New ‘Regular Show,’ ‘Foster’s Home For Imaginary Friends’ Series And More Unveiled At Annecy

J.G. Quintel’s new “Regular Show” and Craig McCracken’s “Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends” spin-off both feature in a new production slate from Warner Bros. Animation, Cartoon Network Studios and Hanna-Barbera Studios Europe.

Unveiled Wednesday at Annecy, they join a new “Adventure Time” series, “Side Quests,” as greenlights at the Warner-owned companies.

The news slate also boasts two more “Adventure Time” shows in development, plus an unannounced Scooby-Doo project.

The big question raised by the studio’s Annecy focus is whether the surge in new shows is a temporary anomaly or marks a broader indicator of a more sustained return by Warner Bros. Discovery to fuller-on animation production after the lull of the recent past.

Certainly, the news will not come much bigger at this year’s Annecy than “Adventure Time,” “Regular Show” and “Fosters” returns, shows which helped shape fandom’s sense of modern-day animation entertainment in the 2010s and just before. 

The WBA-CNS-HBSE bonanza also underscores Warner Bros.’s declared strategy of returning to top fan favorites but making them for different age group demos.

McCracken’s original “Foster’s” targeted 6-11s, while the new “Foster’s Home” is preschool; the unveiled “Adventure Time” titles include a preschool show, “Heyo BMO,” and a family feature “Adventure Time Movie.”

Below, a brief breakdown of new shows announced by the three companies at Annecy.

Greenlights Announced at Annecy

“Foster’s Funtime for Imaginary Friends” (Cartoon Network Studios)

Creator of “Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends,” which won Emmys and Annies, Craig McCracken (also known for “Powerpuff Girls”) is back with a completely new original series targeting pre-schoolers. In it, a now-young group of preschool imaginary friends learns from an immature elder friend, Bloo, who, as in the original, still unintentionally gets things wrong. McCracken has promised the same fast pace but a fun, simpler structure and less cynical humor. Only Bloo and Madame Foster return.

“Adventure Time: Side Quests” (Cartoon Network Studios)

As Variety has just announced, while adult-skewed “Fionna & Cake” is airing on Max, “Side Quests” takes the franchise back to a kid’s show, marking a return to early days with kid Finn and best buddy Jake fighting monsters on epic quests in an episodic series, eschewing the long story arcs of later “Adventure Times.” “Side Quests” looks set in the same world as the early original repeating characters such as villain The Ice King. Nate Cash, a creative (2012-13) and then supervising director (Season 5) on “Adventure Time,” figures as the series creator.

Untitled Regular Show Project, (Cartoon Network) 

Details on the new show are being kept under wraps. It’s not even known if Mordecai and Rigby are back. The key, however, is that it’s from J.G. Quintel. The show is entirely new, though it will feature some characters from the original series, Variety has learned. 

“Go-Go Mystery Machine” (Cartoon Network)

A Scooby-Doo spin-off series takes the gang to Japan. “While visiting Japan on the ultimate foodie adventure, Shaggy and Scooby-Doo unwittingly unleash hundreds of mischievous mythical monsters that are now causing trouble all over the country,” the description runs.  Scooby turns to his uncle, Daisuke-Doo, and magical friend Etsuko and gadget wiz Toshiro to help solve the mystery and catch the monsters. 

“Adventure Time: Heyo BMO” (Cartoon Network Studios)

The first-ever “Adventure Time” pre-school series. “In the fantastical Land of Ooo, the little robot BMO is on a new adventure. Now settled in a new neighborhood with new friends, BMO approaches each challenge he faces with his unique brand of enthusiasm and curiosity in a quest to learn and fill his database,” the description runs. Adam Muto, “Adventure Time” showrunner from mid-Season 5, returns as the main creative talent alongside Ashlyn Anstee, a storyboard artist on “Distant Lands.”

“Untitled Barbara Throws a Wobbler Project” (Hanna-Barbera Studios Europe)

A preschool series based on award-winning author and illustrator Nadia Shireen’s picturebook, about a young cat who most days does what other cats do, until one day she throws a tantrum she can’t control. Creative lead is animation supervisor Joris van Hulzen, a 2D animation director on “The Amazing World of Gumball.” 

“The Adventure Time Movie” (Cartoon Network Studios)

Billed by CNS as: “Jake and Finn embark on their greatest adventure yet.” Rebecca Sugar, behind “Steven Universe” and a storyboard artist on “Adventure Time” Seasons 2 and 3, serves as creator with Muto and another “Adventure Time” veteran, Patrick McHale, a writer, creative director and storyboard artist on the original series from 2010-17. 

