LOS ANGELES â€" Continuing a campaign to deepen its appeal with children, Netflix on Tuesday morning announced a partnership with DreamWorks Animation to create an original cartoon series.
The show, expected to make its debut on the streaming service in December, will be based on DreamWorks Animation’s coming movie “Turbo,†about a snail who gains the power of super speed. The Netflix spinoff will be called “Turbo: F.A.S.T.,†which stands for Fast Action Stunt Team.
Netflix is gambling that “Turbo†will be a hit when it arrives in theaters on July 19. Although DreamWorks Animation has high hopes for that movie, it’s still anyone’s guess how audiences will respond; the company’s last film, “Rise of the Guardians,†was a severe box office disappointment.
Ted Sarandos, Netflix’s chief content officer, said in a statement that DreamWorks Animation has “a long track record of creating incredibly successful characters.†DreamWorks Animation’s chief executive,Jeffrey Katzenberg, never shy about making a hard sell, called the partnership “part of the television revolution.â€
The “Turbo†project comes as a rival streaming service, Amazon’s Prime Instant Video, races to prepare its own original series; Amazon has five children’s shows in development, for instance.
Netflix, which recently introduced the original series “House of Cards†to strong reviews from critics, has been working over the past several years to enhance its offerings for children. In 2011, it acquired the streaming rights to DreamWorks Animation’s movies and television specials. New films from Disney, Pixar and Marvel will move from Starz to Netflix in late 2016, following a deal the streaming company made with the Walt Disney Company in December.
Netflix said its members streamed more than 2 billion hours of children’s content in 2012, taking care to note that it is “always commercial free.â€
