Rovio Mobile, the creator of the wildly popular Angry Birds game, is now conquering new horizons. While an Angry Birds movie will not happen until after 2014, Rovio is now planning to launch a series of 52 short Angry Birds animations in autumn.

"We're going to roll out a weekly animation series later this year of shortform content," announced Nick Dorra, head of animation at Rovio, speaking at the MIPTV conference in Cannes. The Angry Birds TV series will consist of 52 episodes, each between two-and-a-half and three minutes in length. "We're going to roll it out on all possible devices," added Dorra.

Take All the Screens!

Rovio wants its new series to "be on all screens," and Dorra said they are looking at partnerships and considering a video app. Back in January, Rovio announced a partnership with Samsung, which involves an app for the company's Smart TV Internet-connected devices.

Moreover, in its effort to push Angry Birds beyond the game world, Rovio acquired Finnish animation studio Kombo in June 2011, and recruited former Marvel Studios chairman David Maisel as an adviser the same month.

Full Angry Birds Movie in the Works

When it comes to a full Angry Birds movie, Dorra said it will take a while. "It's in development, but it won't be out in 2013 or 2014. You'll have to bide your time and first watch all of our shorts," said Dorra at the MIPTV conference.

The animated TV series is an important milestone for Rovio's growth strategy, as it can attract even more fans than it did with games. It will allow the company to better portray its Angry Birds characters, and appeal to a greater audience. "It's about telling more engaging stories...and deeper thoughts, deeper feelings of the characters, such as why are the birds always angry?" explained Dorra. According to him, Angry Birds is about more than just the gameplay, and in the future it will be more about the characters and "less and less about the slingshot."

New Games, With No Angry Birds

Meanwhile, Rovio is also working to develop new games, and some of these games will not involve Angry Birds at all. "We are going to release completely new IP this year. Nothing to do with Angry Birds. But we are also working on bringing new projects in the Angry Birds universe that have nothing to do with the gameplay we have seen before," said Dorra.

In all its wild success with the Angry Birds game, Rovio is gradually growing from a gaming company into a real entertainment company. In addition to the games, the upcoming series and the movie in development, Rovio has also published an Angry Birds cookbook. Intrigued?

(reported by Alexandra Burlacu, edited by Surojit Chatterjee)