“Bad Karma,” (Warner Bros. Animation)

A family movie project set in a fantasy mythological world billed by WBA as an “exciting and epic tale about courage, loyalty and an unlikely friendship.” This title features a young demon princess, Chandra, and the legendary demi-god, Hanuman. A clip shown at Annecy turns on Chandra’s travails with men until she meets the giant Hanuman.  Creators take in Sanjay Patel, dictator of Oscar-nominated “Sanjay’s Super Team,” Rajesh Devraj (writer of “Arjun: The Warrior Prince”), Vikash Shankar and Katie Rice.

“Lovey Dovey,” (Warner Bros. Animation)

A romantic wedding dove, in search of his one true love, gets stuck with a bunch of streetwise pigeons whose only goal is to screw the large bird from a popular kids TV show. Ava Tramer, a writer on “Harley Quinn,” takes the creative lead.

MultiChoice Reports Resilient Performance While Expanding Its Platform

Clear strategic milestones were reached, with the group successfully launching Showmax 2.0, SuperSportBet and Moment, all of which are now revenue-generating and supporting the group’s future growth prospects.

“Four years after setting out a clear strategy of building Africa’s entertainment platform of choice and investing in services to support a broader ecosystem, our three core segments are now fully operational: video entertainment, interactive entertainment and fintech. Our focus now shifts to building on these solid foundations to drive growth in these new areas, and on further enhancing business efficiency across our operations.

While we are not alone in feeling the challenges of a weak consumer environment, I am proud of the speed and effectiveness of the team in implementing strategic actions to retain customers, safeguard cash generation and drive costs savings which surpassed our targets. It is the strength of this team, the quality of the underlying business and the clarity of our strategy which underpins my confidence in delivering on our potential,” said Calvo Mawela, MultiChoice Group CEO.

Some key points for the past financial year:

• Subscriber base: Given the challenging consumer environment, overall active subscribers declined by 9%. This was mainly due to a 13% decline in the Rest of Africa business, with Nigeria, Angola and Zambia most affected, while the South African business was more resilient, declining by only 5%.  

• Group revenue: increased by 3% on an organic basis. However, due to weaker local currencies and consumer pressure, reported Group revenue declined by 5% to ZAR56.0bn.

• Subscription revenues: grew by 2% on an organic basis. However, on a reported basis, subscription revenues declined by 7% due to a weaker Naira.

• Group trading profit: increased 24% on an organic basis, despite the additional ZAR1.4bn investment in Showmax to drive future growth. After factoring in the ZAR4.5bn impact related to foreign exchange weakness, reported trading profit declined by 21% to ZAR7.9bn.

• Positive operating leverage: Given the positive impact of the lower expenditure (including ZAR1.9bn in cost savings and ZAR1.5bn in reduced decoder subsidies), the group achieved positive operating leverage of 4.3% (i.e. a 3.3% organic revenue increase against a 1% organic reduction in operating expenses).

• Adjusted core headline earnings: Higher realised hedging gains and benefits from a narrower gap between official and parallel Naira rate, was more than offset by the weaker trading profitability, resulting in adjusted core headline earnings (which now includes losses on cash remittances after tax and minorities) decreasing by 20% to ZAR1.3bn.

• Free cash flow: amounted to ZAR589m, impacted by lower profitability and the 7bn in Showmax platform payments.

Retained cash and cash equivalents: ZAR7.3bn in cash (before short-term commitments) and access to ZAR4.1bn in undrawn borrowing facilities provides significant headroom and flexibility to fund opportunities.

 

MultiChoice is by far the largest producer of original content on the African continent. In FY24, the group again produced over 6 500 hours of local content and its local content library now has more than 84,000 hours of content, a 12% increase YoY.

The highlight for the year was Shaka Ilembe, which launched on Mzansi Magic in June to become Africa’s biggest TV series. Filmed entirely on location in South Africa, it was created through the skills and contributions of over 8 000 people. The premiere episode attracted over four million viewers and was the top-performing show with an audience share of over 45% in its time slot.

