A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE FROM SPROUT

Cynopsis: Kids!
04/16/12

Good morning. It’s Monday, April 16, 2012, and this your first early morning briefing.

Ruckus Media Group announces the release of the new Ruckus Reader (www.ruckusreader.com), an entertainment and learning program for the iPad featuring digital storybooks that goes live today. The Ruckus Reader is designed to help younger kids practice key age appropriate reading skills and develop a love of reading, while also helping parents/caregivers assess their kid’s reading with weekly Reader Meter e-mail reports and an online dashboard that provides details of their kid’s progress, including comprehension, letter recognition, and fluency, as well as tips as how to further engage their kid in reading and suggestion of other books they might like. In addition, a parent can add a teacher (or other relative) to the list so they will also receive the Reader Meter email reports. The Ruckus Reader is a library of mobile apps comprised of iReaders (digital storybook titles), e-Readers (e-books), e-books, vidReaders (narrated video books) and activities for kids. Ruckus iReaders feature characters such as The Wiggles, Hasbro’s My Little Pony and Transformers as well as a range of activities designed based on brands such as Crayola, SeaWorld, Dino Dan and Cyberchase. Developed with educational experts, the Ruckus Reader matches age-appropriate learning standards as determined by the Common Core State Standards.

NEW PRODUCTION & DEVELOPMENT

Disney Channel orders the new live-action comedy series Dog With A Blog, from creator/executive producer Michael B. Kaplan (I’m in the Band, Frasier, Roseanne, Girlfriends, Doogie Howser). The multi-camera Dog With A Blog is slated to being production this June in Hollywood for a fall 2012 premiere on Disney Channel US. The series will then rollout across Disney Channels around the world. Dog With A Blog is told from the point of view of a dog named Stan, who is brought into the fold of a newly blended family including step siblings Tyler, Avery and little sister Chloe. In an effort to help Tyler and Avery get along their parents buy Stan, who turns out to be able to speak and blog  worse than that he’s smart. The series stars G. Hannelius (Den Brother, Good Luck Charlie), Blake Michael (Lemonade Mouth), Francesca Capaldi (A.N.T. Farm), Beth Littleford (I’m in the Band, Crazy, Stupid Love, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart), Regan Burns (Wizards of Waverly Place) and Stephen Full (I’m in the Band) as the voice of Stan the dog. The series also stars Kuma, a rescue Husky/Golden Retriever/Border Collie mix, as Stan.

LICENSING

VIZ Kids (www.vizkids.com), an imprint of North American anime and manga distributor licensor VIZ Media, will release two new Mr. Men and Little Miss graphic novels, Mr. Bump: Lights, Camera, Bump! and Little Miss Sunshine: Here Comes the Sun!, tomorrow, Tuesday, April 17, in the US and Canada. The two new titles feature comic book versions of the Mr. Men and Little Miss kid’s book characters originally created by Roger Hargreaves in 1991. Mr. Bump: Lights, Camera, Bump! features a story by Matthew Britton and art by John Hardman, while Little Miss Sunshine: Here Comes the Sun! features a story by Michael Kenny and art by Victoria Maderna.

American Greetings Properties (AGP) and licensing agent CPLG UK renew licensee Truffle Shuffle for Care Bears in the UK and Ireland. Under its new deal Truffle Shuffle will continue to produce Care Bears apparel for teens and adults, including t-shirt-s, sweatshirts, hooded tops, fashion tops and vests.

 Exhart, a garden decor manufacturer, signs on as a licensee for Rovio’s Angry Birds. Under its licensing deal, Exhart is developing a line of Angry Birds garden stakes, chimes, statuary, accessories and lighting. The deal was brokered on behalf of Exhart by licensing agent/manufacturers rep Brand Central and Rovio Entertainment.

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE FROM TELEVISION ACADEMY

MARKETING

Marvel Entertainment and Toys”R”Us team to create a retail experience for consumers to support the new summer movie Marvel’s The Avengers, which releases May 4, 2012. Presented by Marvel Studios in association with Paramount Pictures, Marvel’s The Avengers features Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, The Incredible Hulk, Black Widow and Hawkeye. Toys”R”Us is featuring a new in-store boutique focused on the movie and its characters at the front of about 600 stores across the US, as well as online at a dedicated Marvel’s The Avengers online area www.toysrus.com/avengers. Fans can also find video content, character bios, downloadable coloring pages and desktop images on the website. In addition to the movie-based toys and products available in-store and online, two assortments of Marvel Universe Collector Base action figures are exclusively available at Toys”R”Us stores and online. Each assortment contains four Avengers standing on a light-up base, which combine to form a SHIELD platform.

