Canal+ has picked up Bardels award-winning holiday special, THE CHRISTMAS ORANGE special for its Christmas 2003 season to air in France, Monaco, Mauritius, Switzerland and Africa.
"THE CHRISTMAS ORANGE is exactly the kind of moral tale we like to have on Canal+", says Sandra Ouaiss, acquisition director of fiction & animation at Canal+ international acquisition. The story is about Anton Stingley who discovers on Christmas morning that instead of the 600 toys he has requested, his gift from Santa is one single orange. He is outraged and decides to sue Santa! As the story unfolds, Anton discovers the meaning of that one sweet, simple orange. Bardel Ent. in Vancouver produced the special.
ABC Family in the U.S. has scheduled a second run to air the special on December 17 at 7:30 PM. I think you have produced what I hope will become a Christmas favorite, says Brian Casentini, vp, development and current programming, ABC Family.
Last year during its premiere on Dec. 9 at 8:30 pm, THE CHRISTMAS ORANGE held its own while it faced stiff competition from Nick's holiday episode of RUGRATS. The half-hour animated special attracted an average of 1.4 million total viewers with a 1.0/1.5 household rating/share. (NHI, Galaxy Explorer, 12/09/02, 8:30pm-9pm, coverage area rating/share)
Studioworks Ent. LLC, A Ventura Distribution Co., has licensed the North American home video and DVD distribution rights for the property.
Other CHRISTMAS ORANGE sales include two in-flight movie deals with Spafax Inflight Media on behalf of Air Canada and Delta Airlines. Both will show this festive story on selected routes for the entire month of December. Emphasis Video Entertainment Ltd. from Hong Kong has also picked up the show for all of its Malaysia Airline flights from Dec. 1, 2003 to Jan. 31, 2004 and will air THE CHRISTMAS ORANGE on its Kidz channel.
Bardel specializes in 2D, 3D and FLASH animation production. The 15-year-old studio services major international studios for feature film, TV, interactive media, and commercials, as well as options, develops and finances proprietary properties such as THE CHRISTMAS ORANGE (www.christmasorange.com) and the SILVERWING series.
