Studio 100 - The only European player with a 360 degrees approach to family entertainment
Studio 100 is one of the largest European players in the children's and family entertainment market. The company was founded in 1996 by Gert Verhulst, Danny Verbiest and Hans Bourlon and has grown into a unique family entertainment company with a very strong reputation. 3d investors came on board with Soudal in 2020 to support the company's long-term growth plan together with Gert Verhulst, Hans Bourlon and BNP Paribas Fortis Private Equity.
Frank Donck: "Studio 100 has grown into a unique company with a strong reputation by constantly reinventing itself and looking beyond its borders. Moreover, as long-term investors, we believe very strongly in partnerships based on entrepreneurship and common sense. We are therefore particularly excited to join Studio 100's capital together with the Swerts family. "
Growth acceleration and international expansion
Its characters are well-known by the general public and have become true youth idols: Samson & Gert, Plop the Gnome, Maya the Bee, Vicky the Viking, Heidi, Pirate Pete, Bumba, K3, Mega Mindy, Ghost Rockers, Night Watch, and so many others. Studio 100 operates a 360° business model around these characters and is active in a wide range of activities, including television, theatre, film, musicals, concerts, theme parks, merchandising and publishing.
Since 2014, Studio 100 has also been making musicals for adults. What started with a gamble in 2014 - the big-screen '14-18', about World War I - was followed up by great success in the following years. A musical adaptation of 'Daens' and the WWII musical '40-45' proved to be - despite corona - shots in the arm. Of the latter, the company sold as many as 750,000 tickets. This made it the biggest ever musical in our country. On 23 March 2023, 'Red Star Line' will premiere, a show about the ocean liners that ferried millions of people from Antwerp across the ocean in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in search of a better life.
Plopsa, the theme park division within Studio 100, started with Plopsaland De Panne in 1999, has been operating internationally since 2012 and meanwhile operates 9 theme parks, 2 aqua parks and 1 hotel in Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic which on average account for some 3.5 million visitors a year.
The Studio 100 group employs 950. Studio 100 has branches in Schelle, Breda, Munich, Sydney and Los Angeles.