TV-Loonland AG was a German branding and management company that specialized in the production of children's programmes. The company's offices were located in Europe (Paris, Munich and London). The company's mascot is a sheep on the blue dome.

History

TMO Film GmbH was founded by Peter Volkle in 1989. The company first began working on animated content within this time, and by 1993 began to produce popular animated content. The company then released its first film - Die Schelme von Schelm, in 1995. In the same year, the company opened up an animation studio in Hungary called Loonland Animation in Hungary which TMO later purchased a stake in. The company then rebranded as TMO-Loonland Film GmbH in 1997. The company later purchased a stake in RG Prince Films in Korea, and increased the number of programmes being produced. At the start of 2000, the company was rebranded to TV-Loonland AG. In March 2000, the company began to search for a UK sales agent for a planned expansion to the United Kingdom. In September 2000, the company purchased British animation studio Telemagination. On October 3, 2000, the company purchased the television business assets of

Sony Wonder Sony Wonder (founded as Sony Kids’ Music) is the kids and family entertainment label of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment and the former record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment. Despite the similarity in name, Sony Wonder is not direct ...

, which included full ownership in animation studio

Sunbow Entertainment Sunbow Entertainment (known as Sunbow Productions until 1995) was an American animation studio and distributor, founded on June 23, 1980, and owned until May 4, 1998, by Griffin-Bacal Advertising in New York City and in the United States. Griffin ...

, alongside a programming library that included shows based on

Hasbro Hasbro, Inc. (; a syllabic abbreviation of its original name, Hassenfeld Brothers) is an American multinational conglomerate holding company incorporated and headquartered in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Hasbro owns the trademarks and products of ...

properties. In exchange for the purchase, Sony Wonder retained US distribution rights to the Sunbow catalogue and the European music rights. On May 15, 2001, the company shuttered Family Harbour. In November 2001, Loonland purchased a 29.9% stake in UK distributor Metrodome Distribution. This stake was later increased to a 54.4% operational control within the company by August 2002, and then a 75% stake by January 2003. However, by 2007, this stake was reduced to 61.2%. In August 2005, Loonland was sued by shareholder group Aktieninvestor.com, after the company deliberately excused them from its AGM in August 2005, following violation of Section 21 of the Securities Trading Act when the latter tried to apply a hostile takeover within Loonland. The lawsuit ended in favour of TV-Loonland. On September 27, 2005, the company launched a feature-film division called Loonland Pictures, and signed deals with the local branch of

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...

and NFP Marketing as marketing and distribution partners for the companies' movies, the first of which being ''

Heidi ''Heidi'' (; ) is a work of children's fiction published in 1881 by Swiss author Johanna Spyri, originally published in two parts as ''Heidi: Her Years of Wandering and Learning'' (german: Heidis Lehr- und Wanderjahre) and ''Heidi: How She Used ...

'', which would be released theatrically in the country at the end of the year. In October 2007, TV-Loonland announced they would sell off their 61.2% stake in Metrodome Distribution. In May 2008, Romanian company MediaPro purchased 50.1% of Loonland's shares in Metrodome for £3.2 Million, leaving them with 11.6% which MediaPro could purchase out in the future. On May 14, 2008, Hasbro acquired the Sunbow programs based on its properties, which are now part of the

Hasbro Studios Hasbro, Inc. (; a syllabic abbreviation of its original name, Hassenfeld Brothers) is an American multinational conglomerate holding company incorporated and headquartered in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Hasbro owns the trademarks and products of ...

library. In December 2009, TV-Loonland announced they would file for bankruptcy protection. On April 5, 2011, Loonland's catalogue and remaining assets were sold to a fellow German entertainment company called m4e AG. In February 2017,

Studio 100 Studio 100 is a Belgian production company with four television channels, four animation studios and 8 theme parks around the world. The headquarters of the group is based in Schelle, with offices in Breda, Munich, Paris, New York, Sydney and Lo ...

acquired a majority stake in m4e AG. Currently, Studio 100 owns the rights to most of the Loonland catalogue.

