Ankama, the independent French media group, today announced that its productions continue to expanded beyond France through a major agreement with Netflix, the world’s leading Internet TV network
The agreement brings Ankama’s hit animated series “WAKFU” to the global audience of over 50 million Netflix members. Created entirely within Ankama’s animation studio in Northern France, WAKFU is an epic fantasy-adventure series that’s already enthralled the French public. The series will be available everywhere Netflix is available by end of this year.
“This partnership represents very high visibility and a strong growth opportunity for Ankama,” said Olivier Comte, Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer at Ankama. “We are very excited to be working with Netflix. We can now take a great French series across the globe, with just one agreement. It is incredibly motivating for our young and growing team of about 500 employees.”
“Animation has a very strong history in France and French animators are among the best and most innovative in the world,” said Netflix Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos. “We are thrilled to be working with Ankama to bring its engaging title to millions of Netflix members and expect to further strengthen our relationship with Ankama and other French animation studios.”
Netflix members in more than 40 countries can watch a broad variety of TV series and movies, including many titles for kids. The company has a history of bringing large audiences to titles from many parts of the world.
The WAKFU series plays by its own rules: Total freedom of tone and impeccable quality! The two season of the series have been acclaimed by critics and audiences. The series has won numerous awards including International Studio of the Year at the 2010 Cartoons on the Bay awards in Italy. In addition, season two was named best non-Japanese animated series of 2011 by the readers of French magazine Animeland.
The series launches on Netflix in the US, Canada, UK, Ireland, Netherlands and Nordics on Sept. 14. WAKFU will also be available on Netflix in France, Germany, Belgium and Luxemburg when the service starts in those countries and across Latin America this fall.