An old, familiar ghost has got a new lease on life thanks to the folks at Moonscoop, Classic Media and India’s DQ Ent. First created by Seymour Reit and Joe Oriolo in 1945, Casper the Friendly Ghost will be the star of a new 52 X 11-minute series, which is set to commence production in February 2007.
‘Casper is such a popular and much-loved character and we are very much looking forward to working with Classic Media and DQ Ent. on the show,’ says Nicolas Atlan, exec VP of production and I.P. Management at the Moonscoop group. ‘My generation has also grown up with Casper stories and Casper movies. The character is one of the best recognized and loved characters in this part of the world too,’ adds DQ Ent. CMD and CEO Tapaas Chakravarti.
Paramount released the first animated Casper short in 1945. The friendly ghost then went on to win millions of fans on the pages of Harvey comic books and on television. He was also the star of a live-action/CG-animated movie directed by Brad Silberling in 1995 and several direct to DVD titles. The deal to produce the new Casper TV show follows the completion of the CG-animated feature Casper’s Scare School, which premieres on the Cartoon Network on Friday, Oct. 20, at 7 p.m. Casper’s Scare School features the voices of Bob Saget, Jim Belushi, Phyllis Diller and Dan Castellaneta, and follows the little guy as he enrolls in school to learn how to be more frightening, but of course his plans backfire as they always do.