Programmes

Original

* ''Small Stories'' (1995-1998, as TMO Film, co-production with Les Films de l’Arlequin, in association with ARD, France 3, Canal J and EVA Entertainment) * ''

Tigerenten Club Tigerenten Club is a German children's television programme. The programme involves a mix of games, quizzes, cartoons and outside reports from the presenters and children, with the aim to educate and entertain. It is produced by SWR in co-operatio ...

'' (1996, as TMO Film; "Janosch, Tigerente und Frosch" sequences) * '' Robin'' (1996, as TMO Film, co-production with Happy Life) * ''

Big Sister, Little Brother ''Big Sister, Little Brother'' () is an animated series that first aired on SVT in Sweden in 1997. It is based on a series of children's books by Anders Jacobsson and Sören Olsson. Plot summary This show is about a young girl and her little bro ...

'' (1997, as TMO Film, co-production with Wegelius TV) * ''

Ned's Newt ''Ned's Newt'' is an animated television series created by Andy Knight and Mike Burgess and is co-produced by Nelvana and German company TMO Film GmbH (later renamed as "TMO-Loonland Film GmbH" in seasons 2-3) in conjunction with Studio B Produ ...

'' (1997, as TMO Film (Series 1) and TMO-Loonland Film (Series 2–3), co-production with

Nelvana Nelvana Enterprises, Inc. (; previously known as Nelvana Limited, sometimes known as Nelvana Animation and simply Nelvana or Nelvana Communications) is a Canadian animation studio and entertainment company owned by Corus Entertainment. Founded ...

and Studio B Productions (Series 2). Also held European distribution rights) * ''

Lisa Lisa or LISA may refer to: People People with the mononym * Lisa Lisa (born 1967), American actress and lead singer of the Cult Jam * Lisa (Japanese musician, born 1974), stylized "LISA", Japanese singer and producer * Lisa Komine (born 1978), J ...

'' (1998, as TMO Film) * ''

The Three Friends and Jerry ''The Three Friends and Jerry'' ''( sv, De tre vännerna och Jerry)'' is a children's animated television series produced by Happy Life and TMO Film GmbH (Germany) in association with Nickelodeon UK and Nickelodeon Germany. The show was created b ...

'' (1998, as TMO Film, also held German distribution rights) * ''

The Little Lulu Show ''The Little Lulu Show'' is an animated series based on Marjorie Henderson Buell's comic book character ''Little Lulu''. The series first aired in 1995 after the cartoonist's death in 1993. The series was produced by the CINAR Corporation, in a ...

'' (1998, Series 3 only, as TMO-Loonland Film, co-production with

CINAR Corporation Cookie Jar Entertainment Inc. (also known as Cookie Jar Group and originally known as CINAR; renamed as DHX Cookie Jar Inc. from 2012 until 2014, or simply just Cookie Jar) was a Canadian media production and distribution company owned by DHX M ...

) * ''

Fat Dog Mendoza ''Fat Dog Mendoza'' is a children's animated series produced by Sunbow Entertainment, Sony Wonder Television and TMO-Loonland loosely based on a Dark Horse one-off comic book of the same name. It is the first Cartoon Network Europe co-produc ...

'' (2000-2001, as TMO-Loonland Film, co-production with

and

Cartoon Network Europe Since the inception of Cartoon Network and its sister networks, Warner Bros. Discovery has set up international feeds of the networks. Cartoon Network Background Cartoon Network Europe, a pan-European English feed, was launched in 1993. Span ...

. Also held German distribution rights) * ''

Babar Babar ( ur, ), also variously spelled as Baber, Babur, and Babor is a male given name of Pashto, and Persian language, Persian origin, and a popular male given name in Pakistan. It is generally taken in reference to the Persian language, Persian ...

'' (2000, as TMO-Loonland Film, additional animation only) * ''

Redwall ''Redwall'' is a series of children's fantasy novels by British writer Brian Jacques, published from 1986 to 2011. It is also the title of the first book of the series, published in 1986, as well as the name of the abbey featured in the book, ...

'' (2000-2002, Series 2-3 only, co-production with

. Also held some European distribution rights) * ''

Pettson and Findus Pettson and Findus ( sv, Pettson och Findus) is a series of children's books written and illustrated by Swedish author Sven Nordqvist. The books feature an old farmer (Pettson) and his cat (Findus) who live in a small ramshackle farmhouse in the ...

