Studio 100
Studio 100 N.V. is a Belgian production company that operates television channels, animation studios and theme parks worldwide. The headquarters of the company is in Schelle, along with offices in Breda, Munich, Paris, New York City, Sydney and Los Angeles.
History
Studio 100 was founded in 1996 by Gert Verhulst, Danny Verbiest and Hans Bourlon. The three came together for seven years when they created the show Samson & Gert, in which Verhulst and Verbiest also starred. Samson & Gert started as a duo which announced television shows. Besides the production of their original show they started creating a new series called Kabouter Plop. Following the success of these two shows, the company expanded into new fields in 1999. Studio 100 produced their first movie that year, which was called The Gnome Treasure. Additionally, the company began to create the musical Assepoester, a Dutch spoken version of Cinderella. Studio 100 created their own theme park. For the latter three, they required co-funding from the Vlaamse Media Maatschappij. In 2000, they began to expand their offering when they acquired the girl group K3 from BMG.
In 2005, Danny Verbiest announced his retirement from Samson & Gert, but also as a shareholder of the company. The shares were bought by Verhulst and Bourlon, but in a year later, the shares were sold to BNP Paribas Fortis Private Equity. With the new ownership the company ventured into the international, non-Dutch speaking, market by copying their original shows in other languages and creating new shows like Bumba.
Their international expansion took flight in 2008 when they founded a Belgian digital television channel called Studio 100 TV, and Studio 100 Media, a German division to sell their content to the international market. Over the next years, the company revamped the old classics they acquired and established a new cooking channel, called Njam!, in Belgium in 2010 and BeJunior in the Middle East and North Africa in 2016.
In July 2007, Studio 100 launched their own in-house global international distribution division based in Munich named Studio 100 Media to distribute Studio 100's productions worldwide with Studio 100 hiring general manager Patrick Elmendorff to head Studio 100's in-house global distribution division as their president.
On 26 February 2008, Studio 100's Munich-based German international distribution division Studio 100 Media established a distribution partnership with Munich-based German entertainment production & distribution company EM.Sport Media AG under the latter's entertainment production division EM.Entertainment to distribute their entertainment portfolio including their classics such as Maya the Bee and Vic the Viking on TV, home entertainment and VOD platforms internationally excluding US, Germany, Australia, New Zealand.
In late-May 2008 following Studio 100's successful distribution partnership with EM.Sport Media AG's EM.Entertainment division under Studio 100's German international distribution division Studio 100 Media three months before, Studio 100 announced that they've acquired EM.Sport Media AG's entertainment division EM.Entertainment and its library along with the latter's Australian entertainment & animation production studio Flying Bark Productions and their German television channel JuniorTV (which Studio 100 would eventually close in 2022) for €41 million in order to expand Studio 100's expanded children's library with Studio 100 taking over EM.Entertainment's Australian entertainment and animation production studio as their own in-house animation production studio outside of Belgium along with EM.Entertainment's distribution library including Yoram Gross's animated productions like Blinky Bill which was placed under Studio 100's global distribution division Studio 100 Media alongside EM.Entertainment's classic catalogue such as Maya the Bee and Vic the Viking and the library of Japanese animation studio Zuiyo bringing the two classic characters together under Studio 100 with the new owner launching new adaptations of the two classic shows.
One year later on 12 February 2009 following Studio 100's acquisition of EM.Sport Media AG's entertainment production division EM. Entertainment and its Australian animation production studio Flying Bark Productions, Studio 100 announced that they've launched their in-house animation studio based in Paris, France named Studio 100 Animation to produce new and revamped adaptations of their existing catalogue including the classics that Studio 100 had acquired one year before such as the classics of both Maya the Bee and Vic the Viking alongside producing their original programmes with Jo Harris heading Studio 100's new in-house animation division. Five months later in late-July of that same year, Studio 100 announced that their global distribution division Studio 100 Media had acquired the entire rights to the Maya the Bee from the German public foundation Waldemar Bonsels Foundation.
In July 2012, Studio 100 announced that their head of global business development Jo Daris had exited the Belgian family entertainment company in order for him to launch a new career in real estate development in Asia with Studio 100's co-founder and CEO Hans Bourlon taking over as their new head of global business development.
In May 2013, Studio 100 through it's German international distribution division Studio 100 Media announced the expansion of it's parent company's activities into the movie business worldwide with the launch of their new film division dedicated to produce & distribute Studio 100's films in-house along with third-party movies named Studio 100 Film with its first production based on its famous characters Maya the Bee: The Movie following the success of Studio 100's animation division's adaptation of the TV series of the same name with the new division securing international distribution for their first movie.
On 4 February 2014, Studio 100 announced the launching of their new digital entertainment division dedicated to Studio 100's reach to release it's programmes on digital platforms and named former BBC Worldwide head of digital entertainment executive Tom Reding to head Studio 100's new digital division as their head of digital entertainment.
