Academy Award-nominated French animation studio Xilam Animation’s new CG animated slapstick comedy series Karate Sheep is making its worldwide premiere on Netflix March 2nd, marking the launch of Netflix’s first animated commission that is supported by the French public funding body CNC.
Xilam has developed an extensive digital and social media campaign to build awareness for the Netflix launch. As part of the activity, Xilam has created a Karate Sheep YouTube channel, which features episodes, compilations and shorts and has achieved nearly 500k views since launching in January. Alongside this, a dedicated TikTok account has generated 3M views and a branded Karate Sheep filter is now available for use on the platform. On TikTok, over 25% of the Karate Sheep audience is from the U.S. market. Xilam is also developing a Karate Sheep gaming app for launch later this year.
Created by Xilam Animation’s Hugo Gittard (Zig & Sharko, Mr Magoo) Karate Sheep (formerly Trico) targets kids aged 6-9 years and follows Trico – an enthusiastic sheep who loves to share new objects and ideas with the rest of the flock. This causes ruckus in the mountain pastures, which inevitably ends up at Wanda’s expense, a tough ewe whose job is to keep the sheep safe. No small feat, especially when Wolf is always lurking, waiting to make the most of this newfound chaos. The series premiered on Super RTL in late 2022.
Marc du Pontavice, Founder and CEO at Xilam Animation, said: “Slapstick comedies are a core part of our company’s legacy and DNA, so we’re excited to be collaborating with Netflix to bring another series in this genre to international audiences. Karate Sheep is a unique blend of themes – there’s friendship, teamwork and accepting the differences of others, but there’s also martial arts, plenty of humor and a celebration of nature in the mix too. The response and engagement for our Karate Sheep digital campaign has been really positive, so we can’t wait to now see the response from families around the world.”
Xilam holds second-window global linear TV distribution and merchandising rights for Karate Sheep.