| Gummibär | |
| Alias: | Gummy Bear |
| Origin: | Germany |
| Years Active: | –present |
| Label: | Gummybear International |
Gummibär (pronounced as /de/; German for "gummy bear") or Gummy Bear is a German Eurodance multilingual character and virtual musician that performs gummy bear-related songs on various albums, including I Am Your Gummy Bear (2007) and La La Love to Dance (2010). The video for the song "I'm a Gummy Bear" and its Spanish version has 3.2 billion and 1.2 billion views on YouTube respectively.
The name "Gummibär" is taken from a German brand of bear-shaped gummy candies from Haribo introduced in 1920.[1] The highly-stylized, green-coloured, blue-eyed gelatinous bear character (with belly button) wears an orange Y-front briefs and white sneakers.
Gummibär's popularity as a phenomenon is very similar to that of fellow European music phenomenon Crazy Frog, characterised by repetition of lyrics and singing of catchy melodies. Variants of the character's music have been released in various languages internationally.[2]
The video, a 30-second CGI pop promo animated in Softimage XSI, was directed, designed and animated by Pete Dodd and produced through Wilfilm in Copenhagen for Ministry of Sound GmbH in Berlin.[3] The original video was a 30-second version of the Hungarian version, "Itt Van A Gumimaci" which was posted on site Mojoflix.com
Gummibär: I Am Gummy Bear - The Gummibär Video Collection was released on 28 April 2009 in the US. The DVD contains a video collection of "I'm a Gummy Bear" in nine different languages, as well as some of the character's other releases.[4] They promote their merch by putting it in their videos at the start of the music videos.
Gummibär: The Yummy Gummy Search for Santa was released in the United Kingdom on 8 October 2012,[5] and in the US on 6 November 2012 from Lionsgate Home Entertainment.[6] It is Gummibär's first (and only) feature-length film. It was directed by Bernie Denk and Jurgen Korduletsch, and written by Robert David Stevenson and Leo St. Pierre. Aside from the titular character, it stars Harry, a male chameleon, Vampiro, a Dracula-esque vampire bat, and Kala, a female cat, as they embark on a search for Santa Claus, who is reported missing on Christmas Eve. The film aired in the US on 1 December of the same year on The CW's Vortexx Saturday morning cartoon block, which billed the airing as a "world premiere".[7] [8]
In 2016, a YouTube animated web series titled Gummibär and Friends was released online on the official Gummibär YouTube channel, consisting of one season of 39 episodes.[9] Those international versions were released on a channel titled "Gummy Bear Show International" beginning on 1 April, 2020.[10]
See main article: Gummibär discography.