Animation veterans Jay Ahn and Chris Henderson are launching a development and production company named Astro-Nomical Entertainment with an aim to create high-quality independent animated family films.
The Burbank-based company will focus on producing mid-budget family animated features, TV shows, video games and mobile content. Astro-Nomical will be backed by China-based Characterplan and focus on developing intellectual property. It will have a special focus on China.
The new production company has already got its first project “Mean Margaret”, a feature film based on the children’s book by Tor Seidler. Mulan co-director Barry Cook is in talks to helm the project.
The animated feature will center on a cranky toddler who is being raised by two kind-hearted woodchucks. The toddler from a family of nine taken in by two woodchucks is raised as their own among a community of wacky animal characters.
Ahn and Henderson will produce the film, with production responsibility on the shoulders of Montreal-based Digital Dimension.
Just a peek about the background, Ahn is one of the founders of ToonBox Entertainment, where he most recently served as co-CEO and co-president and executive produced The Nut Job, which grossed an indie toon record $120 million at the global box office.
Henderson worked for a long time in Walt Disney TV Animation, serving as a showrunner for the series 101 Dalmatians and Hercules. He was then tapped to produce animated DVD releases, including Hunchback of Notre Dame 2 and the sequel to Peter Pan, Return to Never Land.