'' (2000) * ''

The Famous Jett Jackson ''The Famous Jett Jackson'' is a coming-of-age television series for the Disney Channel. The show is about a boy named Jett Jackson (Lee Thompson Young) who plays a teenage secret agent on a fictional show-within-a-show called ''Silverstone''. P ...

'' (2000, Series 3 only, co-production with

Alliance Atlantis Alliance Atlantis Communications Inc. (commonly known as Alliance Atlantis and commonly shortened to simply Alliance or Atlantis and formerly traded as TSX:AAC) was a Canadian media company that operated primarily as a specialty service operato ...

. Also held European distribution rights) * ''Letters From Felix'' (2001) * '' The Fantastic Flying Journey'' (2001, co-production with Two Sides TV. Also held French-speaking, German-speaking, Eastern European, Scandinavian and Beneluxian distribution rights) * ''

The Cramp Twins ''The Cramp Twins'' is an animated television series created by cartoonist Brian Wood based on his 1995 graphic novel of the same name. The show was produced by Sunbow Entertainment (in season 1), Telemagination (in season 2), and TV-Loonland AG, ...

'' (2001-2006, co-production with

and

) * ''Little Ghosts'' (2002, co-production with Telemagination) * ''Pongwiffy'' (2002, co-production with Telemagination) * ''Something Else'' (2002, co-production with Studio B Productions, excluding Canadian distribution rights) * ''

Henry's World ''Henry's World'' is a Canadian animated children's television series produced for Canada's Family Channel by Cuppa Coffee Animation, Alliance Atlantis Communications, with TV-Loonland AG also producing the first. It was first aired from 2001 ...

'' (2002-2005, Series 1 only, produced by

. Also held European distribution rights) * ''

Metalheads A metalhead is a member of the heavy metal subculture. Metalhead may also refer to: Music * ''Metalhead'' (album), 1999 album by Saxon * "Metalhead", a song by Blotto * "Metalhead", a song from the 2008 Miss Kittin album ''BatBox'' * Metalheadz ...

'' (2003, co-production with Telemagination) * ''Dragon's Rock'' (2004, co-production with

Super RTL Super RTL is a German free-to-air television network owned by the RTL Group. The channel originally launched in 1995 as a joint venture between RTL Group predecessor company CLT-UFA and Disney's Buena Vista International Television Investments ...

) * ''Rudi & Trudi'' (2006, co-production with Telemagination,

ZDF Enterprises ZDF (, short for Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen; ; "Second German Television") is a German public-service television broadcaster based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. It is run as an independent nonprofit institution, which was founded by all fe ...

and ZDFtivi) * '' Pat and Stan'' (2007) * '' The Owl'' (2006, co-production with Studio Hari and

France Télévisions France Télévisions (; stylized since 2018 as ) is the French national public television broadcaster. It is a state-owned company formed from the integration of the public television channels France 2 (formerly Antenne 2) and France 3 (former ...

) * ''

My Life Me ''My Life Me'' ( French: ''Trois et moi'') is a short-running animated television series created by JC Little, Cindy Filipenko and Svetlana Chmakova, co-directed by Mr. Niko. The teen slice-of-life comedy follows Birch Small, a manga and anime fa ...

'' (2009, co-production with CarpeDiem Film & TV)

Acquired from Sony Wonder/Sunbow Entertainment

* '' G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero'' (1983) * '' The Transformers'' (1985) * '' Super Sunday'' (1986) ** ''

Jem and the Holograms ''Jem'', also known as ''Jem and the Holograms'', is an American animated musical television series that ran from 1985 to 1988. The series is about record company owner Jerrica Benton, her singer alter-ego Jem, and the adventures of Jem and her ...

'' (1985) ** ''

Inhumanoids ''Inhumanoids'' is the title of an animated series and the name of a Hasbro toy property that were both released in 1986. In the tradition of other Hasbro properties such as ''Transformers'', and '' G.I. Joe'', the show was produced by Sunbow Ent ...