In late-January 2017, Studio 100 announced that its global distribution division Studio 100 Media had made a deal to acquire a 68% majority stake in German brand management and media production & distribution company Made 4 Entertainment (m4e AG) the producer of Mia and Me and the owner of the library of the former distributor TV-Loonland AG including its Dutch distribution subsidiary Telescreen in a deal that could combine Studio 100's expanded catalogue with Made 4 Entertainment (m4e)'s wider library which would make the former as the biggest kids & family entertainment content companies across Europe with Made 4 Entertainment (m4e) would continue to invest their new content and its global expansion. A month later in late-February of that same year, Studio 100's global distribution division Studio 100 Media announced that they've completed their acquisition of a 68% majority stake in German brand management and media production & distribution company Made 4 Entertainment (m4e AG) the owner of both the library of the former German distributor TV-Loonland AG and its Dutch distribution subsidiary Telescreen, making it a subsidiary of Studio 100 Media with Made 4 Entertainment (m4e)'s CEO and founder Hans Ulrich Stoef continued to lead the acquired company. Studio 100 Media would eventually increase their stake of Made 4 Entertainment (m4e) and later took full control after selling and spinning off some of m4e's subsidiaries three years later in 2020.
In December 2017, Studio 100 expanded their international operations into the United States with their acquisition of New York-based American preschool animation production studio Little Airplane Productions, thrust giving Studio 100 another animation studio this time in the U.S. as their subsidiary with the latter developing and producing their new projects with Studio 100's own in-house animation production studios such as Studio 100 Animation alongside its Munich-based global distribution division Studio 100 Media distributing them.
In January 2018, Studio 100's global distribution division Studio 100 Media under its German brand subsidiary m4e AG announced that they had taken full control of the live action/animated hybrid series Mia and Me by acquiring the remaining 50% stake in the series from its co-production partner Hahn Film with m4e AG and their parent company Studio 100 planning to expand the franchise.
In late-July 2018, Studio 100 through its Munich-based global production and distribution division Studio 100 Media announced the launch of feature-focused German CGI animation production studio named Studio Isar Animation in order for Studio 100 to expand their film productions completely in-house with the new animation production studio being located at Studio 100's Munich-based headquarters which opened three months later in October of that same year.
The theme-park division, Plopsa, also grew significantly. After taking full control of Plopsaland in 2005, they opened a couple of new theme parks in Hasselt (2005), Dalen (2010) and co-opened a theme park in Torzym (2018). The division also owned theme parks in Stavelot (2005), Haßloch (2010), Antwerp (2019), and created water parks in De Panne (2015) and Hannuit-Landen (2020). With expansions planned in four countries: Belgium, Poland, the Czech Republic, and the Netherlands.
On 7 February 2020, the ownership of the group shifted again when Vic Swerts and 3D Investors acquired 17% and 8% of the shares respectively. After the transaction Gert Verhulst, Hans Bourlon and BNP Paribas Fortis Private Equity had a remaining 25% share each.
In 2020, their animation studio Flying Bark Productions opened a second studio in Los Angeles.
In December 2020, Studio 100 announced their restructing of its international businesses and announced that their New York-based American animation studio Little Airplane Productions's founder and CEO Josh Selig alongside CCO Sharon Gomes had left the acquired American animation studio with the co-CEOs of Studio 100's international division Studio 100 Media which were Martin Krieger and Barbara Stephen taking over as the new CEOs of the New York-based animation studio in order for Studio 100 to launch more streamlined international operations during the COVID-19 impact on Studio 100's businesses.
In October 2023, Studio 100 through its global distribution division Studio 100 Media announced their entry into the Spanish animation business by acquiring a stake in Tenerife, Canary Islands-based Spanish animation studio 3 Doubles Producciones as their Spanish animation production studio with Studio 100 Media co-producing and distributing its films and animated series internationally.
In March 2024, Studio 100 announced that they've rebranded their Munich-based global production & international distribution division Studio 100 Media as they renamed it under the new name "Studio 100 International" including their redesigned logo and reflecting their expanded role for the entire Studio 100 group with the parent group launching their redesigned logo for its parent alongside their own divisions. The name "Studio 100 International" was previously used by their Benelux division before being renamed to Studio 100 Benelux with the rebranded division announcing a first-look production and distribution partnership with French animation studio Gaumont Animation to co-produce animated shows and feature films with Studio 100.
In September 2024, Studio 100's international distribution division Studio 100 International announced that they're remastering their library of their classic 1970s animated productions into full HD and bringing it into 16:9 widescreen and full HD formats for the first time using AI upscaling process as part of Studio 100's bigger promotional campaign to celebrate its properties multi-generational appeal.
Divisions
Studio 100 Film
Studio 100 Film is Studio 100 International's feature film production & distribution division that is dedicated to feature films.
It was launched in May 2013, when Studio 100 through it's German international distribution division Studio 100 International (which was named Studio 100 Media until 2024) announced the expansion of it's parent company's activities into the movie business worldwide with the launch of their new film division dedicated to produce & distribute Studio 100's own films in-house along with third-party movies named Studio 100 Film with its first production based on its famous characters Maya the Bee: The Movie following the success of Studio 100's animation division's adaptation of the TV series of the same name with the new division securing international distribution for their first movie.
Filmography
Studio Isar Animation
Studio Isar Animation is a Munich-based German feature film production company that is a subsidiary of Studio 100's international distribution division Studio 100 International
In late-July 2018, Studio 100 through its Munich-based global production and distribution division Studio 100 International (which was named Studio 100 Media until 2024) announced the launch of feature-focused German CGI animation studio named Studio Isar Animation in order for Studio 100 to expand their film productions completely in-house with the new animation production studio being located at Studio 100's Munich-based headquarters which opened three months later in October of that same year.