Animation
Jim Henson Co puppets its way into European distribution deal
MUMBAI; The Jim Henson Co, currently celebrating seven decades of making children talk to felt, has appointed DeAPlaneta Entertainment to handle European distribution and licensing for several of its beloved children’s programmes.
The agreement, signed as the puppet powerhouse marks its 70th birthday, covers distribution rights for award-winning shows including Dinosaur Train, Pajanimals, and Dot. Perhaps most notably, the deal includes the 1980s classic Fraggle Rock – proof that even after 40 years, audiences still can’t resist small creatures who live in caves and sing about radishes.
DeAPlaneta Kids & Family content and media sales director Carlos Biern waxed lyrical about the partnership: “We are firmly committed to celebrating children’s content that encourages viewing as a shared experience. There is no better example than the output of The Jim Henson Co,” he said, presumably without having his hand operated from below.
The Jim Henson Co chief operating officer & president Chris Lytton added: “Parents around the world know that our productions will be innovative, educational, and of course entertaining,” neglecting to mention how many of those parents still feel emotionally scarred by the Skeksis from The Dark Crystal.
DeAPlaneta Entertainment, a joint venture between Grupo Planeta and DeAgostini, has previously distributed acclaimed films including The Pianist, The King’s Speech, and 12 Years a Slave – all of which would have been markedly different had they featured Muppets.
The Jim Henson Co’s recent productions include the Oscar-winning Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio for Netflix and Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock for Apple TV+.
The company continues to operate from Los Angeles, New York and London, quietly refusing to acknowledge that most children today would rather watch a teenager unbox toys on YouTube than engage with a talking sock.
MUMBAI: History is getting a fresh rewrite this time with code, creativity and a longer arc in mind. Lens Vault Studios has announced its first original production, Bal Tanhaji, marking the official entry of the newly launched, tech-driven studio into India’s evolving entertainment landscape.
Arriving six years after the box-office success of Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior, the new project expands the universe rather than revisiting familiar ground. Bal Tanhaji explores uncharted narrative territory, signalling a clear shift from one-off cinematic spectacles to long-format, world-building storytelling designed for digital-first audiences.
At the heart of this ambition is Prismix Studios, the in-house generative AI and technology arm powering the creative engine behind the show. The studio’s approach blends storytelling with next-generation tools, aiming to reimagine how Indian IPs are created, scaled and sustained beyond theatrical releases.
For Lens Vault Studios chairman Ajay Devgn the new venture represents a deliberate step beyond traditional cinema. The focus is firmly on building long-form intellectual properties across fiction and non-fiction, tailored to changing viewing habits and platform-led consumption. He said the studio intends to explore formats that remain largely untapped, while drawing on the team’s experience with large-scale cinematic storytelling.
Lens Vault Studios founder and CEO Danish Devgn echoed that sentiment, describing Bal Tanhaji as the studio’s first generative-AI-led IP and the starting point of a broader vision. The aim, he noted, is to carry forward the legacy of the Tanhaji universe while connecting with younger audiences through a blend of powerful narratives and emerging technologies.
With Bal Tanhaji, Lens Vault Studios is planting its flag early not just launching a show, but signalling a larger play for cinematic universes that live, grow and evolve across platforms. If this debut is any indication, the future of Indian storytelling may be as much about imagination as it is about innovation.
