The Annecy Animation Festival gives animators a stage to showcase their latest projects. There have already been many great reveals this year, but Cartoon Network has made one of the strongest showings by unveiling a series of upcoming spin-offs/revivals of some of the best shows the channel has ever aired.
All of Cartoon Network’s announcements are blasts from the past
Warner Bros. Discovery has been vocal about its plans to pour most of its resources into its pre-existing IPs. While I’m a little frustrated to see yet another company take the safe route and fall back on its established brands rather than try something new, I’d be lying if I told you that I’m not excited by all of the projects the company announced at Annecy.
I grew up watching Cartoon Network and its retro-themed sister channel, Boomerang, with my sister and parents. All of the reboots and spin-offs unveiled during Warner Bros. Discovery’s showcases are continuations of shows that still hold a special place in my heart as an adult. I was even happier to hear that the show’s original creators are in charge of these new projects.
Here are all the new Cartoon Network shows announced at Annecy. Information about these upcoming series is still trickling in, so some of the details I discuss here may change as the shows inch closer to their premieres.
Foster’s Funtime for Imaginary Friends
Foster’s Funtime for Imaginary Friends is a spin-off of Craig McCracken Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends that aims to appeal to pre-schoolers. Bloo, the original series’ feckless protagonist, will be educating a group of young imaginary friends, and as fans of the OG can imagine, chaos and hijinks ensue.
According to Variety, McCracken has promised that Funhouse will be as fast-paced as Home but will drop the cynical humor that crept into the show’s later seasons. As someone who watched the original show become more mean-spirited as it went on, I can’t help but agree with that decision.
Adventure Time: Side Quests
Adventure Time: Side Quest is the latest spin-off of Pendelton Ward’s comedy-fantasy epic Adventure Time. Nate Cash, who joined Adventure Time‘s production team as a creative director before being promoted to supervising director, will oversee Side Quests.
Unlike the more adult-leaning Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake spin-off and the serialized final seasons of Adventure Time, Side Quests sounds like it will return the franchise to its episodic roots, with Finn and Jake embarking on new, self-contained adventures every week. Familiar faces like the Ice King will return, apparently scrubbed of the character development they underwent in the original Adventure Time series.
Unnamed Regular Show Project
J.G. Quintel announced a continuation of the hit surreal comedy Regular Show. Festivalgoers reacted to this announcement with open applause, all of whom seemed happy to learn that Quintel had bounced back after the unexpected cancellation of his last show, Close Enough.
We don’t know much about this new project, but since Quintel himself voices Mordecai, I’m willing to bet that our favorite slackers will show up somehow.
The clip show was a show-stopper
Warner Bros. Animation, Cartoon Network Studio, and Hanna-Barbera Studios Europe also unveiled a clip show comprised of scenes from several in-production animated projects during Annecy. All of these clips were of shows that had already been announced, but they confirmed that the shows are further along the production process, giving us some idea of when they’ll be released.
Here are all of the shows that popped up during the clip show.
- Teen Titans Go
- Gremlins: the Wild Bunch
- Invincible Fight Girl
- Bat-Family
- The Amazing World of Gumball
- Watchman
- Batman: Caped Crusader
- Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim
The greenlight district looked pretty good, too
Other animated projects were unveiled, with the majority again being veteran Cartoon Network IPs continuations. However, a handful were entirely new series, all of which have the potential to become long-running series.
Here are all the new shows that got the green light during Annecy.
- Go Go Mystery Machine
- Adventure Time: Heyo BMO
- Throws a Wobbler
- The Adventure Time Movie
- Bad Karma
- Lovey Dovey
Looking at this slate, I’m excited about Cartoon Network’s future. If these shows do well, Warner Bro. Discovery may be willing to give new, more experimental shows the go-ahead.
