Winx Club is an Italian-American media franchise by Rainbow SpA (and then later Nickelodeon) with a number of spinoff series. It was created by Iginio Straffi. The show is set in a magical universe that is inhabited by fairies, witches, and other mythical creatures. The main character is a fairy warrior named Bloom, who enrolls at Alfea College to train and hone her skills. The series uses a serial format that has an ongoing storyline. Almost a decade after their collaboration started, Straffi commented in a 2019 interview: "the know-how of Rainbow and the know-how of Nickelodeon are very complementary."
The franchise has been extremely popular with young girls since its debut in 2004, and the live-action adaptation is Fate: The Winx Saga was Netflix-intentional for every girl in love with fairies.
The characters of the series[]
The Winx Club is led by Bloom, a student from Earth who thought she was an average human until discovering her flame-based powers. The original group includes Stella, the Fairy of the Shining Sun; Flora, the Fairy of Nature; Musa, the Fairy of Music; and Tecna, the Fairy of Technology. They share an apartment on the campus of Alfea. The Fairy of Waves, Aisha, is introduced in the second season and becomes the group's sixth member. The Fairy of Animals, Roxy, is introduced in the fourth season and occasionally joins the other fairies.
The plot of the franchise[]
Winx Club is set in a magical universe filled with numerous planets and kingdoms. In the original first season, Bloom is living on earth when she discovers the fairy Stella being attacked by monsters. Bloom helps fight them off, discovering in the process that she herself is a fairy. Stella convinces Bloom to join her at Alfea, the best school for fairies. The two soon for friendship with other fairies, witches, and pixies, and fight a variety of enemies throughout the seasons. The seventh eighth season is intended as a reboot. There are also spinoff series including PopPixie, World of Winx, and an upcoming live action series Fate: the Winx Saga.
Pilot (2001)[]
:Main article: Winx Club (Pilot)
The pilot episode for the series, then under the working title Magic Bloom,[1] featured the original five Winx members in attires similar to those of traditional European fairies.[2] It was produced over a period of twelve months[3] and was test-screened in 2002.[2] Upon its completion, Straffi was unsatisfied with the pilot and doubted that it would succeed if aired.[4] In a 2016 interview, Straffi recalled that it "looked like just another Japanese-style cartoon ... but nothing like [the modern] Winx."[4] Straffi's team heavily reworked the pilot's visual style[2] before starting work on a full season, leaving the original pilot unaired. Portions of the pilot were presented at the Lucca Comics & Games convention in 2018.[1]
TV Series[]
- Main article: Winx Club (TV series)
The first season of Winx Club started production after the pilot episode, "Magic Bloom", was finished in 2001. Iginio Straffi was unsatisfied with the pilot and enlisted the help of Italian designers to rework the show's look. After the first season began production, the series' name was changed to Winx: Just Fairies in 2002, and then to Winx Club in 2003. Straffi based the title on the English word "wings". The first season of Winx Club premiered in Italy on Rai 2 on January 28, 2004. It aired its season finale on March 26 of the same year. Later, Nickelodeon produced three specials retelling the first season, which premiered in 2011. This followed Nickelodeon's parent company Viacom becoming a co-owner of the Rainbow studio. The specials re-animate scenes from this season with new Flash animation.
Films[]
The Secret of the Lost Kingdom[]
- Main article: Winx Club: The Secret of the Lost Kingdom
On 8 October 2006, a Winx Club feature film was announced on Rainbow's website. The Secret of the Lost Kingdom was released in Italy on 30 November 2007.[5] Its television premiere was on 11 March 2012 on Nickelodeon in the United States.[6] The plot takes place after the events of the first three seasons, following Bloom as she searches for her birth parents and fights the Ancestral Witches who destroyed her home planet. Iginio Straffi had planned a feature-length story since the beginning of the series' development, and the film eventually entered production after Straffi founded Rainbow CGI in Rome.[7]
Magical Adventure[]
- Main article: Winx Club 3D: Magical Adventure
On 9 November 2009, a sequel film was announced for a release date in 2010.[8] Winx Club 3D: Magical Adventure was released in Italy on 29 October 2010.[9] Its television premiere was on 20 May 2013, on Nickelodeon in the United States.[10] In the film, Sky proposes to Bloom, but Sky's father does not approve of their marriage.[8] Production on Magical Adventure began in 2007, while the first film was still in development.[9] It is the first Italian film animated in stereoscopic 3D.[11]
On February 19, 2013, Nickelodeon held a special screening of the movie at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.[12] Nickelodeon star Daniella Monet[13] (who voiced Bloom's rival, Mitzi, on the show) and creator Iginio Straffi[14] both attended the premiere.
