Fox Corp’s Bento Box Strikes Animation Development Deal With Australia’s Princess Pictures

Bento Box Entertainment, the Fox Corporation-owned animation studio behind Bob’s Burgers (pictured above), has entered into a first-look animation development deal with Australian production company Princess Pictures.

Here are the details:

• Under terms of the deal, the two companies will partner to develop animated shows from Australian creators. The shows will be entirely produced in Australia. Princess is well placed to identify local talent: based in Melbourne, it has produced some of Australia’s best-known shows, including Chris Lilley’s comedies Summer Heights High and Angry Boys.
• Projects developed by the two companies will be executive produced by Bento Box’s Scott Greenberg (co-founder and CEO), Joel Kuwahara (co-founder and president of production), and Ben Jones (creative director); and Princess’s Laura Waters (founder), Mike Cowap (senior producer), and Emma Fitzsimons (managing director).

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  As well as the Emmy-winning Bob’s Burgers for Fox, Bento Box also produces works for other networks and streamers, including Lazor Wulf (Adult Swim), Paradise PD (Netflix), Brickleberry (Comedy Central), The Awesomes (Hulu), and the upcoming Central Park (Apple TV+). It has studios in L.A. and Atlanta.

• Bento Box was one of the largest independent animation studios in the U.S. before it was acquired last year by Fox Entertainment, a division of Fox Corporation (which was reconstituted from the parts of 21st Century Fox not bought by the Walt Disney Company). The acquisition of Bento Box marked part of Fox’s strategy to build in-house production capabilities.

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  Princess produces works across tv and film. Its library is broadly live action, although it has produced one animated pilot, Koala Man, which was created by Michael Cusack and animated by Monkeystack.

• In a statement, Greenberg said, “Laura, Mike, and their entire team have the keen ability to identify emerging, multi-faceted storytellers, and, in doing so, are delivering some of the strongest comedy material we’ve seen. Expanding our creative footprint globally is a top priority of ours; and we are excited to partner with Princess Pictures in Australia on finding, championing, and introducing animation’s next wave of creators who deserve a shot to showcase their voices and points of view across platforms in the U.S. and beyond.”
• Waters added, “Australia punches above its weight in animation talent, with scores of Oscar nominations and wins, and very successful children’s animation series. There’s a slew of Australian talent making hilarious animation online, all with dedicated audiences. In collaboration with Bento Box, we’re excited to support this new wave of comedy talent with professional budgets and access to opportunities on major platforms.”