TOTAL LICENSING CHINA
Moonzy and his friends on CCTV Kids Channel The years 2019 and 2020 were announced as the years of cooperation between Russia and China in terms of the digital and media industries. Earlier this year, Russian animated series Moonzy produced by Melnitsa Animation Studio and TV Channel Russia One was launched on the CCTV Children’s Channel, owned by CCTV - the main public television network in Mainland China. The deal was struck with the support of SPB TV. According to the data collected from Kyun EYE, a widely used monitoring system for TV and OTT, Moonzy was holding the number 1 ranking in terms of morning kids programs within its first two weeks of broadcasting. CCTV will broadcast 513 episodes of the series. During the Winter holidays in China, the channel broadcast nine episodes daily. Commenting, Sergei Selyanov, producer, said, “This is a great achievement. Our animation series are aired on Chinese public television and enjoy high ratings. Our animation has been sold to many countries now. However, I will point out that
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this is the first move for a Russian studio and next we are looking at international markets. It is a good moment as the quality of Russian movies and animation has been growing rapidly and foreign TV channels and digital platforms are getting much more commercially interested in Russian projects than they were previously. China is one of the most strategic partners for us and we are looking forward to the successful development of that relationship.” Anton Zlatopolsky, producer, continued, “We are very happy to continue the tradition of Russian animation. Created by talented professionals with the highest level of quality, our animation has become very important in our home market and we would love to share our cartoons with the whole world. China is not only our most important partner, but a state with a unique rich history of visual culture. And we are especially pleased that in China, the country with subtle art cultural traditions, kids will watch and love Moonzy in the same way as children do in Russia.”
Kirill Filippov, CEO of SPB TV, agrees. “SPB TV has been working with Chinese media with great success starting in 2013. We are constantly participating in RussianChinese business missions and are strengthening our relationships with Chinese partners. We are very happy that our expertise and contacts help unique Russian animation series enter the Chinese market and we strongly believe in the further successful development of the project in China.” Alexey Volin,Deputy Minister of Communication of the Russian Federation, also commented, “The Moonzy launch is the first step in the Russian-Chinese media communication development. More than ten Russian series have been launched in China recently, and it is an absolute breakthrough. We release between five and seven Russian films annually. Now it is the turn of animation. The Ministry of Communication considers Russian animation as a great product in terms of export.” Melnitsa is the biggest independent Russian animation studio. It was created by Sergei Selyanov, producer and CEO of CTB Film Company and Alexander Boyarsky in St. Petersburg in 1999. Melnitsa’s Art Director Konstantin Bronzit, has twice been nominated for an Oscar for his animation. Over the last twenty years, the studio has created 16 feature films and 731 animated series and received more than 60 international awards. The animated adventures of Prince Ivan and Grey Wolf and Three Heroes by Melnitsa have become the leaders in the theatrical box-office in Russia and CIS. Melnitsa has been producing the highly popular animated series Moonzy since 2006, launching a new season almost each year.