The Mystery of the Abyss[]
- Main article: Winx Club: The Mystery of the Abyss
In late 2010, it was announced that Viacom (the owner of Nickelodeon and eventual co-owner of Rainbow) would provide the resources necessary to produce a new Winx film.[15] The film, titled Winx Club: The Mystery of the Abyss, was released in Italy on 4 September 2014.[16] It made its television premiere on Nickelodeon Germany on 8 August 2015.[17] The plot follows the Winx venturing through the Infinite Ocean to rescue Sky, who has been imprisoned by the Trix. According to Iginio Straffi, the film has a more comedic tone than the previous two films.[16]
Spin-offs[]
:Main article: PopPixie and World of Winx
PopPixie is a miniseries that ran for a single season over two months in 2011. It features chibi-inspired Pixie characters who were first introduced in the second season of Winx Club. After Nickelodeon became a co-developer of the main series, it was announced that PopPixie would air on Nickelodeon's global network of channels beginning in late 2011.[18]
World of Winx is a spin-off series that premiered in 2016; Straffi described it as one "with more adult graphics, a kind of story better suited to an older audience"[19] than the original series. It features the Winx travelling to Earth on an undercover mission to track down a kidnapper known as the Talent Thief.[20] 26 episodes over two seasons were produced.[21]
Live-action adaptation[]
- Main article: Fate: The Winx Saga
In 2018, a live-action adaptation aimed at young adults was announced.[22] Filming began in September 2019, with Abigail Cowen starring as Bloom.[23] The series made its world premiere on 22 January 2021, following a teaser released on 10 December 2020.[24]
The writers of Fate: The Winx Saga were entirely new to the Winx franchise, and they were recruited from teen dramas like The Vampire Diaries.[25] Early in production, Nickelodeon's American crew members from the cartoon (including Bloom's voice actress, Molly Quinn)[26] met with the Fate production team and reviewed the pilot script.[26] Rainbow's Joanne Lee also oversaw the show as an executive producer.
Other events[]
In September 2005, a live stage musical called "Winx Power Show" began touring in Italy.[27] The musical later expanded to other European countries[27] and the show's cast performed at the 2007 Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards in Milan.[28] An ice show follow-up starring Carolina Kostner was launched in November 2008.[29] In October 2012, Nickelodeon held a live event at the Odeon Cinema Covent Garden, complete with a "pink carpet" and previews of upcoming episodes.[30]
Merchandise[]
Iginio Straffi opened up to licensing Winx Club merchandise in order to finance his studio's other projects;[31] in 2008, he stated that he reinvests "almost everything" back into Rainbow.[32] Across the show's first ten years on air, more than 6,000[33] pieces of tie-in merchandise were released by external licensing companies.[34] As of 2014, Winx Club merchandise licenses generated around Template:€ annually,[35] with most of the revenue going toward product licensees rather than Rainbow itself.[33] According to a VideoAge International article, Rainbow's take from merchandise sales averages 10 percent, with some deals only giving the studio five percent.[33] Outside Europe, Mattel[36] released products based on the show until 2012, when Nickelodeon named Jakks Pacific as the series' new merchandising partner.[37] The announcement followed a Winx Club advertising campaign on which Nickelodeon spent US$100 million.[38]
Doll collections based on the show's characters were first released in January 2004 to coincide with its debut.[39] In Italy, the dolls are manufactured by Witty Toys (a division of Rainbow)[40] and distributed by Giochi Preziosi.[36] As of 2016, more than 100 collections had been designed and over 60 million Winx Club dolls had been sold.[41] In 2013, Rainbow relaunched vintage dolls as collectors' items.[42]
