Snow White, Cinderella and More Fairy Tale Characters to Be Reimagined as Zombies and Robots in New Projects
Ever wondered what a zombified Cinderella or Snow White in a Dia de los Muertos universe might look like? The next-gen transmedia business, Elf Labs, is planning to take a stab at projects just like those by bringing reimagined versions of dozens of classic characters to life.
The LA-based Elf Labs has launched this week after amassing over 400 copyrights and 140 trademarks for some of the most popular characters in children’s literature, also including Peter Pan, Pinocchio and Sleeping Beauty.
Deadline reports that Elf Labs is building an immersive, cloud-based streaming platform for the characters and will also launch content based on the characters directly on YouTube, bypassing traditional gatekeepers. AI animation and digital distribution tools have developed, with content targeted at all age ranges.
Elf Labs counts DreamWorks alumnus and Beavis & Butthead director Mike De Seve and branding industry titan Bernt Ullman among its team and global tech biz Cosmic Wire as a partner and investor.
Company founder Billy Phillips, who initially acquired the character trademarks, is now Chairman and Chief Creative Officer, with his son David Phillips the CEO since 2022. Mark Rowen has been hired as Head of Content and Thomas Gerrit is Head of Partnerships.
De Seve, who is the founder of Baboon Animation, will work with Elf Labs’ IP to develop and produce content, which Elf Labs will then use as a jumping point to strike licensing deals around the characters.
De Seve said: “A creative production is only as good as its storyline, and the all-star roster of characters that Elf Labs secured has provided my team with an incredible jumping-off point.”
First up is RoboStars, a series including characters such as Robo Cinderella and Robo Pinocchio “as a metaphor for free will, inspiring kids with the power to reject robotic reactions to internal and external challenges because we all possess the power to create proactive, positive change,” according to Elf Labs.
“Elf Labs’ platform is a multi-patented system designed to incubate, develop, and launch mega IP franchises,” said David Phillips, CEO of Elf Labs. “Combining the world’s most iconic IP with captivating creative and revolutionary technology will allow Elf Labs to truly reimagine entertainment.”
He added that Elf Labs would generally look to release content itself, but admitted “it makes sense to work with other platforms such as Netflix or Amazon Prime,” and was talking to potential partners.
The lineage of the company can be traced back to 1913, when mapmaking business Rand McNally launched book arm Elf Children (later renamed Junior Elf) and published ‘Cinderella’ while growing a library of over 200 titles.
After the library was bought and sold several times in the late 20th century, it was acquired in 2012 by Toon Studio, which was led by Phillips’ father Billy Phillips.
A period of court battles followed as Toon Studio began trademarking characters such as Zombie Cinderella around 2012 and 2013. The US Patent and Trademark Office and US Office (USPTO) initially refused a number of applications, but after appeals to the highest level, Toon Studios was victorious.
“My dad founded this company 14 years ago because he came across the Junior Elf book,” said David Phillips. “He saw the opportunity to monetize and build words without going through gatekeepers, so he started trademarking characters over the years.”
As part of the USPTO’s trademarking process, those deemed as competitors such as Disney were given the right to contest the decisions. Toon Studio was ultimately victorious trademarking more than 140 characters, which have been on the market for several years since.
Many classic characters are well over the copyright limit of 70 years after their authors’ deaths, while trademarks usually last for around a decade before needing renewal. In recent years we’ve seen seen the likes of Winnie-the-Pooh being repurposed in new guises after they fell out of copyright.
What do you think of these characters being reimagined? I don’t see the point of redoing them, as I think Disney has done a great job of making them in memorable stories that fans have enjoyed.
I think making new characters would be a better route, but who knows? Maybe they have some great ideas in bringing these characters to life in new and exciting ways.