Angry Birds creator Rovio is seeking television partners for its series of animated shorts starring its avian avengers, according to reports.
The 52-episode animated Angry Birds series - each between two to three minutes in length - is being produced by Rovio at its in-house production studios in Finland, but co-production partners are being sought, Rovio's head of animation Nick Dorra told the Mip TV audience in Cannes, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
The new series debuted with a cartoon of the Birds being launched into space, obviously tied in to the March 22 launch of Angry Birds Space, the latest installment of the Angry Birds series. Rovio has already released several cartoons on YouTube and other sites, each showcasing the birds in adventures related to the games.
Cartoons, of course, are a time-honored promotional vehicle from everything from the Transformers to G.I. Joe to Pokemon. All three toy franchises have also ended up on the big screen as Hollywood movies.
Rovio has said before that it has Hollywood ambitions, with plans for a U.K. theme park and hopes for a feature film. Nick Dorra, Rovio's head of animation, told THR that the film has no set release date, however.
The ambition has been fueled by the revenue from the Angry Birds games, which have launched free, ad-supported versions on Android but cost a dollar without ads, plus iOS and tablet versions for a few dollars apiece. Angry Birds Space, for example, notched 10 million downloads in just three days.
Of late, Rovio has taken the first steps to add to its gaming stable, with the recent acquisition of the gaming arm of FutureMark. FutureMark Game Studio's titles include Unstoppable Gorg, Hungribles, and Shattered Horizon.
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