An ongoing comic book serial has been published since the series' premiere.[43] Over 180 Italian issues have been released as of 2019. In 2014, the comics' worldwide circulation was 25 million copies, with 55,000 copies sold each month in Italy.[33] In the United States, Viz Media translated a few of the first 88 issues and released them across nine graphic novel volumes.[44] Other tie-in books unrelated to the comics have been produced, starting with character guides distributed by Giunti Editore.[43] Nickelodeon's partner Random House has published English-language Winx Club books since 2012.[45]
Games[]
Several console video games based on the show have been produced. The first, Konami Europe's Winx Club, was released on 15 November 2005.[46] Other video games based on the franchise include Winx Club: The Quest for the Codex (2006), Winx Club: Join the Club (2007), Winx Club: Mission Enchantix (2008), Winx Club: Believix in You (2010), and Winx Club: Magical Fairy Party (2012).[47] Magical Fairy Party was released as part of Nickelodeon's partnership with D3Publisher.[47] A physical trading card game based on the franchise and produced by Upper Deck Entertainment was released in 2005.[48]
Nickelodeon's website, Nick.com, created various Flash games based on the show. The Winx Club section on Nick.com became one of the most-visited pages on the site, with 1 million monthly visitors in mid-2013 and over 2.6 million gaming sessions.[49]
Notes[]
- In 2011, the American company Viacom became a co-owner of the Rainbow S.p.A studio.[50] Afterward, new seasons of Winx Club were co-developed between Viacom's Nickelodeon Animation Studio in the U.S. and Rainbow in Italy.[51][52]
Changing Audience, Animation, Dubs & Studios[]
Originally, Winx Club was dubbed by RAI in both Italian, and a localized English version. Later, 4Kids dubbed season 1-2 in the international release, which is the one most fans are familiar with. The original 2 season were intended to appeal to the 10-16 bracket, so involved complex storylines, violent action scenes, and darker artwork and themes, and was highly successful in Italy. Nickelodeon took over dubbing during season 3, and were involved with writing and animation from then on. The target audience became much younger as a result, aiming at the 8-12 bracket. This resulted in fewer dark themes, brighter colours, character redesigns, and less action scenes. From season 4 onward, the art style changes often, employing increasingly more CGI. Nickelodeon also produces a shortened version of seasons 1-2. Budget cuts meant season 7 had another change, with replacing the voicing cast to cut costs, and reanimating with minimal CGI. Several years later, season 8 became a soft re-boot, aimed at preschoolers. This meant the cast was aged down, themes were simplified, new casts and crews were brought in.
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Magic Bloom - Pilot 2001". Rainbow S.r.l..
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Ashdown, Simon (1 September 2003). "Kids TV producers turn to style specialists for design innovations".
- ↑ "Il papà del fenomeno Winx: "Così ho sconfitto i giapponesi"" (it) (20 January 2007).
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Zampa, Alice (3 January 2016). "Animazione: perché l'Italia resta indietro? Ce lo racconta Iginio Straffi" (it).
- ↑ "Le orme delle Winx tra Londra e Tokio" (it) (30 November 2007).
- ↑ "Nickelodeon commercial: The Secret of the Lost Kingdom" (24 February 2012).
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedprotagoniste - ↑ 8.0 8.1 Brzoznowski, Kristin (9 November 2009). "Rainbow Extends Winx Club Film Franchise".
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 "Straffi, le mie 'Winx' stavolta volano in 3D" (it) (28 October 2010).
- ↑ "Winx Magic Adventure Movie: Monday" (16 May 2013).
- ↑ Vivarelli, Nick (15 March 2010). "Medusa to release 3D 'Adventure'".
- ↑ @Nickelodeon (19 February 2013). "Nickelodeon: We're showing our #Winx CG movie "Magical Adventure" tomorrow @ 6:30pm at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, CA. Come if you're around!" (Tweet) – via Twitter.Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css must have content model "Sanitized CSS" for TemplateStyles (current model is "Scribunto module").
- ↑ "Nickelodeon screening poster / special guests" (2013).
- ↑ "Program 2013". Los Angeles Italia. “6:30 pm Winx Club 3D: Magical Adventure dir Iginio Straffi (93') - Special Screening: The producer-director will be attending the event.”
