Roundups #51: National Geographic Kids Africa To Launch By The End Of 2022 On National Geographic And Disney Channel, Afrikaans Voice Actors For eExtra's New Series Fenix, MultiChoice's Monopoly Reboot Could Be On The Cards

National Geographic enter the playground

The Walt Disney Company, Wildlife Direct, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and the U.S. Department of State have announced that production has commenced on the National Geographic Kids Africa educational entertainment series.

The 26-part television series will be shot primarily in East Africa with additional filming in West and Southern Africa.

Additionally, the series’ first group of presenters has been announced. Mysha Hodson (13), Marita Lucas (12), Shanah Manjeru (14), Railey Mwai (10), and Adarsh Nagda (12) will serve as the studio and Nairobi-based hosts for the show.

 

As mentioned last year, the series will air across Africa on both National Geographic Wild and Disney Channel, late in 2022, with engaging digital extensions on social media platforms that will allow viewers to further explore topics addressed in the series.

Who is who in eExtra's new series?

In 2 weeks, eExtra will be the releasing the Fenix, the Turkish adaptation of the French miniseries The Bonfire Of Destiny which follows the story of the 3 women who lives have changed amid a devastating fire which led to the deaths of several people.

 

Each cast member has an Afrikaans voice actor and they go as follows:

Hannah Borthwick as Cemre Kayabeyli
Karli Heine as Rüya Yildirimlar
Celeste Loots as Çiçek Görgülü
Marvin-Lee Beukes as Ömer
Terence Makapan as Ozan
Eben Bester as Kenan
Niël Tait as Ali
Daniel Snyman as Atlas
Electra Hartman as Tomris
Geon Nel as Bulent
Nicola Koen as Günes
Jacques Theron as Cemre's husband Çelebi.

MultiChoice's wings might be clipped

South Africa's broadcasting regulator is restarting its inquiry into South Africa's pay-TV industry and superficially the near-monopoly market dominance of MultiChoice, citing "ongoing developments in what is a rapidly changing market".

"Based on ongoing developments in what is a rapidly changing market, the consultation process in respect of the Inquiry into the Subscription Broadcasting Services Market must be extended into the current financial year," Icasa announced.

 

These over-the-top players like Netflix SA, Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+, VIU and others are making headway in signing up pay-TV subscribers in South Africa and across sub-Saharan Africa, with The Walt Disney Company Africa set to launch its streaming service Disney+ on 18 May in South Africa adding another one to the mix.

"Icasa is mindful that any regulation of the market and/or its market segments must be aimed at enhancing competitiveness in the market going forward."

"The rebooting of this process is meant to enableIcasa to take account of all relevant and current developments to inform a robust, forward-looking regulatory intervention that balances interests of consumers and stability of the broadcasting services market."

The Walt Disney Company Investing More Than 500 Series For Regional Content For Disney+, This Includes More Regional European Animation and Anime For The Animation Catalog

Disney has previously revealed it has 500 shows in the pipeline outside of the U.S., but on Wednesday, the company broke down for the first time how those planned local-language programs are being dispersed throughout global regions.

According to Christine M. McCarthy, senior executive vice president and chief financial officer, 140 of those shows are in the works in the Asia/Pacific region, including Southeast Asia; 150 are in markets in Europe, West Asia and Africa; 100 are set up in India, and another 200 are being developed for Latin America audiences.

 

 

Elsewhere on the call, CEO Bob Chapek was pressed by analysts on another international topic: Disney’s lack of traction in recent months with getting its movies approved for release in China. Noting that the latest MCU release — “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” — reached nearly $500 million worldwide in its opening weekend without a berth in China, the world’s most populous country, Chapek said the box office split in China is not as generous for distributors as it is in other overseas markets.

 

‘It doesn’t really preclude our success, given the relatively lower take rate that we get in the box office in China compared to the rest of the world,” Chapek said.

Ahead of Disney’s quarterly earnings call on Wednesday, the company reported Disney+ gained 7.9 million customers in the first three months of 2022 to reach 137.7 million subscribers total. That new figure is up 33% year over year. The stat beat analysts expectations, as Wall Street had forecast Disney+ would net 5.2 million new subscribers for the quarter that ended on March 31, per FactSet.

