Roundups 101: Disney Animation Television Unveils Upcoming Series Kiff, First Look At HBO Max Upcoming Series Velma And Chris Pratt Is Super Mario In Explosive Sneak Peek

Kiff currently in production, slated for 2023

Kimiko Glenn (“Orange Is the New Black”) and H. Michael Croner (“Craig of the Creek”) have been cast as voice-over co-stars in Disney Branded Television’s upcoming animated series “Kiff,” which will premiere in 2023 on the Disney Channel.

“Set in a world where animals and magical oddballs tackle day-to-day life alongside one another, the series follows Kiff and Barry as they navigate school, relationships and their often eccentric community,” according to the show’s longline. Music will also play a role in the series, with a new original song in every episode.

Besides Heavens and Smal, the show’s creative team includes co-producer and story editor Kent Osborne (“Phineas and Ferb” “Adventure Time”), who will serve as co-producer and story editor, and Winnie Chaffee (“Captain Planet and the Planeteers”) as producer. “Kiff” is produced by Titmouse in association with Disney Channel.

Velma is getting an origin story

There's been a lot of chat about Scooby Doo's Velma Dinkley lately, largely because the release of Amazon Prime's Trick or Treat Scooby-Doo!(opens in a new tab) revealed that the character is gay. Fans rejoiced, and so did Google.

So there's more than enough intrigue to fuel HBO Max's Velma, an entirely separate work that intends to play out as an origin story for Velma and the rest of the gang. The adult animated series will not feature the beloved, mystery-loving dog Scooby.

The titular character is voiced by Mindy Kaling, whose sass and signature charm do wonders for the role, at least from what the teaser suggests. Kaling co-created he series alongside Charlie Grandy.

Nintendo is launching another feature film

Start gearing up your (animated) engines, because another film based on Nintendo’s Super Mario video game franchise is coming out soon. The movie, which is officially titled The Super Mario Bros. Movie, is an animated project with a voice cast made up of some of Hollywood’s biggest stars. Plans for the next Mario film started way back in 2016, but production didn’t officially kick off until 2020. This is the third feature film adaption of the video game franchise. The first was the 1986 anime film, Super Mario Bros: The Great Mission to Rescue Princess Peach! That was followed by the 1993 live-action film Super Mario Bros., which starred Bob Hoskins, John Leguizamo, Dennis Hopper, and Samantha Mathis.

The Super Mario film will be released in theaters on April 7, 2023 in the United States. The movie was previously scheduled to come out December 21, 2022, but it was delayed by a few months.

 

Update: Da Vinci Kids To Remain Aboard The DStv And GOtv Platform

During the week, it was reported that MultiChoice was planning to remove Da Vinci Kids after placing a channel terminaton banner on all their platforms on top of providing a detailed statement with the channel that was initially slated to end on 15 October.

Now that won't be the case as MultiChoice confirmed to sources that after seeing feedback from several customers that they opted to keep the channel onboard meaning consumers will be able to view Operation Ouch and Xploration DIY SCI.

Moonbug Kids is still slated to launch on their platforms in the coming weeks as MultiChoice has shared several adverts regarding the brand. But questions amount to the positioning of the channel.

We all know now that Da Vinci Kids will stay put and Moonbug Kids won't be taking anyone's spotlight but how are we not sure that MultiChoice or any of their partners don't have another channel up their sleeve that is set to leave the platform.

As seen these past months, Paramount has further distanced themselves from Nicktoons only referencing them on the basis of NickMusic. Their partners, AMC International has been reviewing their linear offering which could spell trouble for consumers in Africa mostly for CBS Justice.

 

NBCUniversal International To Close E! In Germany, Austria And Switzerland By The End Of 2022

During the week, Broadband TV shared the news that NBCUniversal will be axing their female skewed celebrity based E! channel by the end of 2022 for strategic purposes.

“For strategic reasons, the channel E! Entertainment will be discontinued at the end of the year,” a Sky Deutschland spokesman confirmed to Broadband TV News. “We are fully concentrating on our very successful pay-TV channel brands 13th Street, SYFY and Universal TV, providing our customers with an exciting and broad entertainment portfolio,” said the Sky spokesman.

Both NBC Universal and Sky Group are part of US media company Comcast.

Of course this entail doesn't state what fate awaits the rest of NBCUniversal's linear offering globally or in this case E! Entertainment as traditional TV is becoming a waste for OTT platforms like Disney+ and Netflix.

