Laughing Dragon Studios Teams With Skate Legend Tony Hawk On New Animated Series

Legendary skateboarder Tony Hawk is teaming with Laughing Dragon Studio in Montreal to develop a new animated series titled Skatebirds.

Laughing Dragon is a full-service 2d animation studio employing over 100 animators, editors, illustrators, and producers. The company has worked on major franchise titles, including Central Park for Apple TV+, Mario vs. Sonic for Youtube, and Disenchanted for Disney.

Skatebirds is part of Laughing Dragon’s internally developed lineup. The company is also working on a mythological series titled Isaac & Friends and an animated adaptation of the webcomic Least I Could Do.

A play on Hawk’s “Birdman” brand, the series will turn on a group of anthropomorphized avian skateboarders. According to Deadline, which announced the show, the young skaters “flock together to support their hometown and show the world that when they put their feathers together, they can do anything they set their minds to.”

Aimed at kids 6-11-years-old, the show will feature 11-minute episodes produced for digital distribution on platforms like Youtube and Tiktok. The strategy is a sound one, as those free video platforms are consistently the most popular places for kids to spend their screen time.

Hawk’s brand is the foundation of a media empire that includes the most famous skateboarding game franchise of all time (Tony Hawk Pro Skater), dozens of home video releases, and the HBO documentary Tony Hawk: Until the Wheels Fall Off.

Speaking with Deadline, Hawk explained:

Skateboarding unites communiºties, gets kids active, and builds a sense of self-confidence while providing opportunities that can be limitless. Keep an eye out for our show, which will be entertaining for a global audience… regardless of whether they skate or not.

According to Laughing Dragon CEO Sohmer:

There’s a list of people that I hoped to create an animated series with somewhere in a drawer of a home I no longer live in. At the very top of that list is Tony Hawk — a guy who managed to get this uncoordinated human atop a skateboard and tasting asphalt a few moments later. I could not be more thrilled to have Tony leading the way on Skatebirds and introducing this community to a whole new generation.