Circus Studios Joins Development On ‘Earthworm Jim’ Series As Part Of New First-Look Deal With Passion Pictures

Passion Pictures has unveiled a new partnership with France’s Circus Studios, building on an already fruitful relationship between the two.

Details:

• Under the new partnership, Passion and Circus will continue to build on their existing relationship and further expand their long-form animated feature and tv series slates. The two companies previously collaborated on a number of projects, including three seasons of LEGO City Adventures for Nickelodeon, totaling more than 650 hours of content.
• Together, the studios are developing a new tv series adaptation of the classic cult video game Earthworm Jim, titled Earthworm Jim “Beyond the Groovy,” for rightsholders Interplay Entertainment.
• This agreement is the latest move in a continuation of Passion’s expansion following recent studio additions of Pixar vet Alan Barillaro as creative director, head of development Nicki Cortese, and head of production and executive producer David Park.
• In a release, Park said: “Along with our Paris team, led by Marc Bodin-Joyeux, the agreement with Circus Studios will enable us to expand Passion Pictures’ offering in France, allowing us to take on larger scale commissions as well as service our own slate of original features and series. This collaboration will help continue Passion’s bold expansion of our animation division.”
• Circus co-founders Julien Villanueva and Jérome Bacquet added: “We have had a strong working relationship with Marc Bodin-Joyeux for years, working on commercials and animation series for Passion Paris. We are very excited to collaborate with Passion Pictures and to take on these new creative challenges.”