Corus Entertainment and Bento Box Entertainment today announced the creation of Bento Box Canada, an animation production company based in Toronto. The joint venture follows last year’s announcement of the multi-year, co-development deal between the two companies. As part of the agreement, Bento Box Entertainment and Corus will work side-by-side to develop and produce a slate of original, primetime animated series for Corus networks, to be distributed internationally by Bento Box Entertainment.
The partnership will draw on Bento Box Entertainment’s award-winning experience and relationships with acclaimed primetime comedy writers, showrunners and animators as well as the expertise of Corus’ animation studio, Nelvana, to produce animated series targeted to the 18 to 34 demographic. Bento Box Canada will operate from Corus Quay, the state-of-the-art technical facility that is home to Corus and Nelvana, and will utilize creative, technical, and back office services from both companies.
“Over the past year, our teams at Corus and Bento Box Entertainment have been collaborating on a creative pipeline that will see a raft of edgy new animated series come to light for 2016,” said Nelvana, president, Scott Dyer. “We’re excited to be bringing two world-class teams together to produce fresh new content for the savvy, millennial demographic.”
This fall, production will begin on the first Bento Box Canada series, The Pandas. From creators Mikael Wulff and Anders Morgenthaler, The Pandas is an irreverent, animated family comedy full of hard jokes, whimsical wonder, biting satire and just the right amount of heart.
“Bento Box Entertainment is thrilled to be joining forces with Corus to develop a creative slate of primetime animated programming,” said Bento Box Entertainment, CEO and co-founder, Scott Greenberg. “The Pandas is an ideal first project to launch this collaboration as it brings together a team of strong creators in Wulff and Morgenthaler, as well as the production expertise of both Bento Box Entertainment and Corus.”
Bento Box Canada’s board of directors will include Scott Greenberg, CEO of Bento Box Entertainment, Colin Bohm, Executive VP, Head of Corus Kids and Scott Dyer, president of Nelvana. Along with other executives from Corus, Nelvana and Bento Box Entertainment, the board will provide strategic leadership and assist in growing the production slate.
Bento Box Entertainment is known for producing the Emmy award-winning series, Bob’s Burgers, as well as Brickleberry, The Awesomes, Allen Gregory, and Out There. Founded by Scott Greenberg, Mark McJimsey and Joel Kuwahara, the company brings years of experience in producing and creating audience-favorite primetime animation hits on multiple platforms. Prior to Bento Box Entertainment, their collective production credits include The Simpsons and The Simpsons Movie, King of the Hill and The Goode Family among many others.