The famous Beano comic character, Dennis the Menace, will be revived for the modern age and put onto television next year, launching with CBBC, the BBC’s older children’s channel. DC Thomson, which owns the comic and its characters, launched Beano Studios to create new life for its intellectual property and the first series – ‘Dennis & Gnasher: Unleashed’ will eventually be sold globally.
Emma Scott, CEO at Beano Studios, showed off the test animations for Dennis at the Media Playground conference this week (organized by Mediatel Events). “We are going to make him a bit of a cool youngster,” she told the London audience.
Beano Studios will look to exploit other popular characters like Minnie the Minx and there may even be cinema releases, Scott inferred. There will be plenty of short-form content. She says the Beano has high brand awareness and high trust ratings among parents in the UK. The studio’s content will be made available on digital via a website and app, and via YouTube. Beano Studios content will be free and ad-supported.
In their original comic form, both Dennis the Menace and Minnie the Minx were mischievous children, always upsetting adults with their pranks. Scott says the modern Beano video brand positioning will still include rebellion.