Other content highlights of the year was Reyka (season 2), Devil’s Peak and White Lies on linear (co-produced with Fremantle, Canal +, Abacus Distribution and BBC Studios-owned Lookout Point) and Spinners, Original Sin: My Son The Killer, and Catch Me a Killer, on streaming. Across Africa, the group launched 3 new proprietary channels - in Ethiopia (Maaddii Abol), Uganda (Pearl Magic Loko) and Mozambique (Maningue Magic Kool) while also producing content in Africa’s 4th most spoken language, Oromo.

SuperSport broadcast 34 490 live events during the year – arguably more live sport than any other broadcaster in the world. Highlights included the Rugby World Cup in France, the Cricket World Cup in India, a second  SA20 season in South Africa, AFCON, FIFA Women’s World Cup in New Zealand and Australia, as well as the Netball World Cup in Cape Town.

SuperSport Schools more than doubled its registered user base during the year. The fast-growing platform displayed more than 49 000 hours of live programming across 43 different sports codes, covering 900 school sport festivals and events, featuring more than 1 100 schools, and over 14 500 teams.

SEGMENTAL REVIEW

South Africa Pay-TV (MultiChoice South Africa)

Due to a strong focus on retention initiatives, the decline in active subscribers in South Africa was limited to 5%, despite the challenging environment. The base now stands at 7.6 million households.  Power outages experienced on 275 days of the year further discouraged potential subscribers without backup power.

Although the Premium bouquet is trending toward a stable base given the targeted retention efforts, the premium customer tier (which includes the Premium and Compact Plus bouquets) declined by 8%. The mid-market Compact base, which is most exposed to the macro-economic challenges, was down 9%, while the mass-market tier was 2% lower due to pressure in the Family base, the impact of loadshedding, and reduced decoder subsidies.

A consequent 3% decline in subscription revenues and softer advertising income weighed on the segment’s total revenues (-2% to ZAR33.6bn), but was partially offset by strong traction from new revenue streams, especially the insurance business (NMSIS) which reported a 35% increase in premium revenue to almost ZAR1bn. Several interventions to reduce costs enabled the SA business to achieve a trading margin of over 26%.  

Rest of Africa Pay-TV (MultiChoice Africa)

The business in the Rest of Africa faced the toughest macro-economic conditions in its core markets with high, double-digit inflation and extreme depreciation of local currencies, (especially in Nigeria, Angola, Kenya and Zambia) which impacted USD revenues by 32%.

The active subscriber base declined to 8.1m, but effective retention efforts contributed to an improved subscriber mix.

Due to the challenging market dynamics, the short-term focus of this business shifted from subscriber growth to safeguard profitability and cash flows. Several cost-saving initiatives were implemented, including scaling back significantly on decoder subsidies (-46% YoY or ZAR1.3bn), and reducing SG&A costs by ZAR500m. These interventions enabled the Rest of Africa business to increase trading profit by 48% YoY to ZAR1.3bn.

Sub-Saharan Africa SVOD (Showmax)

FY24 was a pivotal year for Showmax as it relaunched across 44 markets in sub-Saharan Africa on Peacock’s world-class platform, which is 4K/HDR and ATMOS ready. Almost 100% of the eligible customer base was migrated to the new Showmax platform, and 88% of those migrated had reactivated their accounts in the seven weeks to year-end.

Alongside local content from M-Net, Mzansi Magic, Africa Magic and Maisha Magic, Showmax ramped up its local content, releasing 59 original movies and series in SA, Nigeria, Kenya and Ghana (FY23: 48). Popular shows that drove viewership included Tracking Thabo Bester, Koek, The Mommy Club, Youngins, Red Ink, Adulting, Outlaws and Real Housewives of Durban in South Africa, Cheta’m, Real Housewives of Lagos, Dead Serious, Wura and Flawsome in Nigeria, and Single Kiasi and Second Family in Kenya.

Showmax revenues for the year grew by 22% (+22% organic) to ZAR1.0bn, while trading losses increased to ZAR2.6bn. These losses came in below the expected range of ZAR3-4.0bn. As noted before, due to the partnership agreement signed in 2023, 30% of Showmax’s funding requirements is contributed by Comcast.

Technology (Irdeto)

Irdeto’s strong execution, enabled it to become the market leader in managed security services for video with a 22% market share. It also saw significant success in combatting piracy, taking down some 30 000 streaming piracy services during the year. Revenue increased by 17% (7% organic) driven by external customers across video entertainment, gaming and connected transport, with some additional uplift from a weaker ZAR against the USD. Disciplined cost management supported a 23% trading margin.

