RIKI GROUP AND JOY CULTURE SIGN DEAL WITH TENCENT
The Riki Group, a leader in Russian animation production in Russia, and Joy Culture Media Co., a leading production and distribution company based in Beijing, signed an agreement with Tencent Video as an investor in the production of Season 4 of the animated series “The Fixies”. The series is produced by Moscow’s Aeroplane Productions, which was recently acquired by The Riki Group. Following the exclusive acquisition deal of Season 3 of The Fixies, Tencent will acquire 52 new episodes of the Fixies, as well as 26 x 15’ episodes of the new Fixies spin-off “Fixie Lab” which is being produced by Joy Culture Media Co. in China. The first 13 episodes of Season 4 will be completed before the end of December 2020, with 13 new episodes delivered every 6 months, until completion of the entire 52 episodes by June 2022. The series will be released simultaneously in Russian and Chinese with English available shortly thereafter.
“We consider this further step in our continued partnership with one of the China’s largest companies that specializes in content for kids and families to be the strongest evidence of our characters’ popularity in this country,” said Julia Sofronova, producer of The Fixies. “Five years ago Tencent acquired non-exclusive rights for the first two seasons of The Fixies, then exclusive rights for Season 3 and now they have invested in the production of a new season. This leaves little doubt in Tencent’s faith in the quality of our production and in continued interest for the series from its audience. Moreover, the Chinese audience will be the first to see The Fixies new science show, which we are still only dreaming about in Russia.”
“We’re delighted that Chinese children will have a chance to watch the Season 4 of The Fixies at the end of this year. The deal is also strategically important for the brand’s development. We are glad to be continuing our exclusive licensing deal with Tencent video as they’re having great success with The Fixies brand in China,” – comments Li Yan, CEO of Beijing’s Joy Culture Media, Co.
The Fixies, owned and managed by the Riki Group and produced by Aeroplane Productions of Moscow, were first launched on Tencent in 2015 and gained immediate popularity with the Chinese audience. At the moment the total number of views of the series on Chinese VOD platforms has surpassed 12 billion views, with over 6.4 billion views on Tencent Video alone. The series has been sold to over 90 territories and has had over 15 billion views on VOD platforms worldwide.
The Fixies series follows the comical misadventures of Tom Thomas and his secret friendship with Simka and Nolik, two young Fixies who live in his apartment, and their Fixie schoolmates Fire, Digit, Toola and Verda. There’s no end to the troubles Tom Thomas gets himself into with all the gadgets and appliances around him! Luckily the Fixies have the smarts, skills, and tools they need to figure out a problem and solve it.
