Johannesburg, 20 July 2017: Christian Art Media is excited to announce the release of the Emmy-nominated Superbook Series, in DVD format, in South Africa. Superbook has been broadcast in more than 106 countries, watched by more than 500 million people, and has been translated into 50 languages. Today, CBN and a team of Emmy-winning artists and storytellers, whose credits include Mulan, The Lion King, and Beauty and the Beast, have collaborated to completely re-imagine the classic series, using the latest 3D CGI technology, for today's audiences, from the ages of 6 years and upwards.
In 1981, the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) created a children's animated Bible series for the Japanese TV market. Little did they realise what an impact the series would have in Japan and around the world. The series was known as Animated Parent and Child Theater (Anime Oyako Gekijô), produced by Tatsunoko Productions in Japan, in conjunction with CBN in the United States. The English name for this series was Superbook. Research undertaken during and after the outreach, showed that this series was an unprecedented success. Over 8 million people a night watched Superbook on Japanese prime-time television, and the Bible became the nation's best-selling book. By 1989, in the midst of economic and political turmoil, Superbook began broadcasting in the Soviet Union with astounding results.
When Superbook aired during primetime on the Soviet National Channel, CBN received over 6 million letters from children, introducing an entire generation to the Bible. The Superbook YouTube Channel is a great source of exciting clips and testimonies from children: https://www.youtube.com/user/SuperbookTV
"Our goal with Superbook is to captivate the excitement and imagination of the new generation with the power of God's word", says CBN Africa's Regional Director, Ian Walton. "We have taken advantage of the latest technology to ensure that people across the age range in every household can enjoy and engage with the stories long after watching the episodes."
There are currently 3 completed seasons, each with 13 individual High Definition episodes. DVDs from the first season will be available for purchase from CUM Books and other leading retailers from August 2017. Each episode teaches children timeless moral truths and life lessons, through the captivating, Bible-based adventures of two time-travelling children, Chris and Joy - accompanied by their quirky robot friend, Gizmo.
Chris Quantum is an awesome skateboarder, video gamer, and lead guitarist, in a garage band with his Valleyview Middle School buddies.Chris uncovers the secrets of Superbook through a mysterious portal to the past. Joy Pepper is the next-door neighbor, and classmate of Chris Quantum at Valleyview Middle School. She is outgoing and usually a bit more adventurous than Chris. She loves soccer, is athletic, and great at other sports too. Lastly, there's Gizmo, a robot created by Chris' dad, Professor Quantum, to protect the kids, but they end up protecting him.
He loves performing upgrades to make himself more useful, and would rather stay in the lab than time-travel with Superbook. A really cool feature of Gizmo is that he can change his appearance as needed. The familiar and the futuristic interact with ancient people, places, and events to create a sense of wonder, anticipation, empowerment, and personal breakthrough, as the children witness God's interaction with man. Superbook is always an exciting journey, full of discovery, with a transformational outcome.
"We're very excited to be partnering with CBN Africa to bring this well-known series into the households of Southern Africa. With animation of very highest standard, we're confident that Superbook's placement back into the market place will be well received by our customers." says Edward Geach, Product Manager for Christian Art Media.
For any questions or inquiries or for physical copies to review, please do not hesitate to contact Cher Murphy on cher.murphy@christianart.co.za or 071 322 4367
