EXCLUSIVE: Laughing Dragon Studios not too long ago grabbed a skateboard for a Tony Hawk toon, and now the Canadian manufacturing home centered on the festive season.
The corporate has unveiled Christmas sequence Coal, which is because of drop in December 2025. Shaftesbury is signed up for worldwide distribution, with Muse Distribution dealing with Quebec. The Shaw Rocket Fund and Telefilm have supplied funding.
The three-part particular will comply with Ethan Bishop, an eight-year-old boy navigating a tough time in his life that lands him on Santa’s naughty listing. In response, Santa implements ‘Plan C,’ sending a legendary Lump of Coal to information Ethan on a “ho-ho-hilarious journey.” By way of a sequence of constructive and unfavourable experiences with the coal, Ethan discovers a life-altering inventive expertise.
Solid consists of Lucinda Davis (Radio Lively, Winx Membership) as Ethan alongside Zariah Ellis (Blue’s Clues & You), Briauna James (Arkham Horror: Mom’s Embrace, The Daring Sort), Ralph Prosper (Murderer’s Creed, District 31), Mara Lazaris (LARPs, 1991), Eric Davis (Methods to Get Away with Homicide, Black-ish) and Bruce Dinsmore (Arthur, The Secret World of Santa Claus) as Santa Claus.
Laughing Dragon is billing it as a “playful 2D animated sequence, full with specialised magical charcoal-style sequences” for youths aged 6-10, and is planning it as an “festive custom that may be cherished yr after yr.”
Guillaume Chassé (Curious George, F Is for Household) is directing and René Veilleux from Vérité Leisure oversaw the voice route and casting. Astride Noel (Lyla within the Loop, Cocomelon Story Time) and Christopher Bernard (Lego Associates: The Subsequent Chapter, Luna) are the writers. Laughing Dragon CEO Ryan Sohmer (Kabu, Disenchanted) is the chief producer.
“With an preliminary idea from our very personal Ryan Costello and seeing what our Director of Authentic Productions Jeff Moss has molded Coal into over the previous couple of years, I’m thrilled to start this subsequent stage of manufacturing, and counting down till we will carry Ethan and his household to worldwide audiences,” mentioned Sohmer.
Author Noel added: “It was a blast engaged on Coal, and I instantly fell in love with the dilemma of this vacation movie that takes conventional Santa lore and spins it on its head. ‘Discovering who’s naughty and good’ shouldn’t be at all times as straightforward because the tune makes it appear. The story serves as an exquisite reminder that even in tough instances, there may be pleasure, magnificence, and… good to be discovered.”
Earlier this yr, we reported that Laughing Dragon was working with skateboarding legend Tony Hawk on animated sequence Skatebirds, as a part of the Montreal-based firm’s push into authentic manufacturing. Initially starting as a full-service 2D animation studio, Laughing Dragon has labored on tasks comparable to Apple TV+’s Central Park and Disney’s Disenchanted, and is creating an inside slate additionally together with madcap mythologic title Isaac & Associates and an animated adaptation of Least I Might Do, a webcomic created by Sohmer and Lar deSouza.