Irdeto shipped its first keyless solutions to leading customers, including one of the largest fleet operators in the US market. This resulted in a revenue increase of 119% YoY in the connected transport division, with revenue from new services now representing a combined 35.7% of total revenues. 

Sports betting and interactive entertainment (KingMakers)

KingMakers reported strong growth in the online business in Nigeria, with monthly active users up 37% YoY and online gross gaming revenues up 26% YoY in constant currency. New products were also launched, including BetKing Casino and BetKing FootballGO, a virtual football sportsbook service.

Revenue of USD147m was affected by the weak Naira, while the business reported a positive EBITDA of USD2m. At the end of its December year-end the business had a retained cash balance USD113m to fully fund its growth initiatives.

KingMakers launched the SuperSportBet business in South Africa in January 2024. Its pre-game shows and live feed integration with SuperPicks, as well as the Playbook preview show were key drivers of uptake, further supported by SuperSportBet becoming the official betting partner of local soccer clubs, Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates.

Fin-tech (Moment)

After being founded during FY23, Moment officially launched in FY24. The business played a vital role in the Showmax relaunch stepping up to fill a critical payments gap. In January this year, Moment also began processing MultiChoice’s payments for DStv, reaching a milestone of processing USD85m in payments in early March 2024.

To-date, Moment has processed local and cross-border card payments in 44 Showmax markets and is already accounting for more than 20% of Group’s payment volumes. It also joined real-time payment networks in 18 countries, including South Africa, and is currently piloting instant payment and account activation for DStv.

The business raised an additional USD22m of funding, with MultiChoice contributing USD8m. As a result, Moment is now valued at USD82m and MultiChoice owns a 26% stake.

FUTURE PROSPECTS

The linear video-entertainment business remains the mainstay of the group’s operations and provides a valuable base from which to expand its service offerings. The new streaming, interactive entertainment, fintech and connectivity services are having a positive impact on the business, and more importantly, on the lives of its customers. Going forward, the group will focus its efforts on scaling Showmax, Moment, SuperSportBet, as well as on driving growth in insurance (NMSIS), DStv Internet and DStv Stream.

To counter the challenges around an uncertain economic recovery globally and across the group’s operating footprint, the group will continue to drive business efficiency and cost optimisation, with an increased cost savings target of ZAR2bn.

Not only should this mitigate the ongoing impact of currency volatility and consumer weakness on performance, but together with the company’s strategic plans to continue adapting its platforms to cater to customers’ evolving needs, it positions the group well to prosper once currencies stabilize and economies rebound.

Important Notice: StarSat SA To Implement Price Increase From July 1st Amidst Reports Of A Possible Closure Of The Platform

StarSat, a Chinese based operator which is formed as part of a joint venture with On Digital Media and StarTimes was rumoured to be closing by September 18th. Serving as one of the only pay-tv rivals to MultiChoice's DStv was launched in the market 14 years ago.

In an update, On Digital Media's CEO Debbie Wu is currently looking to explore all the regulatory and legal issues with their licensing. They don't intend to close their doors and should that be the case they will accept all obligations and inform the necessary parties.

Amidst these reports, StarSat will be implementing a price increase from 1st July after MultiChoice made the adjustments to the price rates for their platforms in April. With the new prices listed as follows:

* Special will go up from R130p/m to R140pm

* Super will go up from R250p/m to R280p/m

* Max will go up from R360p/m to R400p/m

For a company whose future is quo, this seems like a risky move on their part. Considering there's still uncertainty pertaining to the future in the market and also stemming from the rise in competition with the likes of Netflix and Showmax. 

MultiChoice continues to lose more DStv customers on the mid to higher end particularly Premium to Compact while their low masses ranging from Family to Easyview experience weak growth. Of course, this isn't a scenario that is carried in other parts of Africa.

Development Alert: Disney Silently Removes Possible Third Season Renewal Of Kiff With Fears Over A Possible Cancellation

Kiff is an animated musical comedy television series created by Lucy Heavens and Nic Smal and produced by Disney Television Animation in association with Titmouse, Inc. It is also one of their first animated features to have been created in South Africa.

Synopsis for Kiff

Set in Table Town, a mountainous island surrounded by animals and magical creatures, the series centers on the adventures of a young, optimistic and happy-go lucky anthropomorphic squirrel named Kiff, whose best intentions often lead to complete chaos, and her best friend Barry, a sweet and mellow rabbit. The two take the island by storm with their endless adventures and zest for life.