MORE KIDS STUFF

Postman Pat gets a big screen delivery date in the UK. Icon Film Distribution, Lionsgate UK, Classic Media and RGH Entertainment, the animation development/production unit of Rubicon Group Holding, will release Postman Pat: The Movie will be released in CG 3D stereoscopic across the UK on Friday, May 24, 2013. The voice cast for Postman Pat: The Movie is led by Stephen Mangan (Episodes, Green Wink, Dirk Gently) as Postman Pat, and also features Jim Broadbent (The Iron Lady, Harry Potter, Iris, Moulin Rouge), Rupert Grint (Harry Potter), and David Tennant (Doctor Who, Harry Potter, Tree Fu Tom). Currently in production, Postman Pat: The Movie is directed by Mike Disa (Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil) from a screenplay co-written by Kim Fuller (Spice World, High Heels & Low Lifes) and Annika Bluhm, the long-time producer of the Postman Pat TV series. The feature film is being produced by RGH’s Robert Anich and Miles Horst and Classic Media’s Ceri Barnes and Annika Bluhm, with RGH Entertainment’s Randa Ayoubi and David Corbett and Classic Media’s Eric Ellenbogen and Doug Schwalbe serving as executive producers.

Cookie Jar Entertainment completes multi-territory sales for a new season (26×30) of its animated series Johnny Test. The new season of Johnny Test will begin delivering in 2013 and brings the series to a total of 117×30 episodes. Cartoon Network acquires the new season of Johnny Test for its channels in the US, UK, France, Latin America and Asia Pacific. Teletoon in Canada also picks up the new season. Johnny Test was created by Scott Fellows (Big Time Rush, Ned’s Declassified School Survival Guide).

Smosh (www.smosh.com), a teen/young adult targeted comedy content channel on YouTube, will launch Shut Up! Cartoons (www.youtube.com/shutupcartoons) as part of its original channel offering on April 30, 2012. Smosh, which is owned by Alloy Digital, says the animation channel will debut 18 new short-from web series (a total of 180 episodes) in a range of animation styles and themes for teens/young adults 12-24 (obviously this is not for younger kids) in its first year. The first three series to debut at the end of this month are Do’s and Donts: A Children’s Guide to Social Survival, about horrible lessons for youngsters in trying situations, debuting on Monday, April 30, Pubertina on Wednesday, May 2 and Zombies Vs. Ninjas, atop motion series filled with over the top zombie vs. ninjas battles, on Friday, May 4. All three series will debut at 3p. Among the talent creating projects for Shut Up! Cartoons: Cory Edwards (Hoodwinked!, Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil)  his Krogzilla Gets a Job revolves around a downsized Japanese monster forced to seek a variety of jobs; Peter Hastings (Pinky and the Brain) and Prudence Fenton (Pee-wee’s Playhouse, Liquid Television) — their Sub: 3 provides a unique take on the premise “The pizza must be delivered in three minutes!”; and Peter Hannan (Nickelodeon’s CatDog) — his Really Freaking Embarrassing features animation covering real audio answers to embarrassing questions with. Shut Up! Cartoons was created by Barry Blumberg, also President/Smosh and EVP/Alloy Digital, and his partners, Smosh co-founders and comedy duo, Anthony Padilla and Ian Hecox. Blumberg previously led development and production for animated TV series at Disney. Lenora Hume, who previously worked for Nelvana, Disney TV animation, DisneyToon Studios and HIT, is heading production for Shut Up! Cartoons. Some of the other projects include:

• Snowjacked — An action comedy that follows the search for our protagonist’s snowjacked family.
• Nature Break — Nature vignettes with horrible outcomes
• Weasel Town — Traditional buddy comedy from superstar creators
• Oishi High School Battle — Hanna Montana meets Sailor Moon. What would happen if an Anime character is forced to attend regular High School?

