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“Buffalo Kids” is a turn-of-the-century caper that follows two Irish orphans, Mary and Tom, as they traverse the U.S. in search of their uncle, meeting a cast of heroes and villains along the way. Their adventure also leads them to Nick, a fellow orphan with cerebral palsy they quickly embrace as a surrogate brother.

It is the relationship between Nick and Mary in particular that is the beating heart of the film, which is perhaps unsurprising since it is based on a real sibling bond between co-director Pedro Solís García’s daughter Alejandra and his son Nicolás, who was also born with cerebral palsy.

Tragically, Nicolás never got to watch the movie that he inspired. In an interview with Variety, the film’s co-screenwriter and producer Jordi Gasull reveals that the 16-year-old died just before “Buffalo Kids” went into production.

After spending significant time finding funding for the movie,...

Cinema Management Group (Cmg) has licensed 4 Cats Pictures’ Spanish box office hit Buffalo Kids to Arp Selection in France.

The animation co-directed by Jesus Garcia Galocha and Pedro Solis opened in Spain on August 14 through Warner Bros. It shot up the charts to rank as the second-highest Spanish film of the year to date on $5.4m and over 775,000 admissions and counting.

Buffalo Kids premiered in the inaugural non-competitive Annecy Presents strand in June and follows two Irish orphans who arrive in New York City by ocean liner in 1886. Gemma Arterton, Alisha Weir, Stephen Graham, and Sean Bean lead the voice cast.

Warner Bros. Discovery U.K. has confirmed a wide theatrical release plan in the U.K. and Ireland for the Spanish animated feature “Buffalo Kids” from producers 4 Cats Pictures. Warner Bros. also previously acquired the film for Italy as a pre-buy.

Since the film’s Aug. 14 release in Spain, J.J. Garcia Galocha and Pedro Solís’ “Buffalo Kids” has surpassed $5 million at the Spanish domestic box office, making it the highest-grossing independent animated film in the country this year and the second-highest-grossing Spanish film overall. It has sold more than 740,000 admissions in the country.

“Buffalo Kids'” Spanish launch was supported by co-producers Atresmedia Cine and A3 Media, who, alongside Wbd Spain, led an ambitious promotional campaign across traditional and digital media platforms. More than a month after its release, “Buffalo Kids” posters can be seen in metro stations and on the sides of newspaper stands in Madrid.

Wbd and 4 Cats will...

Features the voices of: Joe Thomas, Elanor Tomlinson, Hugh Bonneville, Celia Imrie, Santiago Winder, Dan Starkey, Sean Bean | Written by Jordi Gasull, Javier López Barreira | Directed by Juan Jesús García Galocha

Within an Egyptian underworld, renowned chariot racer Thut (Joe Thomas) lives satisfied with his status as a local celebrity and bachelor. That changes when he’s selected to marry Princess Nefer (Elanor Tomlinson), which includes looking after a wedding ring he must keep safe under penalty of losing his eyes and tongue. Despite neither party wishing to marry, they must journey into 21st-century London when the ring is stolen by archaeologist Lord Sylvester Carnaby (Hugh Bonneville).

Director Juan Jesús García Galocha makes his feature debut with Mummies, a Spanish animation which has subsequently been dubbed for English audiences. What unfolds is an 88-minute feature with few surprises, including obvious gags such as texting via chiselling and the same pose being repeatedly used.

“Unicorn Wars” (Alberto Vázquez)

Alberto Vázquez, the director of “Birdboy: The Forgotten Children,” a Gkids pickup for North America, delivers an apocalyptic anti-war parable narrating the ancestral war between teddy bears bigots and environmentalist unicorns with irreverent visual exuberance and moments of real horror.

Wip’S

“They Shot the Piano Player” (Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal)

Trueba and Mariscal’s much-awaited new collaboration after their 2012 Oscar-nominated “Chico & Rita” is a co-production with France, Portugal, the Netherlands and Peru. Sold by Film Constellation, project threads “music, politics and documentary as well as fiction, thriller and memory,” Trueba has said. An investigation following the disappearance of awe-inspiring Brazilian pianist Francisco Tenório Jr. on the eve of Argentina’s bloody 1976 coup d’état.

Contrechamp

“My Grandfather’s Demons” (Nuno Beato)

Portuguese animator-producer-director Beato, behind multi-prized short “My Life in Your Hands,” directs his first feature, mixing stop-motion and digital techniques. It follows Rosa...