The first season premiered from  March 10, 2023 to February 10, 2024 and consisted of 30 episodes. Before the series premiered, Disney Channel had already announced production of a second season which is slated to launch in the coming months.

Earlier in the year, Disney Channel had axed majority of shows including Bunk'd, Raven’s Home and The Ghost And Molly McGee. With the likes of Pretty Freakin Scary and Hailey's On It that reportedly ended on a cliffhanger as the network has gone quiet on its status. 

Kiff appears to be caught in the crossfire as earlier reports on their Instagram page announced a third season would be coming soon. Interesting to note, during the Annecy presentation Big City Greens was the only confirmed renewal. 

Could it be possible that season 3 was actually mistaken for a season 2 as the post was mysteriously taken down? It should be noted that they said season 3 is "coming soon" instead of "renewed".

But then again nothing can be certain at this point as they are reviving Phineas And Ferb and that wasn't present in these strings of announcements. It's possible that they just wanted to divulge on what the media hasn't seen yet and so on.

Disney TV Announces New ‘Prep & Landing,’ ‘Moon Girl’ Shorts, ‘Kindergarten: The Musical,’ ‘Big City Greens’ S5 & Much More

Today, during the Annecy International Animation Film Festival, Disney Branded Television (DBT) announced a lineup of new animated projects and shared first looks from its preschool and kids slate. The announcements were made by Ayo Davis, President of Disney Branded Television, alongside DBT animation leaders Meredith Roberts, EVP of Disney Television Animation; Alyssa Sapire, SVP of Development, Series and Strategy, Disney Junior; and Orion Ross, VP, International Animation.

Additionally, Disney Television Animation commemorated its illustrious 40-year anniversary at the festival with a special panel highlighting the studio’s dominance in kids’ animation over four decades — with beloved titles like Phineas and Ferb, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Monsters at Work, The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder, Sofia the First and more — as well as current and future hits ranging from Kiff to Big City Greens, ZOMBIES: The Re-Animated Series, Hamster & Gretel and StuGo.

Disney Junior, Disney Television Animation and International Animation teams will feature several additional panels throughout the week, including one that highlights the power of storytelling through music and features Disney Junior’s Ariel, Kindergarten: The Musical, ZOMBIES: The Re-Animated Series, Kiff and Big City Greens, as well as a panel for the upcoming global series The Doomies.

“Disney Branded Television is proud of our four-decade legacy of creating magical and visually stunning animation beloved by young audiences around the world,” said Davis. “It’s a momentous year at Annecy, as we celebrate our studio’s milestone anniversary and showcase some of our most exciting new projects and creative talent that are ushering us into a new era of storytelling.”

Among the new Disney Junior and Disney Television Animation titles and first looks announced at Annecy are the following:

New Series & Specials

Prep & Landing: The Snowball Protocol (22-minute special)

Produced by: Disney Television Animation

Executive Producers: Kevin Deters and Stevie Wermers-Skelton

Story Editor/Co-Producer: Colleen Evanson

Producer: Melissa Kurtz

Director: Shane Zalvin

Writer: Hilary Helding

In this new installment of the Emmy-winning holiday specials, the high-tech team of elves from the elite unit known as Prep and Landing is back! When their holiday missions go awry, Wayne thinks he is in BIG trouble with Santa, which opens a vault of merry mishaps from the past. It’s going to be hard to dig their way out of the snowbank this time in Prep & Landing: The Snowball Protocol. The special will debut next year.

Marvel’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur: Moon Girl’s Lab (Shorts)

Produced by: Disney Television Animation

Executive Producers: Laurence Fishburne, Helen Sugland and Steve Loter

Co-Executive Producers: Rodney Clouden and Pilar Flynn

Marvel’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur: Moon Girl’s Lab is a new musical S.T.E.M.-focused short-form series in which Moon Girl is dropping knowledge and dropping bars as she uses the power of science to take down some serious baddies. Each of the eight shorts will feature a new song by Grammy Award winner Raphael Saadiq, who serves as executive music producer on the series, and a science theme, including adaptations, states of matter, plants, force and motion, light, echolocation and coding.

The shorts will premiere Friday, June 28, on Disney Channel and Disney Channel YouTube. All eight shorts will be available on Disney+ the same day.