'' (1985) ** ''

Robotix ''Robotix'' is a 1985 American animated series based on the original Milton Bradley toyline of the same name featured on the '' Super Sunday'' programming block. The toyline is of the construction type that includes motors, wheels and pincers an ...

'' (1985) ** ''

Bigfoot and the Muscle Machines ''Bigfoot and the Muscle Machines'' is a 1985 American animated TV mini-series that aired on the animated half-hour TV series '' Super Sunday'' and ''Super Saturday'' containing 9 segments that ran for 6 minutes each weekend, along with '' Jem'', ' ...

'' (1985) * ''

My Little Pony 'n Friends ''My Little Pony'' is a 1986–1987 American cartoon series, animated television series produced by Sunbow Entertainment, Sunbow Productions and Marvel Productions and animated by Toei Animation and AKOM based on the My Little Pony toys released ...

'' (1986) ** ''

The Glo Friends ''The Glo Friends'' is an American television series that originally aired in 1986 as a segment of ''My Little Pony 'n Friends''. Produced by Sunbow Productions and Marvel Productions in collaboration with Toei Animation, the 26 segments of ''Glo ...

'' (1986) ** ''

MoonDreamers ''MoonDreamers'' is an American animated television series that aired in 1986 as part of the ''My Little Pony 'n Friends'' lineup. It appeared on CBN Family Channel from 1989 to 1990, Family Channel from 1990 to 1995 during '' My Little Pony''. ...

'' (1986) ** ''

Potato Head Kids ''Potato Head Kids'' is an American animated television series that aired in 1986. It was made to pair with ''My Little Pony 'n Friends''. An episode of '' My Little Pony'' was played for 15 minutes, and then an episode of ''Potato Head Kids'', '' ...

'' (1986) * ''

Bucky O'Hare and the Toad Wars ''Bucky O'Hare and the Toad Wars!'' (also known as ''Bucky O'Hare and the Toad Menace'' in Canada) is an animated series created by Sunbow Productions, Abrams/Gentile Entertainment, Continuity Comics and the French company IDDH, co-produced by M ...

'' (1991) * ''

My Little Pony Tales ''My Little Pony Tales'' was an American animated television series produced by Sunbow Productions and Graz Entertainment with animation being produced by AKOM. The series, based on the My Little Pony toys by Hasbro, weekly aired for 26 episodes f ...

'' (1992) * '' Conan the Adventurer'' (1992) * ''

Conan and the Young Warriors ''Conan and the Young Warriors'' is a 1994 American television animated series produced by Sunbow Entertainment and aired by CBS as a sequel to the animated series ''Conan the Adventurer'', but featuring a different set of characters (besides Cona ...

'' (1994) * ''

Sgt. Savage and his Screaming Eagles Sgt. Savage and his Screaming Eagles is a line of military-themed toys produced by Hasbro that was sold between 1994 and 1995. It was intended to be a companion line to ''G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero''. Comic book artist Joe Kubert provided the ...

'' (1994) * '' G.I. Joe Extreme'' (1995) * ''

Salty's Lighthouse ''Salty's Lighthouse'' is an American animated television series for preschoolers. The series was produced by Sunbow Entertainment and aired from October 3, 1997, to June 26, 1998, on TLC. in association with the Bank Street College of Education i ...

'' (1997) * '' The Crayon Box'' (1997) * ''

The Brothers Flub ''The Brothers Flub'' is an animated television series produced by Sunbow Entertainment and co-produced by jigsaw puzzle manufacturer Ravensburger. It aired in the United States on the television network Nickelodeon. The show's title characters are ...

'' (1999) * ''

Mega Babies ''Mega Babies'' is an animated children's television series created by the Tremblay brothers, Christian and Yvon, who previously had made the Hanna-Barbera show '' SWAT Kats: The Radical Squadron''. It is produced by CinéGroupe and Landmark Enter ...

'' (1999) * ''

Rainbow Fish ''The Rainbow Fish'' is a children's picture book drawn and written by Swiss author and illustrator, Marcus Pfister, and translated into English by J. Alison James. The book is best known for the distinctive shiny foil scales of the Rainbow ...

