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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...

Catalonia’s animation scene is flourishing thanks to a motivated and well-trained base of artists, generous government backing and early involvement from public broadcasters.

One need look no further than this year’s Annecy Animation Festival for proof of the Catalanimation boom. Titles from the Spanish territory appear in the main competition (“Rock Bottom”), Contrechamp competition (“Black Butterflies”), Annecy Presents non-competitive section (“Buffalo Kids”), Work in Progress (“Olivia and the Invisible Earthquake”), Annecy market MIFA Pitches sidebar and several other high-profile sections of the French festival.

“Rock Bottom”

Given the quality and diversity of productions emerging from the region, there is no doubt that the foundation of the Catalan boom is artist-driven. Auteur indie titles like “Robot Dreams” (Arcadia Motion Pictures) have achieved critical and award success, including European Film Awards and an Oscar nomination.

Producing those types of films isn’t free, however, and often wouldn’t be possible...

Catalan animation is in a fantastic place and at this year’s Annecy Festival, the region will demonstrate its vitality to the whole world with an impressive lineup of films and projects selected in major sections.

Featuring in this year’s main competition lineup, Maria Trenor’s rock and roll musical “Rock Bottom” is a psychedelic trip inspired by the life and music of U.K. artist Robert Wyatt.

One of the most ­topical films to come out of Catalonia in recent years, “Black Butterflies,” is an animated documentary about three women from very different parts of the world whose lives are dramatically impacted by climate change. The film is directed by David Baute and produced by Ikiru Films, Televisió de Catalunya, Tinglado Film, Anangu Grup and Tunche Films.

Screening in this year’s non-competitive Annecy Presents section, “Buffalo Kids” is a CG family feature produced by Jordi Gasull’s...

Beverly Hills-based Cinema Management Group has closed a first round of distribution deals for the animated kids and family feature “Buffalo Kids,” screening in this year’s Annecy Presents section at the prestigious French festival.

Adapted from the short film “Cuerdas” (“Strings”), “Buffalo Kids” is a frontier tale about two recently orphaned Irish siblings. The duo emigrate to America, landing in the urban wilderness of New York City, where their uncle Niall was meant to pick them up. When Niall, who normally resides in California, is a no-show, the kids set out to try and find their distant kin. What follows is a trans-continental odyssey across North America, including wild action sequences, new friends, and picturesque landscapes.

Producer and co-writer Jordi Gasull said of the film: “The idea of adapting ‘Strings’ into a full-length feature has been in my heart for years, and to see it come to life is...

Welcome to Global Breakouts, Deadline’s fortnightly strand in which we shine a spotlight on the TV shows and films killing it in their local territories. The industry is as globalized as it’s ever been, but breakout hits are appearing in pockets of the world all the time and it can be hard to keep track… So we’re going to do the hard work for you.

We’re off to sunny Spain this week to unwrap the story of Mummies — Warner Bros Pictures’ animated hit that combines ancient Egyptian tropes with classic family comedy. Now the second biggest Spanish animation ever, worldwide box office takings are over $50M and growing, and talks of a sequel are emerging.

Name: Mummies

Country: Spain

Producer: 4 Cats Pictures, Warner Bros Spain

For fans of: Tad: The Lost Explorer, Capture the Flag, The Mummy, family animation

Worldwide distribution: Warner Bros Pictures

The...

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.

Adventure animation expected to be ready for release by Q3 2024.

Cinema Management Group will kick off EFM sales in Berlin next month on Buffalo Kids from 4 Cats Pictures and Atresmedia Cine, featuring a voice cast led by Gemma Arterton, Sean Bean, and Stephen Graham.

The new production comes hot on the heels of 4 Cats Pictures’ Mummies, which is currently in theatrical release in Australia via Warner Bros and is scheduled to become the most widely distributed Spanish feature released by a Hollywood studio.

Buffalo Kids centres on two orphans from Ireland who sail to New York and embark on...

How great is the Ezra Miller movie The Flash? So good that Warners is moving it up by a week to June 16, Father’s Day weekend, where Disney has the original Pixar movie Elemental and Sony has the R-rated Jennifer Lawrence pic No Hard Feelings.

Despite Miller’s tabloid headlines over the past year, including a burglary charge in Vermont for stealing liquor, we’ve heard The Flash has tested through the roof, with one non-studio observer telling us the DC title is “Spider-Man: No Way Home good” with its multiverse plotlines and Batman cameos by Michael Keaton and Ben Affleck.

With Miller’s noise in the news, many wondered if The Flash would go to HBO Max, but Warner Bros Discovery CEO David Zaslav has said that the DC title will remain theatrical. Miller reportedly has met with new Warner Bros. film chiefs Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy.

“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...

“Agus and Monsters,” “Mironins” and “The Triplets” feature among five projects to be highlighted by promotion board Catalan Films at a Partner Content Showcase on April 12 focusing on animation, a burgeoning TV asset in Catalonia. More details:

“Mironins” (Cornelius Films, Walking the Dog Bvba, Wuji House, Peekaboo Animation)

A transmedia project made up of seven-minute episodes aimed at children immersing themselves in the artistic universe of Catalan surrealist master Joan Miró. The show is co-directed by Mikel Mas (“The Fig Tree”) and Celia Rico, a live-action director (“Journey Around a Mother’s Room”) selected by Variety as a talent to track.

“Agus and Monsters” (Motion Pictures)

Produced and sold by Motion Pictures (“Pumpking Reports” ), “Agus” is a fantasy-adventure comedy series focusing on a kid whose bedroom is full of monsters, although the kid makes his parents believe they are just cuddly toys.

