This fall, when you download Angry Birds, you might not be grabbing a game – it could be a cartoon show.
Developer Rovio Mobile says it plans to bring an Angry Birds cartoon show to “all possible platforms,” according to a story from Fierce Mobile Content. The cartoon will come in 52 bite-size episodes of about three minutes each, due sometime in Q3 2012. Rovio’s head of animation, Nick Dorra, said at a conference in Cannes, France, that the developer is looking to build a video app specifically to distribute the Angry Birds shorts.
“We want to be on all screens,” Dorra said during the conference, although as FMC points out, it’s not really clear how the developer intends to make money off the Angry Birds cartoons just yet. Still, if they’re as ubiquitous as the series’ game offerings, it shouldn’t be too difficult for Rovio to find a way to make money off them. Obviously the developer means to bring to bear a mobile app so fans can watch the cartoons, but what else it has in mind isn’t quite clear yet, given that there are plenty of screens that don’t use apps.
At the same time, there’s new rumblings on an Angry Birds feature film. It’s coming, just… later. Dorra confirmed that the Angry Birds animated feature was in the works, but from the sounds of things, it’s a long way from being anywhere near completion. In fact, Dorra said fans shouldn’t expect the movie for at least two years.
That seems like a long time, given that Angry Birds has only been around since 2009. Then again, the franchise isn’t showing any kinds of signs of slowing down. Rovio said last week it had already logged some 10 million downloads for the newly released Angry Birds Space in just under three days after its release, and in total the franchise is closing in on 1 billion cumulative downloads. That’s a whole lot of people playing Angry Birds, and presumably, it’s a whole lot of people who’d like to watch Angry Birds, too.
Rovio also says it has other plans for this year – including non-Angry Birds plans. “We are going to release completely new IP this year,” Dorra said. “But we are also working on bringing new projects in the Angry Birds universe that have nothing to do with the gameplay we have seen before.”
Wonder what they could be planning.