STONE SOUP

Weekend Box Office Estimates for kids/tweens/teens rated G, PG or PG-13; April 13-15, 2012:
The Hunger Games (Lionsgate) PG-13                                 $21.5m-4 wk total $337.1m
The Three Stooges (Fox) PG                                              Opening Weekend $17.1m
Titanic 3D (Paramount) PG-13                                            $11.6m-2 wk total $44.4m
Mirror Mirror (Relativity Media) PG                                       $8.0m-3 wk total $49.5m
Wrath of The Titans (Warner Bros.) PG-13                           $6.9m-3 wk total $71.3m
Lockout (FilmDistrict) PG-13                                              Opening Weekend $6.3m
Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax (Universal) PG                                     $3.0m-7 wk total $204.5m
Salmon Fishing In the Yemen (CBS Films) PG-13                    $911,000-6 wk total $6.1m
Journey 2: The Mysterious Island (Warner Bros.) PG               $680,000-10 wk total $100.4m
Bully (TWC) PG-13                                                           $534,000-3 wk total $813,202
Source: Rentrak (www.rentrak.com)

EXECUTIVE MOVES

Richard Loomis is upped to the newly created positions of SVP and Chief Marketing Officer, Disney Channels Worldwide. Loomis, who joined Disney in 2007 and was most recently SVP/Marketing and Creative, reports to Gary Marsh, President and Chief Creative Officer, Disney Channels Worldwide. Loomis is responsible for guiding the creative marketing vision for Disney Channel, Disney XD and Disney Junior channels and brands around the world. He also oversees creative marketing support for the Disney media sales and marketing team and works closely with programming, global brand marketing and franchise management as well as the affiliate sales and marketing and research groups, and Radio Disney. In addition to overseeing the channel marketing teams for each brand, Loomis manages the off-air design, marketing strategy and analytics and marketing operations functions. Loomis previously toiled for Comedy Central, eventually as SVP/Marketing and Brand Strategy, and prior to that for Nickelodeon, most recently as VP/Marketing and Advertising. Loomis’ agency experience includes Account Supervisor roles at Backer Spielvogel Bates, and McCaffrey & McCall Advertising in NY. He began his career as a Media Planner at Grant/Jacoby Advertising in Chicago. Congrats Richard!

BBC Worldwide Australia names Helen Pendlebury to the new role of Head of Commercial, Entertainment & Children’s Brands. In her newly created position, Pendlebury will be responsible for the business development for BBC Worldwide’s popular global brands, including Doctor Who and Dancing with the Stars as well as a range of kid’s properties such as Charlie and Lola. Pendlebury will report directly to Amanda McGregor, Director/Brands, Consumer and New Ventures. Pendlebury will work alongside Heather McIlfatrick, Head of Commercial, Factual Brands to further develop and grow for BBC Worldwide’s brands in territory.  Pendlebury joins BBC Worldwide Australia from ITV (UK), where she is currently Controller of Multiplatform Solutions, Commercial & Online, responsible for the commercial strategy, vision and roadmap for ITV’s program brands across digital platforms, including global formats such as the X Factor and Downton Abbey. BBC Worldwide’s Brands, Consumer and New Ventures business aims to extend opportunities beyond TV platforms via brand partnerships, home entertainment products and digital activities such as gaming, live events and exhibitions, consumer products, magazines and more.

RATINGS

Live + Same Day Ratings Kids Cable Network Averages (000) for Thursday, April 12, 2012, 6am-11pm, ranked by K2-11:
DISNEY CHANNEL:       K2-11 829; K6-11 511; TWEENS 9-14 366
NICKELODEON:            K2-11 782; K6-11 349; TWEENS 9-14 256
CARTOON NETWORK:    K2-11 545; K6-11 364; TWEENS 9-14 286
DISNEY XD:                K2-11 182; K6-11 134; TWEENS 9-14 133
NICKTOONS:              K2-11 117; K6-11   79; TWEENS 9-14   88
Source: MTVN Research from Nielsen Media Research Data

Answer to Our Last Trivia Question: How much was that Gorilla in the window? Magilla Gorilla was 2 cents, marked down from $100.00. Kudos to: Mara Anastas-Simon & Schuster/NY; Erica Lopez-Horizon Media, Inc/NY; Russ Camlet-NBCU/NY; Richard Quan-BSSP/San Francisco; William “Chip” Beaman-Soundelux Design Music Group/Hollywood.

Today’s Trivia Question: On what cartoon did Mick Jadestone and the The Rolling Boulders appear? (Email [email protected] with your answer and be sure to include your name, company, city and time zone. Unofficial rules: Only the second four correct answers from each time zone will be mentioned; and once you’ve been mentioned in any of the Cynopsis editions, you can’t be mentioned again that calendar week.)

Later — Gwen
Gwen Billings for Cynopsis Kids!
04.16.12

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