Japan will soon be getting a Moomin theme park to coincide with the 100th birthday of Tove Jansson, the creator of the iconic cartoon.
The theme park, which will be overseen by Moomin Monogatari, a joint venture by FinTech Global Inc and Puuha International Oy, is slated to open in 2015. There is still no word where the park will be located.
The latest deal is expected to rack up sales of Moomin products which have generated more than $6 million annually, Moomin agent Bulls Licensing said. Other licensees include Suzuki, Samsung and Uniqlo.
First published in 1945 in Swedish, the Moomin book series and comic strip were adapted into several anime films and touched generations of children.
The Moomins are a family of whitish, roundish characters resembling hippopotamuses. They live in the fictional town in Moominvalley and go on adventures along with their various friends.
Finland has a Moomin theme park which draws more than 200,000 visitors annually.
New Moomin cartoons and an official Moomin-branded webshop will be launched in 2014.
By Maesie Bertumen
Image: sebra / Shutterstock.com
