Kidscreen » Archive » Candle Media restructures and separates live-action and animation

Candle Media, the company backed by Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs and the Blackstone Group, is pursuing a cost-cutting strategy and reorganizing its business by consolidating live-action and animation into two separate units.

All of Candle’s animation projects will be integrated into the kids content powerhouse Moonbug Entertainment – ​​a strong player in the Los Angeles-based company’s portfolio, powered by popular IPs such as CoCoMelon and Blippi. According to SemaforAccording to , which announced the news of the restructuring, Moonbug accounted for “the vast majority” of Candle’s profits last year.

And all live-action content companies – including Reese Witherspoon’s “Hello Sunshine” and Exile Content Studio– is a new company called Candle Studios, led by Hello Sunshine boss Sarah Harden as CEO. The company is structured to share production facilities and business/legal matters, and there will also be a coordinated sales and distribution process. “This will bring all of our live-action products into one division, with each benefiting from a go-to-market strategy and shared resources while retaining their unique brand identity, audience profiles and day-to-day creative and business leadership,” Mayer and Staggs explained in a joint statement.

Last December, Bloomberg reported that Candle Media was more than $1 billion in debt after failing to meet its profit targets in a market environment marked by a general decline in spending and Hollywood’s double strikes. The price tags for Candle’s recent acquisitions were also notably high – the company bought Hello Sunshine in 2021 for $900 million and They reportedly spent $3 billion on Moonbug later that same year.

In May, Hello Sunshine received the green light for production from Amazon Prime Video Ellea prequel series about the teenage years of Naturally blonds title character. And in total, Candle Studios will produce more than 30 premium originals this year.

In the picture: Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs