Cynopsis: Kids!

7/28/08

Good morning. It’s Monday, July 28, 2008, and this is your first early morning Kids briefing, presented for the first time with graphic elements!  Let us know what you think!

Warner Bros.‘ The Dark Knight earned an additional $75.6 million domestically this weekend according to Box Office Mojo, whisking the movie to a 10-day total of $314 million and setting, you guessed it, a new record for the fasting movie to earn $300 million.  The previous record holder in the category was Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (July 7, 2006/Buena Vista), which toppled the $300 million mark in 16 days.  More broken records are not far in the offing, including beating out Shrek 2, which took 43 days to best $400 million.  But can it beat Titanic (December 19, 1997/Paramount), which stands at the all time biggest box office with $601 million?  Or can it overtake Star Wars (May 25, 1977/Fox), the second place all time box office holder with $461 million.

NEW PRODUCTION & DEVELOPMENT

At Comic-Con in San Diego over the weekend, Disney was showing off footage from its new animated movie Bolt and Pixar Animation’s new movie titled Up. 

• Bolt follows the adventures of Bolt, a dog (voiced by John Travolta) that is the star of an action TV series and believes that his TV powers are real … only to step out into the real world when he thinks his owner (a young girl voiced by Miley Cyrus,) has been kidnapped.
• Up  well, check out the teaser at 

www.disney.go.com/disneypictures/up/.  Directed by Pete Docter (Monsters, Inc.) and co-director Bob Peterson, the movie revolves around Carl, a seventy-something man (voiced by Ed Asner) and his new 8-year-old explorer friend, Russell, and their adventures as they travel the world.  When a developer tries to move Carl into an old-age home, Carl and his new friend set out to see the world.  Up is slated for release on May 29, 2009.

Bryan Singer (he directed X-Men, X-Men 2, Superman Returns) is set to produce Radical Publishing’s Freedom Formula: Ghost of the Wasteland, based on the publisher’s Freedom Formula, written by Edmund Shern.  Described as a “modern day Top Gun,” Freedom Formula: Ghost of the Wasteland, the first of the 5-issue miniseries was introduced at Comic-Con over the weekend and will be available in stores from August 6.  Singer’s Bad Hat Harry and Radical Pictures will produce the movie.  Radical Publishing has recently inked movie deals with John Woo to direct Caliber and Peter Berg to produce/develop to direct Hercules.

Cartoon Network has picked up the rights to develop TV movies based on three comic book titles, Image Comic’s Firebreather and Mice Templar as CG animated original movies, and IDW Publishing’s The Vanishers as a live-action original movie.

• Firebreather, created by Phil Hester, follows awkward high schooler Duncan Rosenblatt, typical in most ways aside from the part where his dad is a fire-breathing dragon, and Duncan’s destiny is protect the earth.  Julia Pistor executive produces the project with Hester co-executive producing with Andy Kuhn, with Jim Kreig writing.
• Mice Templar is based on the comic book series created by Mike Avon Oeming and Bryan Glass about a young mouse named Karic who becomes a warrior, rescues his village and reunites the order of the Mice Templar.
• Created by Chuck Dixon, The Vanishers is an action story about fifth graders Andy and Arvis and their travels through time.  The movie is executive produced by Circle of Confusion’s Rick Jacobs, David Alpert and Ted Adams, President/IDW Publishing.

Director Alex Winter (also known to many as Bill from Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure and Bogus Journey) returns to direct Cartoon Network’s second live action/CGI movie Ben 10: Alien Force, which he will also executive produce.  Winter will direct the movie, based on the network’s animated series Ben 10: Alien Force, from a script penned by John Turman (Fantastic Four 2: Rise of the Silver surfer, The Hulk).  Winter directed the live-action movie Ben 10: Race Against Time, which premiered on Cartoon Network over Thanksgiving weekend 2007.

Disney has extended its production deal with Stan Lee’s POW! Entertainment (Purveyors Of Wonder), a multi-year deal that spans across all media (movies, TV, publishing, games, the internet and mobile sites).  And with that Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment (WDSHE) and POW! are partnering to launch Time Jumper, a new superhero digital comic book series that will release over multiple platforms.  POW!, in partnership with WDSHE, is developing the central arc of Time Jumper, with Disney Online and Disney Publishing Worldwide working in tandem to develop their own Time Jumper content for the web, mobile and various publishing platforms.  Time Jumper follows Terry Dixon, a secret agent for HUNT (Heroes United, Noble and True), who has a unique cell phone (one of a kind) created by his father.  What is so special about the phone, called The Articulus, is its time machine function.  At any rate Terry travels through time in search for his brother who has been lost somewhere in space and time, all the while being chased by Charity Vyle, the beautiful yet evil head of CULT (Council of Unlawful, Loathsome Terrorists), who of course wants that phone.