“The Triplets” (Brutal Media)

A reboot of a...

Barcelona-based production outfit Brutal Media is bringing back “The Triplets,” a popular animated kids’ series that delighted audiences in more than 160 territories for more than two decades, and will be looking for partners at Mipcom.

Raimon Masllorens, CEO at Brutal Media and driving force behind the project, has assembled a group responsible for rebooting the popular franchise, popularized in the ‘90s and early ‘00s, which includes original alumi as well as new faces with experience in the international kids’ content market.

Jordi Gasull, screenwriter and producer of Spanish animated box office smashes such as the “The Adventures of Tadeo Jones” movie series and “Capture the Flag,” will lead writing for the series, with art direction overseen by Roser Capdevila, “The Triplets” original creator, alongside Marta Capdevila and Helena Batet.

The original run saw more than 100 episodes produced in 35 languages, many of which are still be broadcast in territories around the world.

Underscoring a larger perceived global market potential for Spanish movies, Warner Bros. Pictures Intl. España is upping its bet on Spanish film production, in volume, budgets and talent.

Once largely acquiring, and then releasing in Spain, around six national films annually, the Hollywood studio now plans to invest in, or officially produce, eight-10 features a year, with Spanish star-studded casts and top directorial talent.

Disclosed to Variety as Warner Bros. Spain unveiled its 2020-21 slate at Spain’s San Sebastian Festival, the bigger push into Spanish production will also see the Hollywood studio continuing to partner on a joint development fund with Atresmedia Cine – a title-by-title non-exclusive alliance which is emerging as a key production axis on the Spanish movie scene.

At San Sebastian, Warner Bros. España updated Spanish media on five Spanish titles on its 2020-21 release slate, all produced by Atresmedia Cine, in association with Buendía Estudios. It...

Two months ago at Bordeaux’s Cartoon Movie, Europe’s biggest animated movie showcase, no country made a larger impact than Spain.

A sneak peek of footage from Raul de la Fuente’s “Another Day of Life,” capturing war correspondent Ryszard Kapuściński’s life-haunting experience in Angola’s civil war, dazzled Cartoon Movie with the verve of its animation/live-action mix. The $20 million “Dragonkeeper,” about a feisty washer-girl slave turned dragon protector, sparked enthusiasm for its story and Western-Chinese animation meld. Alberto Vázquez (“Birdboy: The Forgotten Children”) drew the showcase’s second-biggest audience for in-the-works “Unicorn Wars,” about an ancestral battle between Teddy bears and unicorns. And Madrid-based Latido Films won Distributor of the Year for “Buñuel in the Labyrinth of Turtles,” about Luis Buñuel’s shooting of 1933’s “Land Without Bread.”

Spanish animation’s strong showing at Cartoon Movie was no fluke. Animation accounted for the highest-grossing Spanish hit...

Paramount Pictures has closed worldwide distribution rights for Spanish animation duo.

Paramount Pictures has closed a worldwide distribution deal for Enrique Gato’s next two animation productions, Capture the Flag and Tad Jones: The Hero Returns.

The agreement was signed with TeleCinco Cinema, Telefónica Studios and Los Rockets Aie along with producers Jordi Gasull - creator and co-writer of Tad - Edmon Roch and Nico Maji, CEO of Lightbox Entertainment.

The deal follows the breakout success of Spanish animation feature Tad the Explorer ($54m worldwide), which charts the story of a construction worker who realises his dream of becoming an adventurer like his hero Indiana Jones.

This character will be back “with new and exciting adventures”, said Gasull, “in funnier film that won’t lose its tenderness”.

Capture the Flag, based on the return of men to the moon when a greedy millionaire wants to exploit its natural resources for his own benefit, is scheduled...

Paramount Pictures has closed worldwide distribution rights for Spanish animation duo.

Paramount Pictures has closed a worldwide distribution deal for Enrique Gato’s next two animation productions, Capture the Flag and Tad Jones: The Hero Returns.

The agreement was signed with TeleCinco Cinema, Telefónica Studios and Los Rockets Aie along with producers Jordi Gasull - creator and co-writer of Tad - Edmon Roch and Nico Maji, CEO of Lightbox Entertainment.

The deal follows the breakout success of Spanish animation feature Tad the Explorer ($54m worldwide), which charts the story of a construction worker who realises his dream of becoming an adventurer like his hero Indiana Jones.

This character will be back “with new and exciting adventures”, said Gasull, “in funnier film that won’t lose its tenderness.”

Capture the Flag, based on the return of men to the moon when a greedy millionaire wants to exploit its natural resources for his own benefit, is scheduled...

Cannes announced 16 films in the Main Competition today and the Un Certain Regard is perhaps complete but could fit two more titles in, but as expected, Terrence Malick's film is still in limbo. Apart from that frustrating example, there are about three to five available slots in the Main Comp and some hefty titles that are missing in action. I've compiled a list below, but worth mentioning are blatant omissions such as Julian Schnabel's Miral, Kornel Mundruczo's Frankenstein Project, Ken Loach's Route Irish and perhaps even Bruce Robinson's The Rum Diary. - Cannes announced 16 films in the Main Competition today and the Un Certain Regard is perhaps complete but could fit two more titles in, but as expected, Terrence Malick's film is still in limbo. Apart from that frustrating example, there are about three to five available slots in the Main Comp and some hefty...