NBCUniversal will be rolling out a new streaming service Universal+ in South Africa from October 14th exclusively on MultiChoice's Explora Ultra supplying content already viewed on various channels including Telemundo, Universal TV and DreamWorks Channel.

Recommended Games #7: Rich Knight's Horror Show Moonwalker Can Also Be Playable Through Your Device

The gameplay is focused on finding children, all of whom resemble Katie from the movie, who are scattered throughout the levels, some behind objects such as doors. Most of the objects are empty or contain enemies. Jackson's standard attack is a stylized high kick that is commonly incorporated into his dance routines; in the Sega Genesis version, Jackson's attacks fire off blue sparks, giving him greater offensive range. If the player continues to hold the attack button, and moves Jackson backwards, he performs his Moonwalk dance move. Jackson also has a special attack button which, when held, will cause him to start spinning; releasing it will cause him to throw his hat at enemies, destroying them instantly, but if the button is held for longer, Jackson will bring all on-screen enemies together to start dancing to his music. Once the choreography is finished, all enemies are damaged or defeated. These special attacks cost Jackson some health, sapping up to half his full life bar at full charge. Rescuing children restores some of Jackson's health. Once all children are rescued, Bubbles will mount on Michael's shoulders and point him in the direction of the level's final confrontation, where Mr. Big taunts him before sending waves of enemies for Jackson to defeat (on the Master System version, Bubbles is absent, and the levels cut straight from the final child to the enemy rush).

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#BoycottMoonbugKids: The Possible Outcome To The Demise Of Da Vinci Kids On The DStv And GOtv Platform

With only a few days left on the DStv and GOtv platforms, MultiChoice has decided to axe the educational channel, Da Vinci Kids and this comes after unveiling a new preschool channel, Moonbug Kids. Thanks to our sources we were able to get an official statement.

MultiChoice constantly reviews its channel offering to ensure we continue to bring our customers the best quality local and international content that adds value to our customer's viewing experience. As such, Da Vinci (DStv channel 318 and GOtv channel 66/157/359) will no longer be available to DStv packages, effective 15 October 2022. We continue to look for fresh content that resonates with our viewers. Customers can look forward to more exciting content announcements such Moonbug Kids channel launching soon - and we've launched another kids channel, DreamWorks Channel earlier this year.

As mentioned in a previous post, Moonbug Kids will be added as a replacement to Da Vinci Kids and with MultiChoice battling transponder constraints it's led the brand to scrap a couple of channels in order to allocate more channels.

Unlike most replacements, Moonbug Kids is like when you slide BET with Travel Channel - random. As the two don't have much in common aside from the demographic with a bit of variation.

Da Vinci Kids audience range from 8-12 years with shows like Siesta Z, Operation Ouch, Horrible Histories and Wild Kratts. Accompanying the lineup is a dedicated family block filled with mostly documentaries and other factual content.

I mean after its acquisition the channel has become less of a Discovery Channel but more like a CBeebies and PBS Kids I mean there's more animation and the live-action puts it in a competitive spot with Disney Channel and Nickelodeon.

But that's the thing, not a lot of people are familiar with this version of the channel as amazing as the improvements have been we have to face the facts. Not everyone is familiar with this version as opposed to the one from few years back.

The same can be said about its replacement Moonbug Kids as its audiences is further limited from Da Vinci Kids while the channel catered to 8-12 years then 6-12 years with Moonbug Kids it's like mixing Baby TV and JimJam to form this fresh smoothie.

Moonbug Kids has managed to redeem themselves and I have no doubt about that but the audience doesn't match up to Da Vinci Kids I mean the channel carried preschool just like Boomerang it doesn't come full-time as seen here.

Moonbug Kids is home to CoComelon a show featuring music, dance and nursery rhymes again something you'll typically see on Baby TV and the only thing that's less Baby TV about the channel is Supa Strikas and beside the point it's not something you'd expect on Da Vinci Kids.

But Supa Strikas being on a brand that is dedicated to preschoolers has me wondering how such a franchise can be reduced to preschool even that of Baby TV. I mean most of the company's property is preschool just kind of curious how Supa Strikas ended up in that predicament.

And even more curious on who still has the energy for this soccer legend I mean I believe everyone needs a break every now and then but Supa Strikas has been all over the place SABC, e.tv, Cartoon Network, Disney Channel and now Moonbug Kids.

Da Vinci Kids doesn't have much alternatives aside from National Geographic and Curiosity but they aren't kid based and the channel kind of set up its offering in a way that would appease their target audience and those accompanying them and these brands cater for a much wider spectrum.