Disney+ is currently available in 64 countries across North America, Europe, Asia/Pacific and Latin America. Disney+ Hotstar is offered by Disney in India.

 

Disney’s trio of streaming services reached 205.6 million globally (a quarterly net increase of 9.2 million, driven by Disney+). As of the end of the quarter, that included 45.6 million for Hulu (up 10% year over year) and 22.3 million for ESPN+ (up 62% year over year). Disney+ subs in the U.S./Canada region netted 1.5 million in the March 2022 quarter, to 44.4 million.

Also during the call, McCarthy said, while Disney had previously expected fiscal ’22 content spending to be as much as $33 billion, it now projects about $32 billion because of a “slightly slower cadence of spending than anticipated” during the first half of 2022.

A First For Nigeria: Zee World's Dance Naija Dance

From roaring success in India to inevitable greatness in Singapore and across 52 countries in Africa in 2021, it’s time for Zee World’s Dance Naija Dance in Nigeria.

Zee Entertainment’s popular General Entertainment Channel Zee World (DStv channel 166 and GOtv channel 125) will be keeping its viewers glued to their seats and screens with a dance show like no other. Dance Naija Dance, Zee World’s reality dance competition aims to reveal the best dance crew in Nigeria.

 

Zee World has been a trailblazer in redefining entertainment across Africa over the years with being the first to dub Indian series and movies dubbed in English, showcasing the first Afro-Indian Telenovela Mehek in 2018 and the first Pan-African inter-country fusion dance challenge, Dance Africa Dance in 2021. Zee World has evolved into a brand of global celebration bringing Africa and India together. Dance Naija Dance offers a fusion of Nigerian-Indian dance moves uniting both cultures through music, vibrancy, colour and diversity.

Dance Naija Dance will be anchored by a blend of Nollywood and Bollywood personalities and dancers. These include the Hosts - Hero Daniels and Pelumi Buari, Choreographers/Mentors - Sashin Kandhai and Kenneth Agabata; while Kunle Remi and Uraysha Ramrachia will be the judges.

The reality show is expected to run for 10 weeks and with not only a grand cash prize of five million naira but also prize hampers for the winning teams.

 

 

With the reality competition set to start airing in August, production has begun for the top 16 finalists selected from more than 350 entries across Nigeria. Dance Naija Dance will air in 52 countries in Africa and the Indian Ocean Islands.
ZEE Africa CEO (Sub-Saharan Africa & Indian Ocean Islands), Somnath Malakar said "Knowing full well how Zee World is important to the family entertainment needs in Nigeria, we have taken steps to ensure that we would always deliver. There is a deep love for Zee World among Nigerians and Zee World has become part of lifestyles. Introducing this show is one of our ways to thank Nigerians for all the love they have shown to us over the years. Nigerians are notable for their incredible dancing talents.

 

 

“We know that the economy is harsh and everyone is feeling it. Entertainment is one of the ways to lessen worries, provide an escape and make people happy. Zee World being an enabler of family happiness saw it fit to create something unique and electrifying,” Somnath said.
Dance Naija Dance Judge Kunle Remi said, "I am proud to be part of this show to mentor young talents, helping them tell stories with their bodies and ensuring that whatever is finally presented on stage is of high quality. These two cultures are known for using dance for storytelling. The highlight for me will be to see how the contestants will use their dance steps to tell entertaining stories that tickle both the judges and viewers at home."

Vice Distribution Signs Content Deal With e.tv In Africa

Vice Distribution, the global distribution and licensing arm of Vice Media Group, has announced its first partnership with South African broadcaster e.tv. More than 400 hours of non-fiction content from Vice Media Group will be made available on the national free-to-air broadcaster in South Africa and sub-Saharan Africa. Titles available will span all non-scripted genres from entertainment to feature documentary as well as lifestyle programming and true crime.

