For a long time Astrid Lindgren was against the notion of making animated film versions of her books, but later in life she finally agreed. At the end of the 1990s the first animated film about Pippi Longstocking was released, produced by the Canadian animation studio Nelvana. Tied-in with the film there were also 26 TV episodes made. The film and the TV series became popular but Astrid Lindgren was not particularly satisfied, not even after she had pushed through certain changes.
Fact
In 1949, the young German publisher Friedrich Oetinger was in Stockholm to meet the author Gunnar Myrdal. In a bookstore, he happened to hear about Pippi Langstrumpf. The rest is history – he requested a meeting with Astrid Lindgren and obtained a German option for the Pippi trilogy. Verlag Friedrich Oetinger in Hamburg still publishes all of Astrid Lindgren's children's books, and her great popularity in Germany remains intact. The film adaptations of her books were, in several cases, German co-productions, and they are still shown on German TV, especially around Christmas. Several of Astrid Lindgren's songs are very well known in their German translations, such as "Hey Pippi Langstrumpf!".