Apple has signed a deal with director and producer Jon Favreau for a CGI dinosaur documentary series for the tech company’s new streaming service, Apple TV+.
Prehistoric Planet will be produced by the BBC’s heralded Natural History team and will include Mike Gunton, who produced Planet Earth II.
The CGI animation will be in good hands with Andrew Jones, a two-time Oscar winner who was at the computer for Avatar.
In reporting the news, Variety magazine pointed out the growing competition between streaming services with natural history as an “emerging battleground.”
Netflix, already home to Our Planet with the iconic narration of David Attenborough, has another series in the works with Blue Planet II producer James Honeyborne.
Apple TV+ won’t launch until the fall, but for the last year has made weekly headlines on the original programs in development.
Apple is focusing more on “family friendly” programming, and while it has signed some big stars for a variety of genres, it is working hard to attract customers with documentaries and other forms of educational programming.
Last month, Apple hired Molly Thompson away from A&E Network to head Apple TV’s documentary division.
She will no doubt add to Apple’s growing selection of educational and documentary programs, which includes “first look” deals with Ron Howard’s Imagine Documentaries. Documentaries on climate change, elephants, NBA star Kevin Durant and singer/songwriter Ed Sheerhan.
Source: Variety
