AI animation studio Toonstar, HarperCollins team up on animated book projects

April 2 - Artificial intelligence powered animation studio Toonstar on Thursday unveiled a multi-year partnership with News Corp NWSA.O owned HarperCollins to produce a slate of original animated series based on select titles from the book publisher.

• The partnership aims to expand access to HarperCollins' literary catalog through digital-first animation.

• The first project in development under the deal is "Friendship List," based on Lisa Greenwald's popular series for tweens about friendship, self-discovery and the challenges of growing up.

• A graphic novel inspired by the Toonstar series will be published by HarperAlley, the graphic novel imprint of HarperCollins.

• Los Angeles-based Toonstar was founded by former Disney DIS.N and Warner Bros. executives John Attanasio and Luisa Huang to build a new pipeline of direct-to-consumer animated IP.

• HarperCollins, which is part of News Corp's book publishing segment, saw revenue rise 6% to $633 million in the second quarter.