Hello Sunshine (Little Fires Everywhere), the production company dedicated to putting “women at the center of every story” founded by Reese Witherspoon, is closing down its kids’ and animated content division as a result of owner Candle Media’s plans to consolidate these businesses under its family entertainment outfit Moonbug (CoComelon). According to Deadline, the move will result in “a few individuals” departing Hello Sunshine in the next few weeks, while the company will collaborate with Moonbug on future projects.
Candle Media is backed by investment company Blackstone; it acquired Hello Sunshine in August 2021 for $900 million and just months later in November 2021 added Moonbug to its portfolio for $3 billion.
Hello Sunshine established its kids’ and animation division in 2019, led by former Nickelodeon executive and Sesame Workshop producer Claire Curley. The studio’s mission was to “[shine] a light on where girls are right now and [help] them chart their path forward” through content aimed at the 3-5 and 6-9 age brackets.
After the Candle Media acquisition, Hello Sunshine announced a partnership with Build-A-Bear for a feature film project based on the classic fairytale Goldilocks and the Three Bears. In February last year, Disney Branded Television slated a co-production with Hello Sunshine, Tiny Trailblazers — a series aimed at children 2-7 themed on environmental conservation and wildlife preservation.
Since its own acquisition by Candle Media, Moonbug has seen its hit preschool property CoComelon attain even more success. The show was one of the top three programs streaming on Netflix in 2022, with 37.8 billion minutes watched according to Nielsen. On YouTube, CoComelon has more than doubled its base since Nov. 2021, becoming the platform’s most-subscribed channel with 143 million subscribers. The property’s first spin-off channel, It’s Cody Time, launched in May of 2022. Moonbug acquired the original CoComelon channel in July2020.
[Source: Deadline]
