News

Netflix unveiled a new trailer for “The Great British Baking Show: Holidays” Season 4, which will premiere Dec. 3.

The trailer features the returning bakers tackling the various holiday baking challenges presented before them. “The showstopper challenge, they’ve got to make a festive feast illusion cake,” says judge Paul Hollywood. The trailer showcases clips of cakes fashioned to look like turkey, bread and more.

Hollywood, Prue Leith, Matt Lucas and Tom Allen return to the tent this holiday season. Letty Kavanagh, Richard McKerrow and Kieran Smith executive produce, and Love Productions produces. Watch the trailer below.

Also in today’s TV news roundup:

Dates

HBO Max announced the unscripted competition series “Finding Magic Mike” will debut all seven episodes on Dec. 16. The series follows 10 guys who have “lost their magic” and are put through a “Magic Mike Live” bootcamp as they learn to perform sexy and daring dance routine. Only one...

Jerusalem Film and Television Fund’s animation event The Hop, Skip & A Jump is aiming to grow the city’s fledgling animation scene.

The first edition of a new event aimed at Jerusalem’s nascent animation industry – called The Hop, Skip & A Jump – kicks off on the fringes of Jerusalem Film Festival on July 13. The three-day meeting, comprising mentoring sessions, master-classes and the pitching of 14 new Israeli animation projects, has been put together by Jerusalem Film and Television Fund director Yoram Honig, who says it is the third stage in his fund’s campaign to build an animation industry in Jerusalem.

The first stage was direct investment in Israeli animation features Including Albert Hanan Kaminksi’s Being Solomon [pictured] and Gidi Dar’s Legend Of Destruction which are currently in production (Being Solomon was also part of this year’s Pitch Point event). The second stage was the introduction of a 30% rebate for every dollar spent in Jerusalem...

Disney Junior is in production on its first original TV movie, a toon about a rubber ducky with a broken squeaker who’s trying to find a good home. Christian Borle, Megan Hilty and Tom Cavanaugh lead the voice cast for Lucky Duck, which is set to premiere in summer 2014 in the U.S. then go to Disney Junior channels around the world. Directed by Don Kim and written by Michael G. Stern, the pic follows Lucky (Borle), who fails an inspection at the toy factory but fortunately ends up in a shipping crate with approved toys. After accidentally being tossed off a cargo ship, the ducky teams with tub toys including a sassy hippo (Hilty) and apprehensive turtle (Cavanaugh) for an adventure. Irene Weibel and Colin Bohm are exec producing Lucky Duck, which is produced by Nelvana in association with Disney Junior.

The Berenstain Bears are heading to the big screen.

Walden Media has picked up the movie rights to the classic children's book series with Shawn Levy and his 21 Laps banner on board to produce.

Nelvana, the animated division of Canada's Corus Entertainment, which has been producing the cartoon series airing on PBS, is also producing.

The aim is to make a family comedy that will mix live action with CG characters.

Created by Stan and Jan Berenstain in 1962, "Bears" follows a family of bears living in a place called Bear Country, with the books' goal of helping kids deal with life issues ranging from bullying to a mother's pregnancy.

There have been 250 titles to date with 260 million books sold.

There have been several NBC specials in the late 1970s and early 1980s as well as two animated series.

Billy Rosenberg will oversee the project for 21 Laps and Walden's Evan Turner...

TORONTO -- As MIPTV gets under way, Canadian broadcaster Corus Entertainment on Monday said it has hired two veteran consultants to secure international co-production partners in Europe and Asia for its Nelvana Studios cartoon division.

Toronto-based Corus recruited former Telemagination managing director Marion Edwards, based in London, to comb Europe for production partners, while Singapore-based Derek Reeves will do the same in the Asia-Pacific market.

"These two regions (Europe and Asia) are our main focus, and we need someone on the ground to ensure we're scouting for new content, and working with producers in the region to ensure a true presence," Corus Kids vp international Irene Weibel said.

Both consultants will work for Nelvana on a non-exclusive basis. A veteran animation producer, Marion Edwards operates her own company, Red & Blue Prods. Before that, she was managing director of Telemagination, the 2-D animation studio.

Edwards will first manage for Nelvana the Canada/France co-production "Willa's Wildlife", comprising 52 11-minute episodes based on "Oswald" creator Dan Yaccarino's book "An Octopus Followed Me Home".

Derek Reeves, who co-founded Limelight Studios in New Zealand, will oversee "The Future Is Wild", a 3-D CG-animation Canada/Singapore co-production based on the Animal Planet special of the same name.