Crackle Plus, the streaming outfit run by Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, unveiled new series and a feel-good streaming service named after the parent company during a virtual NewFronts presentation.
The newest member of the streaming portfolio will launch this fall and join Popcornflix and Crackle under the Crackle Plus umbrella, the company said. Owned and operated for more than a decade by Sony, Crackle has been under the full control of Chicken Soup for the Soul since December 2020. Sony remains a minority stakeholder.
Crackle Plus said it has added more than 200 hours of original and exclusive programming in the past year.
Crackle Plus said new series in the works include a second season of personal finance/college debt show Going from Broke, which is executive produced by Ashton Kutcher. Newer entries include Riding Phat, about the electric-power-focused company Phat Scooter; invention series The Uncommon History of Very Common Things; and Inside the Black Box, which features Black entertainment figures and discussions of race.
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New sports docuseries and documentaries follow in the line of On Point, Crackle’s most-watched series of 2020, and Bucket List, hosted by former college and pro football standout Brian Bosworth. New titles include Vince Carter: Legacy, about the longtime NBA great; Promiseland, about emerging NBA star Ja Morant; The Green Wave, a feature about a high school basketball team coping with the death of its coach; and The Machine, about the challenges faced by public-school sports power Long Beach Poly.
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In 2020, Crackle originals and exclusives accounted for almost 30% of all streams and 20% of all ad impressions. “As part of Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, our success is built in large part on featuring original and exclusive content from the production and distribution arms of our parent company,” said Philippe Guelton, president of Crackle Plus.
The streaming entity sources its originals from sister companies Screen Media Ventures, Landmark Studio Group and Halcyon Television.
The last of those outfits will be a studio run David Ellender, who had been head of of Sonar Entertainment, a longtime producer known for current series like Amazon’s Hunters. Famed TV producer and executive Robert Halmi Sr. assembled the assets that formed the Sonar library of some 1,000 titles. Among them are Hal Roach Studios shorts like Little Rascals, Laurel & Hardy and Blondie, and miniseries like Lonesome Dove and Dinotopia. Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment acquired Sonar last month.
A number of the Sonar titles will stream on the new Chicken Soup platform, which will debut this fall. The company promises it will carry “inspiring, uplifting and informative content,” including a large selection of scripted movies and TV shows for adults and families.