CBS has ordered Candy Crush, a new one-hour, live action game show series based on the globally renowned mobile game franchise. CBS, Lionsgate and King will join together on the new format created and executive produced by Matt Kunitz that will be distributed domestically by CBS Television Distribution and internationally by Lionsgate.
In the game Candy Crush Saga, players match colourful candies in combinations of three or more to win points, defeat obstacles and progress through more than 2,000 levels. Candy Crush Saga and its sister title, Candy Crush Soda Saga, are two of the top 10 grossing mobile games in the U.S. On average, 18 billion game rounds are played every month around the world as per average monthly game rounds as of September 2016.
In the series, the game that has become a worldwide phenomenon comes to life as teams of two people use their wits and physical agility to compete on enormous, interactive game boards featuring next generation technology to conquer Candy Crush and be crowned the champions. A host will be announced at a later date.
“We are huge fans of Candy Crush and, like so many others, we know the ‘rush’ of advancing to the next level of the game,” said CBS Entertainment, president, Glenn Geller. “We’re excited to work with Lionsgate and King to adapt one of the world’s most popular and entertaining game franchises for television and make it available to its massive, passionate fan base who can watch and play along at home.”
“The franchise is a world-renowned property, so when the head of our interactive and games division, Peter Levin, brought this IP to Lionsgate, we instantly knew it would make an incredibly visual, physical and fun TV program,” said Lionsgate Television Group, chairman, Kevin Beggs. “CBS is a leader in unscripted television, which makes it the ideal home for Candy Crush, and we’re very happy to have Matt shepherding the production as we partner with the team at King on this series with the tremendous second-screen potential.”
“We have a very entrepreneurial culture at Lionsgate, so we look for awesome worldwide IP like Candy Crush and work together across divisions to bring it to fans on every platform possible. Everyone who has played it knows that this is an exciting, visual switcher game with great characters, and Matt and our alternative television team are working closely with Sebastian Knutsson and his creative team at King to bring it to life on CBS,” said Lionsgate, interactive ventures and games, president and executive producer on the series Peter Levin. Levin worked with Striker Entertainment’s Russell Binder, King’s licensing agent in the US, to facilitate licensing Candy Crush IP for this television show.
“The Candy Crush franchise lends itself perfectly to the kind of larger-than-life, physical game shows that I love to produce and CBS is the perfect home for it,” said executive producer Matt Kunitz. “As a Candy Crush Saga player myself, I am excited to amp up the action and visuals in our huge Candy Crush Arena.”
“The Candy Crush franchise has been loved by players around the world on mobile so it’s very exciting to be working with Matt and the team to bring the fun and challenge of the Candy Crush games to television. We hope our players will be entertained by what is set to be a high-energy, challenging game show,” said King, chief creative officer, Sebastian Knutsson.
The show will be produced by Pulse Creative in association with Lionsgate Television, King and CBS Television Studios. Matt Kunitz, Peter Levin, Russell Binder, King VP Brand Nicki Sheard, and Sebastian Knutsson will serve as executive producers. Knutsson is known for having created Candy Crush Saga.