Magic Light Pictures

Magic Light Pictures (founded in 2003 by producers Martin Pope and Michael Rose) is a London-based independent production company, which produces films and manages the children's brand The Gruffalo.[1]

Magic Light Pictures

Type	Film Production Company Brand Licensing
Founded	2003
Founders	Martin Pope Michael Rose
Headquarters	London
Website	www.magiclightpictures.com

Productions

Since 2009, Magic Light Pictures have produced eight half-hour animated specials based on the best-selling children's story books by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler: The Gruffalo (2009), The Gruffalo's Child (2011), Room on the Broom (2012), Stick Man (2015), The Highway Rat (2017), Zog (2018), The Snail and the Whale (2019) and Zog and the Flying Doctors (2020). Their films have won over 40 awards between them, including two Children's BAFTAs[2] and the Prix Jeunesse,[3][4] and have twice been nominated for an Academy Award for Best Short Animation.[5][6]

Their most recent production, Zog and the Flying Doctors, premiered on BBC One on Christmas Day 2020 at 2:35pm and was watched by more than 9.4 million viewers. They are currently producing an adaptation of Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler's Superworm, due for broadcast on BBC One over Christmas 2021.[7]

Their other productions include: the Oscar-nominated[8] Revolting Rhymes (2016), a two-part animated adaptation of the Roald Dahl book of the same name; and feature films including the Oscar-nominated[9] Chico & Rita (2010), a Spanish language animated feature; Wild Target (2010), a comedy thriller starring Bill Nighy and Emily Blunt; and Sparkle (2007), a romantic comedy feature starring Shaun Evans and Stockard Channing.

Filmography

Title	Year	Type
Sparkle	2007	Romantic Comedy
Glorious 39	2009	Thriller
The Gruffalo		Animated Short
Wild Target	2010	Black Comedy
Chico and Rita		Animated Feature
The Gruffalo's Child	2011	Animated Short
One Life		Documentary
Room on the Broom	2012	Animated Short
Stick Man	2015
Revolting Rhymes	2016
The Highway Rat	2017
Zog	2018
The Snail and the Whale	2019
Zog and the Flying Doctors	2020
Superworm (in development)	2021
Pip and Posy (in production)		Animated TV Series

Awards and Nominations

Production	Ceremony	Category	Recipient	Result
The Highway Rat	46th Annie Awards[10]	Best Animated Special Production	Magic Light Pictures	Nominated
	Rose d'Or[11]	Children and Youth	Magic Light Pictures	Won
Revolting Rhymes	90th Academy Awards[12]	Best Animated Short Film	Jakob Schuh Jan Lachauer	Nominated
	70th British Academy Film Awards[13]	Best Animation	Jakob Schuh Jan Lachauer Martin Pope Michael Rose	Won
	6th International Emmy Kids Awards[14]	Kids: Animation	Michael Rose Martin Pope Magic Light Pictures	Won
Stick Man	69th British Academy Film Awards[15]	Best Animation	Production Team	Nominated
	British Animation Awards[16]	Best Use of Sound	Adrian Rhodes Magic Light Pictures	Won
		Best Voice Performance	Martin Freeman Magic Light Pictures	Won
		Best Long Form	Jeroen Jaspaert Daniel Snaddon Magic Light Pictures	Nominated
Room on the Broom	86th Academy Awards[17]	Best Animated Short Film	Max Lang Jan Lachauer	Nominated
	British Academy Film Awards	Best Animation	Max Lang Jan Lachauer Magic Light Pictures	Won
	International Emmy Kids Awards	Kids: Animation	Max Lang Jan Lachauer Magic Light Pictures	Won
The Gruffalo's Child	British Animation Awards[18]	Best Long Form	Johannes Weiland Uwe Heidschötter	Won
	British Academy Film Awards	Best Animation	Johannes Weiland Uwe Heidschötter Magic Light Pictures	Nominated
Chico and Rita	84th Academy Awards[19]	Best Animated Feature Film of the Year	Fernando Trueba Javier Mariscal	Nominated
The Gruffalo	83rd Academy Awards[20]	Best Animated Short Film	Jakob Schuh Max Lang	Nominated
	62nd British Academy Film Awards[21]	Best Short Animation	Michael Rose Martin Pope Jakob Schuh Max Lang	Nominated
	Prix Jeunesse International[22]	Prix Jeunesse 7-11 Fiction	Magic Light Pictures	Won
		Prize of the Children's Jury 7-11 Fiction	Magic Light Pictures	Won

Licensing

Magic Light Pictures runs a licensing programme and carries ranges in Sainsbury's, Debenhams, John Lewis, Waterstones, and M&S, among others.[23] Launched in 2009, the licensing programme has markets in Germany, Australia, Scandinavia, Australia, New Zealand and the USA. Products available in The Gruffalo brand include plush, stationery, homewares, games, toys and apparel.[24]

Magic Light has won five Licensing Awards[25][26][27] for their branded apparel, furniture and Forestry Commission trails.