The debut of a new Broadway musical titled 13 is set to open October 5 at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theater.  The show, which stars a group of singing teens, revolves around a boy who is forced to move from NYC to Indiana when his parents divorce.  With music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown, 13 features a book by kid’s author Dan Elish (Born Too Short: The Confessions of an Eighth-Grade Basket Case) and Robert Horn (Dame Edna; Back With A Vengeance).

MORE KIDS STUFF

Disney Channel debuts Studio DC: Almost Live, a half-hour music-filled, sketch comedy special that goes backstage with the Muppets, Sunday, August 3 at 8p.  Starring Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Gonzo and Fozzie Bear, the special features appearances by Disney Channel stars including Jonas Brothers, Miley Cyrus, Ashley Tisdale among others, and will be hosted by Dylan and Cole Sprouse (Suite Life of Zack & Cody).  Studio DC: Almost Live is created by The Muppets Studio.

Also at Comic-Con over the weekend, Nickelodeon unveiled plans to launch an Avatar: The Last Airbender 3D massively multiplayer online game based on the animated series.  The beta version for Avatar: Legends of the Arena, which will serve as a prequel to the series, is set for launch in 81 markets and in 10 languages on September 15, 2008.  In the game each level will introduce and unlock new content, challenges, custom character outfits and the like.  Additionally, tomorrow marks the DVD release of Avatar: The Last Airbender  Book 3: Fire  Volume 4.

France’s Xilam animation studio has inked several Eastern European deals for its animated comedy Oggy and The Cockroaches (200×7 or 65×30).  Picking up Oggy seasons I, II and III for TV are LNK TV (Lithuania), while VGTRK (Russia) takes seasons II and III.  On the home entertainment side, CD Land (Russia) acquires the video rights for the first three seasons, and North Video (in Czech Republic and Slovakia) picks up the rights for the first season, with further deals to be announced.  Additionally, Xilam’s series Kind of Magic (26×30) has been acquired by Disney Poland and Disney Serbia.  The home video rights to Shuriken School have been picked up by Kartunz (Poland) and Millennium Trading (Romania).

Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim will premiere a new Robot Chicken special, Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode II (yeah  not targeted to kids, but so funny and teens love it), on November 16, 2008 at 11:30p.  Created by Seth Green and Matthew Senreich in conjunction with ShadowMachine Films, the second Robot Chicken Star Wars special will feature Carrie Fisher and Billy Dee Williams from the original Star Wars movies, as well as, those returning from the first special, including Ahmed Best (Jar Jar Binks), Seth MacFarlane (emperor Palpatine), Breckin Meyer (Admiral Ackbar and Boba Fett), Conan O’Brien (Zuckuss) and Donald Faison.  Robot Chicken: Star Wars was released on DVD last week.

ION Media Networks and RCN Corporation ink a carriage deal for qubo in Boston.  qubo is the second ION Media Networks channel available to RCN subscribers in Boston; the first being ION Television.

MTV Networks International (MTVNI) launched Nickelodeon Arabia, the network’s 50th global channel, last week.  The Arabic language channel is aimed at K2-14 and is now available on free-to-air networks, Arabsat and Nilesat, and potentially reaching upwards of 190 million viewers across the Middle East.  Nickelodeon Arabia features both original productions including Shoof Kids, which features viewers homemade videos, and Jumetna Friday, an afternoon block hosted by local talent and features Nick series from around the world, such as Drake and Josh, SpongeBob SquarePants and Dora The Explorer and.  The network’s website (www.nickarabia.net) is available in both Arabic and English.

MARKETING/LICENSING

GoAnimate.com inks a deal with Entertainment Rights to bring licensed content to its website.  Under the deal, GoAnimate.com users will have the opportunity to write, create and animate their own Underdog, Richie Rich and Mr. Magoo episodes from September 2008.