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedmercato - ↑ 16.0 16.1 Catalli, Claudia (1 August 2014). "Iginio Straffi: 'Presto una webserie delle Winx'" (it).
- ↑ "Winx Club - Das Geheimnis des Ozeans" (15 June 2015).
- ↑ Goldman Getzler, Wendy (11 April 2011). "Nickelodeon Plucks PopPixie". Brunico Communications.
- ↑ Papini, Roberto Davide (8 January 2015). "Winx, non solo il musical. Le fatine volano al cinema" (it).
- ↑ "Rainbow Set to Light Up MIPTV" (31 March 2016).
- ↑ Wolfe, Jennifer (25 September 2014). "'Winx Club' Spin-off Headed to Netflix".
- ↑ Fisher, Jacob (31 July 2019). "Live-Action 'Winx Club' Series In Pre-Production at Netflix, Brian Young Set as Showrunner (EXCLUSIVE)".
- ↑ "Netflix young-adult series begins filming in Wicklow" (17 September 2019).
- ↑ Jones, Ellen (10 December 2020). "'Boys can be fairies – it's the 21st century': How Fate: The Winx Saga finds the reality in fantasy".
- ↑ 26.0 26.1 Molly Quinn [@MollyQuinn93] (8 January 2021). "I did get to meet with the great production team and read the pilot! It'll be a fun show and I think the casting is wonderful" (Tweet) – via Twitter.Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css must have content model "Sanitized CSS" for TemplateStyles (current model is "Scribunto module").
- ↑ 27.0 27.1 "Winx Power Show, le fate sbarcano in teatro" (it) (23 May 2005).
- ↑ "Due premi speciali ai 'Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards'" (it) (29 November 2006).
- ↑ "'Winx on ice', c'è anche Carolina Kostner" (it) (29 July 2008).
- ↑ "Winx take flight at Covent Garden launch party" (29 October 2012).
- ↑ Straffi, Iginio (1 October 2010) (in it). Iginio Straffi, uomo senza sonno. Interview with Mauro Uzzeo. http://www.nontistavocercando.it/2010/10/01/aspettando-winx-2-iginio-straffi-uomo-senza-sonno/.
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedaffaritaliani - ↑ 33.0 33.1 33.2 33.3 "Straffi's Rainbow: Europe's Largest Animation House Has Growing Pains" (October 2014).
- ↑ Sigismondi, Paolo (2015). "The Winx Club phenomenon in the global animation landscape". Journal of Italian Cinema & Media Studies 3. doi:. ISSN 2047-7368.
- ↑ Reguly, Eric (11 December 2007). "Winx Club fairies take the world by storm".
- ↑ 36.0 36.1 "Winx Club, un successo" (30 March 2004).
- ↑ "Nickelodeon Announces JAKKS Pacific As Master Toy Licensee for Innovative Girls Brand: Winx Club" (14 June 2011).
- ↑ "Nickelodeon Programming and Marketing Calendar 2011-2013" (2011).
- ↑ "Licensing: ascolti e vendite da record per il cartoon Winx" (18 April 2005).
- ↑ Calder, Kate (11 June 2012). "Rainbow extends global reach for Winx Club toys".
- ↑ Burke, Jade (2 February 2016). "Nuremberg 2016: Witty Toys debuts new Winx Club doll".
- ↑ "Winx still going strong on 10th anniversary" (22 July 2013).
- ↑ 43.0 43.1 "Le Winx in edicola e in libreria" (28 February 2004).
- ↑ "Viz Media's Perfect Square Imprint Delivers Fairy Action and Adventure in New Winx Club: Magic Collection Omnibus" (10 September 2014).
- ↑ Raugust, Karen (19 March 2012). "Nickelodeon Heads to Random House".
- ↑ "Winx Club Now Accepting Members" (15 November 2005).
- ↑ 47.0 47.1 McCleary-Harris, Sierra (20 September 2012). "D3Publisher, Nickelodeon To Release New Games for Holiday Season".
- ↑ "The Upper Deck Company Announces New Entertainment Products for 2005 Season" (17 February 2005).
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedreel - ↑ "Winx creator in the pink", Variety, February 26, 2011.
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
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