 

Shows available to e.tv viewers for the first time include Vice franchises such as "Dark Side of the Ring", "Most Expensivest", "Black Market" and "F*** That's Delicious". Premium Vice content such as "The Big Squeeze", a feature documentary telling the definitive story of Gamestop, and true crime docuseries "Betraying the Badge" about police officers who turn bad, will also air on the channel.

 

Vice Distribution launched in 2020 with a catalogue of over 1000 hours of programming that includes the Emmy award-winning "ViceNews Tonight", "True Believers" on alleged cults, a series about links between true crime and food titled "Devoured", and the Paramount+ UK commission "MH370: The Lost Flight" documentary series.

For those wondering through the TV Guide as they see no mention of the shows. Basically most if not all the content picked up or produced by eMedia Investments are labelled under e.tv and at the moment all this content can be viewed on the Xposed channel on Openview.

Roundups #50: Dora The Explorer Horror Series Currently Streaming On YouTube, The Bad Guys TV Series Rumoured To Be In Development On DreamWorks And Plants Vs. Zombies Scrapped Feature Film From DreamWorks

Dora The Explorer and Learning With Pibby rip-off

Amanda The Adventurer follows the escapades of the titular character and her sheep friend Woody except it contains more darker themes which is where the Adult Swim original Learning With Pibby tags along.

The project was produced by James Pratt's (Woody) Gaming Design and was meant to give viewers a nostalgic and curiosity feel. The main characters are the centre peace to the whole show with others being plot fillers who are quickly forgotten.

 

Throughout the show, viewers will be encouraged to help Amanda on her journey if you get the answer wrong she huffs and puffs and as episodes go by you'll see several warning signs until the inevitable end.

The Bad Guys might be coming to a station near you

The #1 movie in the U.S. follows a group of criminal animals who, upon being caught, pretend to attempt to reform themselves as model citizens, only for their leader to find himself genuinely drawn to changing his ways as a new villain has his own plans.

 

In an interview with Marc Maron (the voice of snake), it was said that a TV series might be in development. A friend of his auditioned for his role and went on to joke about the whole issue. Most of the cast members expressed interest in a sequel.

At the moment, DreamWorks Animation hasn't confirmed anything for The Bad Guys but the idea of a TV series doesn't seem far fetched almost all their movies particularly ones as big as Madagascar and Dragons come with a prequel.

 

Plants Vs. Zombies movie enters the recycle bin

Plants vs. Zombies is a video game franchise developed by PopCap Games, a subsidiary of Electronic Arts (EA) where players take on the role of a human as they have to defend their home from a couple of mindless zombies.

According to sources, a feature film from DreamWorks Animation was currently underway with several concepts and ideas already planned. The news came at the time the beloved video game alongside Angry Birds were on the verge of extinction.

 

The first Plants Vs. Zombies game is available on Insidus Games.

Development Hell: The Lost Stuart Little Reboot

Stuart Little is 1945 American children's novel by Charlotte Web writer, E.B. White. It was his first children's book which went on to be widely recognized as children's literature with illustrations handled by Garth Williams, an artist who worked on several children's books.

From 1999-2005, the novel was adapted into two live-action and computer animated films with the third solely focused on animation. The first two films recieved praise for its humor and visual effects while the last one killed all aspects the first two worked hard to conceive.

 

 

Since 2015, a remake has been discussed with no updates available for the past couple of years. According to entail, it will revolve mainly on the books and not that of the 1999 film.

Just like Disney's Pocahontas, even Stuart Little recieved some re-editing throughout the books. Take for instance, Stuart who worked as a teacher to make a living in order to search for the family bird Margalo who was likely eaten by a friend of Snowbell.

 

Anyways, the talk is not on the book but the remake questions amount to how original this movie will turn out to the book cause if anything I wouldn't be shocked if they tried to modernize the whole franchise and add stuff like k-pop or WAP items that didn't exist in his timeline.

 

According to Giant Freakin Robot, Marvel's very own Star Lord (played by Chris Pratt) might be in talks to star as the little guy in the long awaited remake. He will be voicing the video game character Super Mario in the movie of the same name even has a project for Garfield The Cat.

If this is true, then it would be the first time in almost a decade since we've gotten actual news from the little mouse.