Magic Light Pictures

Magic Light Pictures Limited is a 2003 English independent film and television London-based production company. The company was founded by producers Martin Pope and Michael Rose.

Productions

Since 2009, Magic Light Pictures have produced eleven half-hour animated specials based on the best-selling children's story books by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler: The Gruffalo (2009), The Gruffalo's Child (2011), Room on the Broom (2012), Stick Man (2015), The Highway Rat (2017), Zog (2018), The Snail and the Whale (2019), Zog and the Flying Doctors (2020), Superworm (2021), The Smeds and The Smoos (2022), and Tabby McTat (2023). Overall, their productions have won more than forty awards, including two Children's BAFTAs and the Prix Jeunesse, and have been nominated twice for an Academy Award for Best Short Animation. Their most recent production, Tabby McTat, premiered on BBC One on Christmas Day 2023 at 2:35pm. They are currently producing a half-hour television adaptation of Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler's Tiddler, due for broadcast on BBC One over Christmas 2024.

Their other productions include: the Oscar-nominated Revolting Rhymes (2016), a two-part animated adaptation of the Roald Dahl book of the same name; and feature films including the Oscar-nominated Chico & Rita (2010), a Spanish language animated feature; Wild Target (2010), a comedy thriller starring Bill Nighy and Emily Blunt; the English version of Terkel in Trouble, a Danish language animated feature; and Sparkle (2007), a romantic comedy feature starring Shaun Evans and Stockard Channing.

Filmography

Title	Year	Co-produced with	Type
Terkel in Trouble (English UK dub)	2006	A. Film Production	Animated Feature
Sparkle	2007	Isle of Man Film	Romantic Comedy
Glorious 39	2009	BBC Films Quickfire Films Screen East Content Investment Fund Talkback Thames UK Film Council	Thriller
The Gruffalo		Studio SOI	Animated Short
Wild Target	2010	CinemaNX Isle of Man Film Matador Pictures	Black Comedy
Chico and Rita		Fernando Trueba PC Estudio Mariscal	Animated Feature
The Gruffalo's Child	2011	Studio SOI	Animated Short
One Life		IM Global BBC Earth Films	Documentary
Room on the Broom	2012	Studio SOI	Animated Short
Stick Man	2015	Triggerfish Animation Studios
Revolting Rhymes	2016
The Highway Rat	2017
Zog	2018
The Snail and the Whale	2019
Zog and the Flying Doctors	2020
Superworm	2021	Blue Zoo Animation Studio
Pip and Posy			Animated TV Series
The Smeds and The Smoos	2022		Animated Short
The Velveteen Rabbit	2023	Samson Films Red Knuckles Studio	Fantasy
Tabby McTat		Red Star Animation Studio	Animated Short
Tiddler (in production)	2024

Awards and nominations

Production	Ceremony	Category	Recipient	Result
The Snail and the Whale	British Academy Children's Awards	Best Director	Magic Light Pictures	Template:Success
		Best Animation	Magic Light Pictures	Template:Success
The Highway Rat	46th Annie Awards	Best Animated Special Production	Magic Light Pictures	Template:Failure
	Rose d'Or	Children and Youth	Magic Light Pictures	Template:Success
Revolting Rhymes	90th Academy Awards	Best Animated Short Film	Jakob Schuh Jan Lachauer	Template:Failure
	British Academy Children's Awards	Best Animation	Jakob Schuh Jan Lachauer Martin Pope Michael Rose	Template:Success
	6th International Emmy Kids Awards	Kids: Animation	Michael Rose Martin Pope Magic Light Pictures	Template:Success
Stick Man	British Academy Children's Awards	Best Animation	Production Team	Template:Failure
	British Animation Awards	Best Use of Sound	Adrian Rhodes Magic Light Pictures	Template:Success
		Best Voice Performance	Martin Freeman Magic Light Pictures	Template:Success
		Best Long Form	Jeroen Jaspaert Daniel Snaddon Magic Light Pictures	Template:Failure
Room on the Broom	86th Academy Awards	Best Animated Short Film	Max Lang Jan Lachauer	Template:Failure
	British Academy Children's Awards	Best Animation	Max Lang Jan Lachauer Magic Light Pictures	Template:Success
	International Emmy Kids Awards	Kids: Animation	Max Lang Jan Lachauer Magic Light Pictures	Template:Success
The Gruffalo's Child	British Animation Awards	Best Long Form	Johannes Weiland Uwe Heidschötter	Template:Success
	British Academy Children's Awards	Best Animation	Johannes Weiland Uwe Heidschötter Magic Light Pictures	Template:Failure
Chico and Rita	84th Academy Awards	Best Animated Feature	Fernando Trueba Javier Mariscal	Template:Failure
The Gruffalo	83rd Academy Awards	Best Animated Short Film	Jakob Schuh Max Lang	Template:Failure
	62nd British Academy Film Awards	Best Short Animation	Michael Rose Martin Pope Jakob Schuh Max Lang	Template:Failure
	Prix Jeunesse International	Prix Jeunesse 7-11 Fiction	Magic Light Pictures	Template:Success
		Prize of the Children's Jury 7-11 Fiction	Magic Light Pictures	Template:Success

Licensing

Magic Light Pictures runs a licensing programme and carries ranges in Sainsbury's, Debenhams, John Lewis, Waterstones, and M&S, among others. Launched in 2009, the programme has markets in Germany, Australia, Scandinavia, New Zealand and the USA. Products available in The Gruffalo brand include plush, stationery, homewares, games, toys and apparel.

Magic Light has won five Licensing Awards for their branded apparel, furniture and Forestry Commission trails.

Brand partnerships

Magic Light Pictures has several award-winning brand partnerships with organisations including Chessington World of Adventures Resort, Forestry Commission England and Arla milk.

The Chessington World of Adventures Resort currently hosts the Gruffalo River Ride Adventure, themed hotel rooms, an arena dedicated to the films and characters, and a food outlet. In March 2019 Chessington launched a Room on the Broom attraction with specifically themed hotel rooms.

Since the year 2014, The Forestry Commission has worked with Magic Light on providing free, self-lead trails based on the Gruffalo brand family on over 20 sites around the UK, as well as offering Gruffalo orienteering, Gruffalo sculptures in several forests, and an augmented reality app, The Gruffalo Spotter.

2019 marked the 20th anniversary of Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler's Gruffalo book and 10 years since the premiere of the animated special on BBC One. As part of the celebration, Magic Light partnered with the Royal Mint to release a set of commemorative silver and gold fifty pence collectors' coins, and with the Royal Mail to release a set of bespoke Gruffalo stamps.

Apps

Since 2013, Magic Light Pictures has developed a range of mini-game and augmented reality apps based around the Gruffalo brand family. Room on the Broom: Games and Gruffalo: Games were both nominated for a Children's BAFTA in the Interactive Adapted category in 2014 and 2015 respectively.

The Gruffalo Spotter app, launched in early 2017, is an augmented reality app that works alongside the Forestry Commission trails, where users can follow a set of clues and signs to locate animated characters from the book and take photos with them. The app was nominated at the 2017 BAFTA awards in the Interactive category.

External links

• IMDB Magic Light Pictures
• Magic Light Pictures