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Cynopsis: Kids!

01/07/08

Good morning. It’s Monday, January 7, 2008, and this is your first early morning briefing.

Hasbro, Inc has acquired Cranium Inc., the board game company, for a base estimated purchase price of $77.5 million.  The clever folks at Cranium set up shop a decade by Richard Tait, co-founder and Grand Poo-Bah, yes a real title, and Whit Alexander co-founder and Chief Noodler, and yes again.  Under the signed merger agreement, a newly formed subsidiary of Hasbro will merge with Cranium, and thus making Cranium a subsidiary of Hasbro.  Cranium shareholders have yet to vote on the deal.  Cranium is the maker of games including Cranium, Cadoo, Hullabaloo and Zooreka.  Now, add the fact that Hasbro inked a licensing deal with Electronic Arts over the summer, and perhaps we’ll see some Cranium video games?  And then can a TV game show be that far behind?

In conjunction with Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates’ final opening keynote address at the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show yesterday, Microsoft unveiled new partnerships with Disney-ABC Television Group, MGM and NBC Universal, joining 35+ other partner networks and studios.  From later this month, all US Xbox Live members will begin to have access to select TV shows and movies from Disney-ABC Television Group, which will provide 500+ hours of TV programming (hi-def and standard), including kids/teen/family TV programming from Disney Channel, Toon Disney, ABC Family and ABC via Xbox Live Marketplace video store.  Additionally, ABC News content (dating back to 1963) is part of the deal.  MGM will provide movies of all genres from its feature film library to Xbox Live.  NBC Universal will deliver live and on-demand internet coverage, exclusively in the US, of the upcoming 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing via NBCOlympics.com on MSN.

NEW PRODUCTION & DEVELOPMENT

The feature film rights to Australian author John Flanagan’s young adult action/fantasy book series Ranger’s Apprentice has been optioned by United Artists according to the LA Times.  Published in the US by Philomel, a unit of Penguin Young Readers Group, the Ranger’s Apprentice series (seven books so far, with an eighth in the works and a ninth promised) follows the adventures of 15-year-old Will, an orphan living in medieval times, who joins a group called the Ranger Corps, where he trains to be the King’s eyes and ears.  Negotiations are underway for writer/director Paul Haggis (Million Dollar Baby, Crash, he adapted Flags of Our Fathers) to helm the first movie, which will be based on book one of Ranger’s Apprentice, The Ruins of Gorian.

In related news, if United Artists is able to craft together an intervening agreement with the Writers Guild of America then perhaps work on the first Ranger’s Apprentice movie can get under way sooner rather than later.  Other studios and productions companies are considering such a move as well.

Who will play Superman?  Well, rumor has it that while Brandon Routh, the actor who played the Man of Steel in Warner Bros.’ Superman Returns (2006), won’t star in the studio’s live action movie adaptation of another DC Comics property, Justice League, he will, however, continue to star in the individual Superman movies, per Ain’t It Cool News.  The Justice League movie will reportedly be its own experience, which is to say it won’t reach out to the other existing DC Comics movie franchises.

MORE KIDS STUFF

Whittaker Bay, a new teen-targeted drama, debuted Saturday morning on Superstation WGN.  Produced by indie H2O Entertainment, Whittaker Bay follows the lives of four families living along the coast of North Carolina.  The cast features Timothy Woodward Jr., and twins Sabrina and Kelly Aldridge (MTV’s 8th And Ocean, Deck The Halls).

4Kids Entertainment has completed licensing deals with broadcasters in the UK and Europe for its mixed cel and CGI animated series Dinosaur King.  The new fantasy/adventures series will make its debut on Mediaset (Italy), RTL2 (Germany), France 3 (France), Canal J (France) and Jetix (UK, Scandinavia and Spain) during the 2008-9 TV season.  4Kids expects to announce deals for Australia, Latin America and Canada leading into NATPE later this month.  The series premiered in the US on 4Kids TV this past fall 2007.

MARKETING/LICENSING

Mad Catz Interactive, Inc., a provider of third-party accessories, has inked a multi-year license deal with MTV Networks (MTVN) to produce and distribute game peripherals and other products for the new Rock Band game in North America and around the world.  Published by MTV Games and developed by MTVN’s Harmonix Music Systems, Rock Band is currently available for Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and Playstation 2 consoles in North America.  On the heels of this pact, Mad Catz has acquired the rights to manufacture, market and sell game accessories, including both wired and wireless bass guitars, a drum percussion set bundled with wooden drum sticks, and a wired microphone.  Look for the new products produced under this deal in the first half of 2008.

