Pingu (Franchise)

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Pingu is a Swiss-British-American media franchise originally created by Otmar Gutmann and Erika Brueggemann and owned by HIT Entertainment, Universal Pictures, and DreamWorks Animation. It began in 1990 with the stop-motion television series Pingu by HIT Entertainment (The Pygos Group), which focuses on a family of anthropomorphic emperor penguins who live at the South Pole; one of them is the family's son, Pingu, who goes on adventures with his friends and spends his life with his family.

The Pingu franchise consists; The original Pingu series from 1990 to 2000 by Swiss company The Pygos Group (originally called Editoy AG), including its 5th and 6th seasons from 2003 to 2006 by British companies HIT Entertainment and HOT Animation, A Japanese revival of the series, titled Pingu in the City, from 2017 to 2019 by NHK Enterprises and Polygon Pictures, and three animated films by Universal Pictures, DreamWorks Animation, and Animal Logic: Pingu: The Movie (2018), Pingu 2: Lost in the Arctic (2021), and Pingu 3: Take Me Home (2023). A fourth film was recently announced, as well as a possibility of a fifth film. It also includes two-holiday specials: Scared Pingu-less (2023) and Ice The Halls: a Pingu Christmas (2023), and three television films: Pingu at the Wedding Party (1997), Pingu: The Show Must Go On (2022), and Pingu: Return to the Arctic (2024). The first film was directed by Nick Herbert and Liz Whitaker, while the second and third films were directed by Nick Herbert (and Liz Whitaker as the producer of the films).

Produced on a total budget of $185 million, the Pingu films have grossed more than $880 million worldwide, becoming the 24th highest-grossing animated franchise of all time. The franchise has received critical praise from critics and audiences.