HOLLYWOOD, Calif. and MONTREAL, Aug. 17, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — The Jim Henson Company, renowned leader in family entertainment, and Felix & Paul Studios, leaders in immersive storytelling, today announced a new project in development: The Storyteller: The Seven Ravens, a groundbreaking augmented reality (AR) experience. The new chapter of Jim Henson’s classic The Storyteller will be an innovative and ground-breaking addition to the acclaimed television series, in the form of an augmented reality (AR), trackable storybook. Award-winning author Neil Gaiman (Anansi Boys, The Graveyard Book) will voice the role of the narrator. The experience will be demoed in the Siggraph Talks track at the Siggraph virtual conference starting August 17, 2020, with a live Q&A the week of August 24, 2020 to discuss the project’s tracking module.
The Storyteller: The Seven Ravens is an extension of The Jim Henson Company’s popular franchise, that re-envisions folk stories, legends, and fables from around the world. In The Seven Ravens, a young girl sets out on an adventure to save her seven brothers from a curse that turned them into ravens. The AR book experience will allow people to interact with, explore, and re-explore the detailed and robust world of The Storyteller through the lens of The Seven Ravens tale.
Jim Henson’s The Storyteller: The Seven Ravens is produced by The Jim Henson Company and Felix & Paul Studios with support from the Canadian Media Fund, Magic Leap Independent Creators Program, Epic MegaGrants and SODEC Quebec. Stéphane Rituit executive produced as well as Lisa Henson and Blanca Lista of The Jim Henson Company.
“Partnering with Felix & Paul Studios on this innovative project will bring our fans even closer to The Storyteller, immersing them into the classic tale of The Seven Ravens like never before,” said Lisa Henson, CEO of The Jim Henson Company. “‘Through the magic of augmented reality, readers will be both amazed and surprised by how the story comes to life visually and in a truly interactive format. It is also exciting to have Neil Gaiman, the storyteller of our time, lend his voice to this project.”
“The Seven Ravens is the next step in immersive storytelling, truly bringing a storybook to life,” said Paul Raphael, co-founder and creative director of Felix & Paul Studios. “We are lucky to be partnering with The Jim Henson Company and Neil Gaiman on this project and can’t wait to show a sneak preview at this year’s Virtual Siggraph conference.”
ABOUT THE STORYTELLER
Jim Henson created The Storyteller – an anthology series for television – in 1987 based on a treatment his daughter Lisa wrote, inspired by her university studies in folklore and mythology. The Storyteller –went on to enchant audiences around the world. With top-notch talent in front of and behind the camera, including the titular storyteller played by the late John Hurt, and Oscar-winner Anthony Minghella who wrote all the episodes, the Emmy and BAFTA-winning series featured creatures brought to life by Jim Henson’s Creature Shop and re-told European folk tales with a sophisticated and authentic approach. The original series is currently available on Amazon Prime, and popular graphic novels are available from Archaia. A new Storyteller television series from Fremantle and The Jim Henson Company, written by Neil Gaiman, is currently in development. Additionally, a groundbreaking augmented reality (AR) experience, The Storyteller: The Seven Ravens, is in development with Felix & Paul.
ABOUT THE JIM HENSON COMPANY
The Jim Henson Company has remained a leader in family entertainment for over 60 years and is recognized as an innovator in puppetry, animatronics, and digital animation. Best known as creators of the world-famous Muppets, Henson has received over 50 Emmy Awards and nine Grammy Awards. Henson’s most recent television credits include Fraggle Rock: Rock On! for Apple TV+, and the critically acclaimed Netflix Original series The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, along with the Emmy®-nominated productions Dinosaur Train (PBS), Sid the Science Kid (PBS), Splash and Bubbles (PBS), and Julie’s Greenroom (Netflix), as well as Word Party (Netflix), Dot. (Universal Kids /Hulu), and Doozers (Hulu/Universal Kids). Previous productions include Fraggle Rock, The Storyteller, and the sci-fi series Farscape for TV, and the feature films The Star (Sony Pictures Animation), Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day (Disney), as well as The Dark Crystal, Labyrinth, MirrorMask, and Jim Henson’s Turkey Hollow. The Company is currently in production on the upcoming series Earth to Ned for Disney+, Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio for Netflix, and a reboot of Fraggle Rock for Apple TV+.
With additional locations in New York and London, The Jim Henson Company is headquartered in Los Angeles on the historic Charlie Chaplin lot, complete with soundstage and post-production facilities. The Company is home to Jim Henson’s Creature Shop™, a pre-eminent character-building and visual effects group with international film, television, theme park and advertising clients, as well as Henson Recording Studios, one of the music industry’s top recording facilities known for its world-class blend of state-of-the-art and vintage equipment. Credits under the Company’s Henson Alternative brand include The Curious Creations of Christine McConnell (Netflix), the feature film The Happytime Murders starring Melissa McCarthy, and Puppet-Up! – Uncensored, a live puppet improvisational show that continues to tour globally.
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ABOUT FELIX & PAUL STUDIOS
Felix & Paul Studios is an EMMY® Award-winning creator of immersive entertainment experiences, creating unparalleled, highly engaging and inspired 3D, 360-degree virtual reality, augmented reality and mixed reality experiences for audiences worldwide.
Felix & Paul Studios combines a patent-pending technology platform with award-winning creative expertise to produce groundbreaking immersive experiences, including:
- Collaborations with world-renowned leaders and performers: NASA, SpaceX, President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama, LeBron James, President Bill Clinton, Eminem, Wes Anderson, Brie Larson, Jeff Goldblum, Bill Murray and many others.
- Originals: The Space Explorers series, Traveling While Black, MIYUBI, the Nomads series, Strangers with Patrick Watson and The Confessional series; and
- Productions with existing franchises: Jurassic World, Cirque du Soleil and Fox Searchlight’s Wild and Isle of Dogs.
With its forthcoming season of Space Explorers: The ISS Experience, Felix & Paul Studios is the only media company recognized as an “Official Implementation Partner” by the ISS National Laboratory. The studio’s content is available for distribution in a range of formats including virtual reality (VR), 360-degree mobile, 360-degree dome projection, traveling VR exhibitions and 16:9 video viewing and a groundbreaking augmented reality (AR) experience is also in production.
ABOUT NEIL GAIMAN
Neil Gaiman is the New York Times bestselling author and creator of books, graphic novels, short stories, film and television for all ages, including Norse Mythology, Neverwhere, Coraline, The Graveyard Book, The Ocean at the End of the Lane, The View from the Cheap Seats, and the Sandman comic series. He is also the narrator of the #1 New York Times bestselling Sandman audio series. His fiction has received Newbery, Carnegie, Hugo, Nebula, World Fantasy, and Will Eisner Awards. American Gods, based on the 2001 novel, is now a critically acclaimed, Emmy-nominated TV series, and he was the writer and showrunner for the mini-series adaptation of Good Omens, based on the book he co-authored with Sir Terry Pratchett. In 2017, he became a Goodwill Ambassador for UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency.
SOURCE The Jim Henson Company