SuperKitties: Sup-Purr Adventures (Shorts)

Produced by: Sony Pictures Television – Kids in association with Disney Junior

Creator: Paula Rosenthal

Executive Producers: Sarah Mullervy, Kirk Van Wormer and Audu Paden

Supervising Producer: Bryan Korn

SuperKitties: Su-Purr Adventures is a new short-form series inspired by 2023’s No. 1 new preschool series, SuperKitties. It features Bitsy, Ginny, Sparks and Buddy as they showcase their superhero skills and kitty kindness that they use to work together as a team to make their town of Kittydale a great place to live.

The shorts will premiere Wednesday, August 7, on Disney Junior and Disney Channel and next day, Thursday, Aug. 8, on Disney+ and Disney Junior YouTube.

Series Renewal 

Big City Greens (Season 5)

Produced by: Disney Television Animation

Creators/Executive Producers: Chris and Shane Houghton

Executive Producer: Anna O’Brian

Co-Executive Producer: Stephen Sandoval

Producer: Michael Coughlin

Greenlit for a fifth season today, Big City Greens was the No. 2 most-watched kids animated series of 2023, with more than 2 billion hours watched across linear and streaming since it debuted in 2018.

The series follows the offbeat adventures of 10-year-old Cricket Green (voiced by Chris Houghton), a mischievous and optimistic country boy who moved to the big city with his wildly out-of-place family. The show is heavily influenced by the brothers’ childhood growing up in St. Johns, Michigan, a small rural town north of Lansing, also known as the mint capital of the world. Many of the characters are inspired by real-life family members and childhood townsfolk.

This summer also marks the premiere of Big City Greens the Movie: Spacecation, which will be screened at Annecy as part of the prestigious Le Pâquier lawn screening series. Additionally, Anna O’Brian, director of the movie, has joined the series for season five as executive producer.

First Look

Disney Junior’s Ariel

Produced by: Wild Canary in association with Disney Junior

Executive Producer: Lynne Southerland

An exclusive first-look clip from the highly anticipated new series Disney Junior’s Ariel was released today.

Inspired by the beloved story of The Little Mermaid, the series debuts Thursday, June 27, on Disney Junior in the U.S. with an initial batch of eight episodes available on Disney+ the following day, Friday, June 28.

The series follows 8-year-old mermaid princess Ariel as she and her friends embark on fun-filled, action-packed underwater adventures throughout their Caribbean-inspired fairy tale kingdom of Atlantica and beyond.

Kindergarten: The Musical

Produced by: Oddbot Entertainment in association with Disney Junior

Creators: Michelle Lewis and Charlton Pettus

Executive Producers: Tom Warburton, Michelle Lewis, Kay Hanley, Charlton Pettus and Dan Petty

Co-Executive Producer/Story Editor: Laurie Israel

The main title theme song — performed by Grammy Award-winning and Tony Award-nominated actress and singer Eva Noblezada (The Great Gatsby) — and key art for Disney Junior’s upcoming new series Kindergarten: The Musical was also released today.

The series follows five-year-old Berti, who, along with her new friends, is navigating all the exciting and emotional experiences that come with starting school for the very first time. Taking place in a kindergarten classroom at Porter Elementary, the series features fantastical Broadway-style song and dance numbers that help kids express their big feelings and provide a peek into their incredible imaginations. The series is set to debut on Disney Junior and Disney+ later this year.

StuGo

Produced by: Titmouse in association with Disney Channel

Creator/Executive Producer: Ryan Gillis

Co-Executive Producer: Sunil Hall

Story Editor: Craig Lewis

The main title theme song for StuGo was also released today. The series is set to premiere this fall on Disney Channel and Disney+.

The series follows six overambitious middle schoolers tricked into attending a fake academic summer camp by a mad scientist. Now they’re stuck for three months on a wild tropical island with mind-reading manatees, giant fighting fungi and fashion-forward mutants ― less academia than they’d hoped for but a lot more adventure.

The Doomies

Produced by: Xilam in association with Disney+

Co-Creator/Director: Andrés Fernandez

Co-Creator/Head Writer: Henry Gifford

Co-Creator/Art Director: Rémi Zaarour

An exclusive first look of Disney’s new spooky comedy animated series, The Doomies, was released today.

The chilling series follows best friends Bobby and Romy, who mistakenly open a gateway to the underworld and turn their sleepy coastal town into a hotspot for terrifying creatures of doom. As they try to cover up their mess, they get roped into an epic monster mystery, which will see them battle both literal and inner demons.