Good morning. It’s Monday, January 17, 2011, and this is your first early morning Kids briefing.

Hit Entertainment acquires the rights to the books Diary of a Worm, Diary of a Fly, and Diary of a Spider (Joanna Cotler Books/HarperCollins) to develop as a preschool-targeted animated TV series, Diary of a Worm, Spider, and Fly (working title).  Based on the books by author Doreen Cronin (Click Clack Moo: Cows That Type, Giggle Giggle Quack) and illustrator/cartoonist Harry Bliss, the series will be told from kid’s point of view and follows the adventures of three unlikely friends, Worm, Spider and Fly, as it encourages young viewers to explore their world.  The TV series will also feature an earth science centric curriculum.  The deal was brokered on behalf of Cronin and Bliss by Holly McGhee of Pippin Properties and Jason Dravis of Monteiro Rose Dravis Agency.  The books will be extended into a new I Can Read program, which will launch in 2013.  Additionally, the Oregon Children’s Theatre (OCT) will feature the musical stage show Diary of a Worm, Spider and a Fly, based on the books, beginning next week at the Newmark Theatre in Portland, OR, and will then head out on tour.

NEW PRODUCTION & DEVELOPMENT

Fox has moved up the release date for the family-targeted feature film Mr. Popper’s Penguins, which stars Jim Carrey, to June 17, 2011.  The movie had been set for an August 12 release.

There will be a fifth Pirates of the Caribbean movie and Disney has completed a deal with screenwriter Terry Rossio for that movie, per Variety.  Rossio with his writing partner Ted Elliott penned the screenplays for the first four Pirates movies (as well as Shrek, Aladdin, among others), though Elliott doesn’t appear to be part of the fifth picture.  As for Johnny Depp, would he return for a fifth movie?  Depp told Entertainment Weekly that he “would most definitely consider it.”  There is no confirmation on who will direct the fifth movie.  The fourth title in the series, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, is directed by Rob Marshal and set to release on May 20, 2011.  Gore Verbinski directed the first three Pirates of the Caribbean movies.

MORE KIDS STUFF

American Greetings Properties names Televix Entertainment as its exclusive distributor for the Care Bears library on terrestrial TV and DVD in Latin America.  Televix will offer 52 episodes of the animated series Care Bears; Adventures in Care-a-Lot, five Care Bears full-length movies, and the classic Care Bears animated series.  Televix will showcase Care Bears content at NATPE next week.

Music producer Ralph Churchwell’s music themed, kid-targeted web series The Donkey Boyz debuted Friday on the video-powered teen social networking site website Imbee ( www.imbee.com ), which financed the series. The serial features a group of young teens that have great aspirations to make it big in the music business, but first they have to make their way through the challenges of puberty.  The Donkey Boyz stars up and comers Raymond Cham Jr., Jordan Churchwell, Soren Bryce Martin, Carlos McCullers II, Elijah Rawlings, and Noah Scott Rawlings.

Big Idea Entertainment will release its new holiday themed DVD, VeggieTales: ‘Twas The Night Before Easter, on March 5 and 8, 2011 in Christian and general market retailers respectively.  The new DVD features music and a new character, Cassie Cassava, who is voiced by American Idol finalist Melinda Doolittle.  Bonus content on the title includes interviews, a backstage segment with Larry the Cucumber on the VeggieTales Live! tour, and silly songs.  The release will be supported by a marketing and ad campaign with licensing and promotional partners including, Gund, Toys “R” Us, Target, Walmart, American Greetings Interactive, Frankford Candy & Chocolate, and American Puzzle Company, among others.

The first WotWots e-book, Lanky Landing Legs, is now available for the iPad via all iTunes stores around the world.  Based on the third episode of the WotWots preschool series, the audio books is read by series narrator, Martin Baynton.  Additionally, the e-book features a theme song sing-along, each word of the story is spelled out aloud to help young readers with pronunciation, each page can become a black and white illustration that users can then color in, and the audio text can be recorded and played by the user.  Produced by Pukeko Pictures and made at Richard Taylor’s Weta Workshop (Lord of the Rings, King Kong), the WotWots is filmed in Australia and New Zealand.

MARKETING/LICENSING

Lisle International Licensing and Giochi Preziosi Group ink a multi-category licensing deal that appoints the Italian-based toy company as the European master toy licensee (outside the UK), for ZhuZhu Pets.  Giochi Preziosi will develop ZhuZhu pets merchandise across a range of categories including mini-collectibles, action game, plush, consumer electronics, back-to-school, food, publishing and footwear.   Giochi Preziosi’s various division will be part of the new ZhuZhu Pets product development, such as its publishing and promotional teams, Grani and Partners, and Easy Shoes, the latter developing a shoe/footwear line for some territories.  Cepia, a US-based toy company, owns ZhuZhu Pets.

STONE SOUP

Weekend Box Office Estimates for kids/tweens/teens rated G, PG or PG-13; January 14-16, 2011:
The Green Hornet (Sony/Columbia) PG-13                                     Opening Weekend $34.0m
The Dilemma (Universal) PG-13                                                    Opening Weekend $17.4m
True Grit (Paramount) PG-13                                                        $11.2m-4 wk total $126.4m
Little Fockers (Universal) PG-13                                                    $7.1m-4 wk total $134.2m
Tron Legacy (Buena Vista) PG                                                       $5.7m-5 wk total $156.9m
Yogi Bear (Warner Bros.) PG                                                         $5.3m-5 wk total $82.1m
Season of the Witch (Relativity) PG-13                                           $4.5m-2 wk total $18.0m
Tangled (Buena Vista) PG                                                              $3.9m-8 wk total $181.0m
Country Strong (Sony/Screen Gems) PG-13                                    $3.7m-4 wk total $13.3m
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (Fox) PG $2.3m-6 wk total $98.1m
Source: Rentrak ( www.rentrak.com )

RATINGS

Live + Same Day Ratings Kids Cable Network Averages (000) for Thursday, January 13, 2011, 6am-11pm, ranked by K2-11:
NICKELODEON:         K2-11 1200; K6-11 542; TWEENS 9-14 356
DISNEY CHANNEL:     K2-11   881; K6-11 494; TWEENS 9-14 390
CARTOON NETWORK: K2-11   422; K6-11 268; TWEENS 9-14 214
DISNEY XD:               K2-11   203; K6-11 139; TWEENS 9-14   99
NICKTOONS:              K2-11     81; K6-11   53; TWEENS 9-14   45
Source: MTVN Research from Nielsen Media Research Data

Answer to Yesterday’s Trivia:  What is Billy Batson’s secret word?   SHAZAM!  Kudos to: Ron Yurman-Short Hills Media Group/NJ; Hank Bordowitz-The Bordowitz Media Werx/NJ; Cara Lustik-HIT Entertainment/NY; Rich Thomas-Disney Publishing/NY; Tom Boyd-WGN/Chicago; Max Burnett-The Troop/LA; Patrick Rieger/Burbank; Brett Ashy-The Ashy Agency/LA; Rob Chatlin-FX Network/LA; Brandon Lane-9 Story Entertainment/Toronto

Today’s Trivia Question:  Who am I?  I’m in charge where I work.  I’m older, have white hair, wear a red hat and like to wear red socks too.  Our workplace is a little different than the usual, kind of in a wooded area. Oh, and an interesting tidbit – our company was named after a baker who first opened a shop in Philadelphia in 1853.  Who am I?   (Email Cynthia@cynopsis.com 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 Billings for Cynopsis Kids!
01.17.11

Cynopsis Ad Sales:
Mike Farina – VP/Business Development & Sales – 203-218-6480 / mike@cynopsis.com
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