Disney Junior has given the green light to its first original movie.
Lucky Duck -- described as a music-filled, animated adventure at sea -- features the voices of Christian Borle and Megan Hilty, who starred together in NBC's Smash, and Tom Cavanaugh (Royal Pains).
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The movie follows a plucky rubber ducky named Lucky (Borle) who, after accidentally being tossed off a cargo ship, sets off in search of the perfect home. Along the way, he teams with a group of misfit tub toys including a sassy hippo, Flo (Hilty), and an apprehensive turtle named Snap (Cavanaugh).
Lucky Duck is set to premiere in summer 2014 on Disney Junior in the U.S. and thereafter on Disney Junior channels around the world.
In addition to their roles in the movie, Borle, Hilty and Cavanaugh will lend their voices to themed tub toys.
"We're eager to introduce young kids and their parents to our first Disney Junior original movie, an exciting adventure with a heart-warming message about never giving up despite all odds," said Joe D'Ambrosia, vp original programming at Disney Junior. "We hope that this new TV movie format will create an even stronger family viewing destination to further deliver on our brand promise of imaginative characters and storytelling with heart."
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Disney Junior targets kids ages 2-7. In the U.S., Disney Junior is a daily programming block on Disney Channel as well as a separate 24-hour channel. (There are 33 Disney Junior channels in 24 languages around the world.) So far this year, the top four cable TV series among kids 2-5 and total viewers are Disney Junior shows.
Hilty currently stars opposite Sean Hayes in NBC's Sean Saves the World. Borle will appear in NBC's upcoming live production of The Sound of Music. Cavanaugh also is known for his role as the title character on Ed.
Lucky Duck, which is a production of Nelvana Limited (Handy Manny) in association with Disney Junior, is directed by Don Kim (The Adventures of Chuck and Friends) and written by Michael G. Stern (Imagination Movers). Executive producers are Irene Weibel and Colin Bohm (Jane and the Dragon), withRick Garcia andWilliam Malpede (Rango) as composers.
