Here are the details:
Bento Box Entertainment, the Fox Entertainment-owned animation studio behind Bob’s Burgers, is strengthening its ties with Australian production company Princess Pictures. The two have joined forces to launch Princess Bento Studio, a new animation studio based in Melbourne, Australia.
- Princess Bento will produce content for platforms around the world. It will be overseen by Bento Box and Princess Pictures management; a dedicated management team will be announced later.
- The venture is backed by the Victorian Screen Incentive, a new initiative from the state of Victoria (where Melbourne is located). Animation productions that spend at least AUD$1 million (USD$775,000) in the territory can apply for a simple grant.
- The new studio builds on a development deal struck between Bento Box and Princess Pictures last April. Under that deal, the two companies agreed to partner to develop animated shows from Australian creators and produce them entirely in Australia.
- As well as Bob’s Burgers and The Great North for Fox, Bento Box also produces works for other networks and streamers, including Lazor Wulf (Adult Swim), Paradise PD (Netflix), Brickleberry (Comedy Central), The Awesomes (Hulu), and Central Park (Apple TV+). It has studios in L.A. and Atlanta.
- Bento Box was one of the largest independent animation studios in the U.S. before it was acquired in 2019 by Fox Entertainment. The acquisition of Bento Box marked part of Fox’s strategy to build in-house production capabilities.
- Princess produces works across tv and film. Its library is broadly live action, although it has produced one animated pilot, Koala Man, which was created by Michael Cusack and animated by Monkeystack. Cusack was among the creators set to have content developed as part of the two companies’ development deal.