VIZ Media, LLC, is set to launch a new imprint titled VIZBIG Edition. The new imprint will release compilation editions of manga series in a larger 5-3/4 x 8-5/8 size, which is larger than the standard 5 x 7-1/2 manga, and are expected to sell for $17.99.  The VIZBIG editions will be comprised of the first three volumes of the original graphic novel series as well as added content such as new color pages, interviews and new cover art.  The first VIZBIG title to be published, on January 29, under the imprint is Rurouni Kenshin, with Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z slated for release this May 2008, and Takehiko Inoue’s Vagabond to follow in 2008.

GEICO, the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) and the San Diego Zoo have kicked-off a nationwide conservation campaign featuring a live gecko exhibit, the GEICO Gecko and a series of animated TV ads.  The exhibit will make its way to US AZA accredited zoos and aquariums as part of a three-year partnership between GEICO and AZA. Also under the deal, GEICO will serve as a lead sponsor of AZA’s Earth Day Party for the Planet.

STONE SOUP

Weekend Box Office Estimates for kids/tweens/teens rated G, PG or PG-13; January 4-6, 2008:
National Treasure: Book of Secrets (Buena Vista) PG              $20.2m-3 wk total $171.0m
I Am Legend (Warner Bros.) PG-13                                        $16.3m-4 wk total $228.6m
Juno (Fox Searchlight) PG-13                                                $16.2m-5 wk total $52.0m
Alvin and the Chipmunks (Fox) PG                                        $16.0m-4 wk total $176.7m
One Missed Call (Warner Bros.) PG-13                                   Opening Weekend $13.5m
P.S. I Love You (Warner Bros.) PG-13                                     $8.0m-3 wk total $39.4m
The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep (Sony (Revolution)) PG $6.3m-2 wk total $30.9m
The Great Debaters (MGM (Weinstein)) PG-13                        $4.2m-2 wk total $22.0m
Enchanted (Buena Vista) PG                                                   $3.7m-7 wk total $119.7m
The Golden Compass (New Line) PG-13                                $2.7m-5 wk total $65.5m
Source: Box Office Mojo

RATINGS

Live + Same Day Ratings Kids Cable Network Averages (000) for Monday, December 31, 2007, 6am-11pm, ranked by K2-11:
NICKELODEON:           K2-11 1232; K6-11 731; TWEENS 9-14 486
DISNEY CHANNEL:       K2-11 1156; K6-11 778; TWEENS 9-14 591
CARTOON NETWORK:   K2-11   676; K6-11 474; TWEENS 9-14 346
TOON DISNEY:             K2-11   127; K6-11   65; TWEENS 9-14   37
Source: MTVN Research from Nielsen Media Research Data

Live + Same Day Ratings Kids Cable Network Averages (000) for Tuesday, January 1, 2008, 6am-11pm, ranked by K2-11:
NICKELODEON:           K2-11 1224; K6-11 825; TWEENS 9-14 613
DISNEY CHANNEL:       K2-11 1144; K6-11 808; TWEENS 9-14 600
CARTOON NETWORK:   K2-11   543; K6-11 356; TWEENS 9-14 236
TOON DISNEY:             K2-11   165; K6-11   84; TWEENS 9-14   46
Source: MTVN Research from Nielsen Media Research Data

Live + Same Day Ratings Kids Cable Network Averages (000) for Wednesday, January 2, 2008, 6am-11pm, ranked by K2-11:
NICKELODEON:             K2-11 1286; K6-11 676; TWEENS 9-14 519
DISNEY CHANNEL:         K2-11 1099; K6-11 778; TWEENS 9-14 620
CARTOON NETWORKS:   K2-11   802; K6-11 538; TWEENS 9-14 353
TOON DISNEY:               K2-11   218; K6-11 142; TWEENS 9-14 110
Source: MTVN Research from Nielsen Media Research Data

Live + Same Day Ratings Kids Cable Network Averages (000) for Thursday, January 3, 2008, 6am-11pm, ranked by K2-11:
NICKELODEON:           K2-11 1207; K6-11 676; TWEENS 9-14 510
DISNEY CHANNEL:       K2-11   989; K6-11 666; TWEENS 9-14 494
CARTOON NETWORK:   K2-11   576; K6-11 385; TWEENS 9-14 245
TOON DISNEY:             K2-11   190; K6-11 106; TWEENS 9-14   75
Source: MTVN Research from Nielsen Media Research Data

Answer to Yesterday’s Trivia Question:  On what children’s show would you find The Schwartzman Quartet?   JACK’S BIG MUSIC SHOW   Kudos to:  Kaitlin O’Brien-Nickelodeon Music Marketing & Talent/NY; Caryn Davidson-National Geographic Society/NY; Cat Pirrone-Nickelodeon/NY; Kevin Yam-Distributive Networks/Washington, DC; Andy Meyers-M3 Television/Hollywood

Today’s Trivia Question: What cartoon character’s trademark line is “Where is the kaboom, there was supposed to be an earth-shattering kaboom!”? ( Click here 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!
01.07.08

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