences looking for content in Spanish through this row.

Disney+

After looking through Disney+, SVOD services are 0 for 5 for any sort of Hispanic Heritage Month merchandising on their homepages, but unlike their competitors Disney+ has a dedicated “Hispanic & Latin American Stories Collection” that can be found in the “Stories Matter” section under their collections.

The collection features seven different rows: Hispanic and Latin American Leads, Documentaries, Leading Latinas, Sports, Live Action Movies and Series, Animated Movies and Series, and Shorts.

The collection has a total of 41 titles spanning films, series, and shorts. The majority of the content is English language titles, with 9 out of 41 titles featured in their native language (8 in Spanish, 1 in Portuguese). Productions from Argentina account for 7 of the 9 native-language titles, with Brazil and Colombia each having 1. The collection features 16 films including popular Disney and Pixar Animated films “Coco” and “Encanto”, 17 series, and 8 shorts/series specials.

With its diverse range of live-action and animated hits, Disney+ has the largest collection of kids and family titles that celebrate Hispanic & Latino stories across SVOD services.

🎬 Releases on my Radar

• 10/04 - Haunted Mansion on Disney+

• 10/05 - Monster High 2 on Paramount+

• 10/10 - LEGO Jurassic Park: The Unofficial Retelling on Peacock

• 10/11 - 4EVER on Disney+

• 10/12 - LEGO Ninjago: Dragons Rising (S1 Part 2) on Netflix

• 10/13 - Goosebumps on Disney+ and Hulu

• 10/13 - Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour in Theaters

• 10/16 - Oggy Oggy (S3) on Netflix

• 10/18 - Super Why's Comic Book Adventures on PBS Kids

• 10/19 - Peter & The Wolf on Max

• 10/20 - Shape Island “Creepy Cave Crawl” on Apple TV+

• 10/20 - The Canterville Ghost in Theaters

• 10/23 - Princess Power (S2) on Netflix