'' (1999) * ''

Generation O! ''Generation O!'' is an American animated musical comedy children's television series made by Sunbow Entertainment, with co-production associated by Wang Film Productions in Taiwan and Ravensberger in Germany. The show was originally titled ''Moll ...

'' (2000)

Distribution only

* ''

ReBoot In computing, rebooting is the process by which a running computer system is restarted, either intentionally or unintentionally. Reboots can be either a cold reboot (alternatively known as a hard reboot) in which the power to the system is physi ...

'' (1994-2000, Europe, distribution rights acquired in 2001) * ''

Clifford the Big Red Dog ''Clifford the Big Red Dog'' is an American children's book series about the adventures of a precocious girl named Emily Elizabeth and her titular pet: a giant, red-furred dog named Clifford. It was first published in 1963 and was written by No ...

'' (2000, Europe) * ''In a Heartbeat'' * ''

Yvon of the Yukon ''Yvon of the Yukon'' is a Canadian- Chinese animated television series produced by Studio B Productions (now known as "WildBrain") and Corus Entertainment in association with Alliance Atlantis Communications. It was produced with the particip ...

'' (2001, Europe) * ''

Connie the Cow ''Connie the Cow'' is a children's television series created by Josep Viciana, and designed by Roman Rybakiewicz. It was produced by Spain-based studio Neptuno Films, and it aired on TV3 in Catalonia. In the United States, it aired on Noggin. Th ...

'' (2002, Europe excluding Spain) * ''

Clifford's Puppy Days ''Clifford's Puppy Days'' is an animated children's television series that originally aired on PBS Kids from September 1, 2003 to February 25, 2006. The prequel to the 2000–2003 series ''Clifford the Big Red Dog'', it features the adventures o ...

'' (2003, Europe) * '' Little Princess'' (2006) * ''Penelope'' (2007, Europe, Russia, Baltic States, Scandinavia, Israel, the Middle East, and Africa) * ''Mister Otter'' (2009)

Specials

Original

* ''The Last Polar Bears'' (2000, produced by Telemagination) * ''Donner'' (2001, co-produced with

and

Rainbow Studios Rainbow Studios is an American video game developer based in Phoenix, Arizona, best known for developing offroad racing games, such as '' Motocross Madness'' and the ''MX vs. ATV'' series. It was established by Earl Jarred in 1986 under the nam ...

)

Acquired from Sony Wonder/Sunbow Entertainment

* ''Dorothy in the Land of Oz'' (1980) * '' G.I. Joe: The Revenge of Cobra'' (1984) * ''The GloFriends Save Christmas'' (1985) * '' Transformers: Five Faces of Darkness'' (1986) * '' Transformers: The Return of Optimus Prime'' (1986) * '' Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light''(1987) * '' Transformers: The Rebirth'' (1987) * ''Santa's Special Delivery'' (1999)

Movies/Direct-to-Video

Original

* '' The Real Shlemiel'' (1994, as TMO Film) * ''Kiss My Blood'' (1998, as TMO Film) * ''

'' (2000) * '' Babar: King of the Elephants'' (1999, as TMO-Loonland, co-production with Nelvana. Also held German-speaking distribution rights) * ''

'' (2005, co-production with Telemagination and Nelvana. Also held European distribution rights)

Acquired from Sony Wonder/Sunbow Entertainment

* ''

Alice of Wonderland in Paris ''Alice of Wonderland in Paris'' or ''Alice in a New Wonderland'' is a 1966 Czech-American animated film directed by Gene Deitch and produced by William L. Snyder in extreme limited animation. Plot Young Alice, having become a celebrity for he ...

'' (1966; international distribution rights) * '' My Little Pony: The Movie'' (1986) * '' The Transformers: The Movie'' (1986) * '' G.I. Joe: The Movie'' (1987) * ''Sony Wonder Enchanted Tales'' (1994-1999) * ''The Beginner's Bible'' (1994-1990's) * '' Famous Fred'' (1996) * '' Lion of Oz'' (2000)

References

{{Reflist German animation studios Companies established in 1989 Companies disestablished in 2011 Mass media companies of Germany