Their Brand Partnerships

Magic Light Pictures has several award-winning brand partnerships with organisations including Chessington World of Adventures Resort,[28] Forestry Commission England[29] and Arla milk,[30] among others.

Chessington World of Adventures Resort currently hosts the Gruffalo River Ride Adventure (a dark ride), themed hotel rooms, an arena dedicated to the films and characters, and a food outlet. In March 2019 Chessington launched a Room on the Broom attraction with specifically themed hotel rooms.[31]

Since the year 2014, The Forestry Commission has worked with Magic Light on providing free, self-lead trails based on the Gruffalo brand family on over 20 sites around the UK, as well as offering Gruffalo orienteering, Gruffalo sculptures in several forests, and an augmented reality app, The Gruffalo Spotter.[32]

2019 marked the 20th anniversary of Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler's Gruffalo book and 10 years since the premiere of the animated special on BBC One. As part of the celebration, Magic Light partnered with the Royal Mint to release a set of commemorative silver and gold fifty pence collectors' coins, and with the Royal Mail to release a set of bespoke Gruffalo stamps.[33]

Apps

Since 2013, Magic Light Pictures has developed a range of mini-game and augmented reality apps based around the Gruffalo brand family.[34] Room on the Broom: Games and Gruffalo: Games were both nominated for a Children's BAFTA in the Interactive Adapted category in 2014 and 2015 respectively.[35][36]

The Gruffalo Spotter app, launched in early 2017, is an augmented reality app that works alongside the Forestry Commission trails, where users can follow a set of clues and signs to locate animated characters from the book and take photos with them. The app was nominated at the 2017 BAFTA awards in the Interactive category.[37]

References

1. "Magic Light Pictures". Screen Daily. Retrieved 2 February 2012.
2. "Children's in 2013 BAFTA Awards". awards.bafta.org. Retrieved 14 April 2016.
3. "2010". prixjeunesse.de. Retrieved 14 April 2016.
4. "'The Gruffalo' Wins Special Prix Jeunesse International Award". Animation World Network. Retrieved 14 April 2016.
5. "The 83rd Academy Awards 2011". Oscars.org Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 14 April 2016.
6. "The 86th Academy Awards 2014". Oscars.org Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 14 April 2016.
7. "BBC - BBC One and Magic Light announce The Snail and the Whale for Christmas 2019 - Media Centre". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 13 February 2019.
8. "Revolting Rhymes heads to the Oscars". 3 March 2018. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
9. "The 84th Academy Awards | 2012". Oscars.org | Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
10. "46th Annual Annie Awards". annieawards.org. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
11. "News". www.rosedor.com. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
12. "2018". Oscars.org | Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
13. "Children's Awards Winners 2017". www.bafta.org. 18 October 2017. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
14. "'Revolting Rhymes' Wins International Emmy for Best Kids' Animation". Animation World Network. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
15. "2016 Children's Animation | BAFTA Awards". awards.bafta.org. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
16. "British Animation Awards (2016)". IMDb. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
17. "The 86th Academy Awards | 2014". Oscars.org | Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
18. Zahed, Ramin (19 March 2012). "'Gumball,' 'Gruffalos' Child' Win British Animation Awards". Animation Magazine. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
19. "The 84th Academy Awards | 2012". Oscars.org | Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
20. "The 83rd Academy Awards | 2011". Oscars.org | Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
21. "2010 Film Short Animation | BAFTA Awards". awards.bafta.org. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
22. "2010". www.prixjeunesse.de. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
23. Langsworthy, Billy. "Magic Light Pictures on 15 years of The Gruffalo". Licensing.biz. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
24. "Official Gruffalo Shop". Gruffalo. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
25. "2011 Winners | The Licensing Awards". www.thelicensingawards.co.uk. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
26. "2013 Winners | The Licensing Awards". www.thelicensingawards.co.uk. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
27. Burke, Jade. "Licensing.biz People Awards 2017: Winners revealed". Licensing.biz. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
28. "The Gruffalo at Chessington World of Adventures Resort in 2017". Chessington World of Adventures Resort. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
29. "Gruffalo". Forestry Commission England. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
30. "Arla BIG Milk Gruffalo". www.arlafoods.co.uk. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
31. "Room on the Broom - A Magical Journey - new for 2019 at Chessington World of Adventures Resort". Chessington World of Adventures Resort. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
32. "Forestry Commission". www.forestry.gov.uk. Retrieved 18 February 2019.
33. Andrews, James (14 February 2019). "Gruffalo 50p coin to launch - when it goes sale and how much it will be worth". mirror. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
34. Dredge, Stuart (28 August 2014). "Oh help! Oh no! It's a Gruffalo Games app for children". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 14 April 2016.
35. "2014 Children's Interactive: Adapted | BAFTA Awards". awards.bafta.org. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
36. "2015 Children's Interactive: Adapted | BAFTA Awards". awards.bafta.org. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
37. "2017 Children's Interactive | BAFTA Awards". awards.bafta.org. Retrieved 15 February 2019.

External links

• IMDB Magic Light Pictures
• Magic Light Pictures