Skydance Animation Signs Exclusive Overall Deal With ‘Zootopia’ Filmmaker Rich Moore

EXCLUSIVE: Natalie Chaidez (, Queen of the South) has signed an exclusive multi-year deal with Warner Bros. Television. As part of the deal, she will develop and create original programming via WBTV for all platforms.

EXCLUSIVE: West Side Story star Rachel Zegler is set to provide the voice of Princess Ellian, the the lead role in Apple Original Films and Skydance Animation’s new animated musical feature, Spellbound. Ellian is the tenacious princess who must go on a daring quest to save her family and kingdom after a mysterious spell transforms her parents into monsters and threatens to cover Lumbria in darkness forever.

EXCLUSIVE: Mike Leech and Zach Smilovitz, co-creators of Stephen Colbert Presents Tooning Out The News, are staying put at CBS Studios, the studio behind the Paramount+ animated news satire. The duo have renewed their overall deal at the studio, originally signed in 2020, where they will continue to write and produce across all platforms.

Hallmark Channel is keeping their favorite stars around for more projects, inking several exclusive deals over the past few weeks.

EXCLUSIVE: Holly Robinson Peete is staying in the Hallmark Family. The actress has signed a multi-picture deal that includes exclusivity on holiday movies with Crown Media Family Networks.

EXCLUSIVE: Amina Munir is formalizing her relationship with Universal Television.

Angelique Jackson Taraji P. Henson’s TPH Entertainment has signed a new overall deal with BET Studios.Under the new pact, Henson and TPH Entertainment will partner with the studio venture, which supplies content to Paramount Plus, Showtime, CBS, Nickelodeon, BET Plus and BET, as well as select third-party platforms.

Wilson Chapman editorSkydance Animation announced Tuesday that it has finalized a multi-year partnership with children’s entertainment company Spin Master to develop toys and merchandise based on their properties.“We are thrilled to be partnering with a company like Spin Master that is as committed to quality and attention to detail as we are,” Luis Fernández, head of consumer products at Skydance, said in a statement. “As we ramp up production on our slate of animated features, we could not imagine a better partner to bring our visually stunning and epic animated worlds to life.”The first Skydance Animation film included in the deal will be the upcoming Apple TV Plus original film “Spellbound,” which will receive a product line from Spin Master encompassing fashion dolls, mini-dolls and vehicles.

Julia Garner is going into business with Tomorrow Studios. The Ozark star — who formed Alma Margo with producing partner Rowan Riley — has signed a first-look deal with the company founded by CEO Marty Adelstein.

Skydance Animation has set a multi-year licensing deal with Spin Master, the children’s entertainment company known for creating popular properties like PAW Patrol.

MTV Entertainment Studios and Paramount want to stay in business with the Emmy-winning Antoine Fuqua and his Hill District Media banner. The executive producer of the Paramount+ drama Mayor of Kingstown has signed overall deal with the studios that will focus on original scripted and unscripted content for TV.

John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentHBO Max’s “Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai” is set for a world premiere at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival on June 13. Produced by Amblin Television in association with Warner Bros. Animation, the highly awaited animated prequel series to the now classic film franchise will see its first episode bow at Annecy’s biggest auditorium, the lakeside Bonlieu’s Grande Salle. The world premiere will be attended by executive producers Tze Chun and Brendan Hay, along with Joe Dante, director of the “Gremlins” films and consulting producer for the series.

Rich Moore, the Oscar-winning filmmaker behind such titles as Zootopia and Wreck-It Ralph, has entered into an exclusive, multi-year overall deal with Skydance Animation, which will see him create, develop and produce original animated features for the studio.

Tony McNamara, creator of Hulu series The Great, is staying in the Disney family.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterABC Signature has signed a two-year overall deal with Tony McNamara, the Oscar- and Emmy-nominated writer who created Hulu’s “The Great” and penned films “The Favourite” and Disney’s “Cruella.”Under the pact, McNamara will develop and supervise projects for the Disney Television Studios-owned division.“Tony’s work on ‘The Great’ and ‘Cruella’ is sly, subversive and delicious, and we made it our mission to get this spectacular talent to our studio,” ABC Signature president Jonnie Davis said in a statement Wednesday. “Thankfully, he said ‘yes.’ We’re so excited to support him in whatever he wants to do next.”McNamara is the creator, showrunner, and executive producer of the Emmy-nominated series “The Great” on Hulu, starring Elle Fanning and Nicholas Hoult, which is based on his stage play.

Hallmark Channel is keeping their favorite stars around for more projects, inking several exclusive deals over the past few weeks.

EXCLUSIVE: Former Grown-ish co-showrunner Jeni Rice-Genzuk Henry has signed an overall deal with BET Studios, the venture launched last year by Paramount and BET to generate premium content from Black creators for Paramount+, Showtime, CBS, Nickelodeon, BET+ and BET, as well as select third-party platforms.

EXCLUSIVE: The Blacklist showrunner John Eisendrath is extending his relationship with Sony Pictures Television, the studio behind the long-running NBC drama. He has signed a new three-year overall deal with Sony TV through 2025.

Little Mix’s Jade Thirlwal has signed a solo deal with Sony’s RCA Records, the label of Bring Me The Horizon, The Kid Laroi and Lil Nas X.Little Mix originally signed to RCA in 2018 after leaving Simon Cowell’s Syco, the label they signed to after winning The X Factor in 2011. According to Musicweek, Thirlwal will be staying with the label as she sets to launch her solo career, with an album apparently in the works.Jade Thirlwall has also signed with Full Stop Management, who look after fellow X Factor survivor Harry Styles.Last month fellow Little Mixer Leigh-Anne Pinnock signed with Warner Records, writing on Instagram that she was “so excited for what’s to come.Delighted to welcome Leigh-Anne Pinnock to the Warner Records family! ❤Sign up to her mailing list to hear about exciting news first!https://t.co/fWVbJLRFw0 pic.twitter.com/d1rNflQCIn— Warner Records UK (@warnerrecordsuk) February 2, 2022The various solo careers follow the news that Little Mix are set to take a break after their upcoming Confetti tour.On Twitter, alongside a behind-the-scenes video of the girls in action, the group shared: “We wanted to let you all know that after the Confetti tour in April/May next year we are going to be taking a break from Little Mix.”“We feel the time is right to take a break so we can recharge and work on some other projects.”They were also quick to affirm they are not splitting up, sharing they have plans for more tours and performances in the future.

EXCLUSIVE: Jaime Camil (Jane the Virgin, Coco) has signed a first look deal with VIS, a division of Paramount, to develop an array of TV and film projects for Paramount+.