VizWoz, the UK’s newly launched kid/teen-targeted virtual community, enters into content deals with movie studios including Paramount Pictures, Walt Disney Studios, Universal and Twentieth Century Fox.  Under the agreements the movie studios will provide content to the VizWoz virtual cinema including previews, film clips, trailers and interviews from their respective theatrical releases.

Also in the UK, the first edition of the new Tween 8-14 targeted comic Taymai Comic+ has launched in the UK.  Taymai, which stands for “Tell all your mates about it,” specializes in viral marketing.  Taymai Comic+ is a free, online comic featuring a mix of old and new media, including 2D hand drawn comic strips, video and online casual gaming.  In addition to properties such as Roobarb & Custard, the comic features a range of new characters including a new property on the front page titled The Screamers.  Each character featured on the site can offer merchandise via an online print-on-demand store.

Planetwide Games teams with 4Kids Entertainment and TC Digital is a deal for the MashON Chaotic Comic Book Creator.  The MashON Platform will allow Chaotic Trading Card Game and TV series to create customized comic books/graphic novels using licensed art and images.  The software, available for free to those with registered accounts (www.mashon.com) is expected to be available by the end of 2008.

Elsewhere, 4Kids Entertainment signs several new licensing deals for its property Dinosaur King:

• Master Toy licensee, Playmates Toys, will release a line of Dinosaur King figures and role-play items in spring 2009. Playmates will distribute the line throughout North America and Eastern Europe, with one or more distribution partners to cover the rest of the world outside of Asia and the Middle East.
• Upper Deck will launch a new trading card game based on the property in October 2008.  The Dinosaur King Trading Cards will be included in the Playmates Toys’ Dinosaur figures.
• SEGA will release a kid-friendly Dinosaur King video game for Nintendo DS this September 2008.

Zoo Games, a publishing label of Green Screen Interactive Software, will release two Story Hour game titles, Fairy Tales and Adventures, exclusively for Wii this fall.  Each title includes four different takes on classic fairytales/fables (e.g. Snow White, Rapunzel, Paul Bunyan, and The Three Brothers) that incorporate motion sensitive controls allowing parents and young kids to tell the stories together.  Both titles feature artwork by a range of illustrators including C.B. Canga, Stan Chow, Guy Francis, and Patricia Castelao, among others.  Developed by Other Ocean Interactive, both Story Hour titles are slated for release in October.

STONE SOUP

Weekend Box Office Estimates for kids/tweens/teens rated G, PG or PG-13; July 25-27, 2008:
The Dark Knight (Warner Bros.) PG-13                $75.6m-2 wk total $314.2m
Mamma Mia! (Universal) PG-13                           $17.9m-2 wk total $62.7m
The X-Files: I Want to Believe (Fox) PG-13          Opening Weekend $10.2m
Journey to the Center of the Earth (New Line) PG $9.4m-3 wk total $60.2m
Hancock (Sony / Columbia) PG-13                       $8.2m-4 wk total $206.4m
Wall-E (Buena Vista) G                                       $6.3m-5 wk total $195.2m
Hellboy II: The Golden Army (Universal) PG-13    $4.9m-3 wk total $65.9m
Space Chimps (Fox) G                                        $3.4m-2 wk total $16.0m
Get Smart (Warner Bros.) PG-13                         $2.3m-6 wk total $124.2m
Kung Fu Panda (Paramount (DreamWorks)) PG    $1.0m-8 wk total $209.0m
Source: Box Office Mojo

EXECUTIVE MOVES

The preschool literacy series WorldWorld has upped three in its Licensing and Marketing group: Arielle Basch moves up to VP/Marketing; Jessica Hopp is promoted to Director/Licensing, and Rona Iny steps up to Manager/Marketing.

Jetix Europe has promoted Michael Ghosh to Pan-European Advertising Sales Director.  Ghosh, who had been head of Jetix UK and Nordic sales teams, will be responsible for developing Jetix Europe’s pan-European and multi-territory ad-sales and sponsorship business across the 15 Jetix TV channels and 19 websites from August 1.  Prior to joining Jetix Europe in 2002, Ghosh was a Sales Group Head at Channel 4 and ITV.

RATINGS

Live + Same Day Ratings Kids Cable Network Averages (000) for Thursday, July 24, 2008, 6am-11pm, ranked by K2-11:
DISNEY CHANNEL:      K2-11 1236; K6-11 909; TWEENS 9-14 703
NICKELODEON:           K2-11 1136; K6-11 706; TWEENS 9-14 582
CARTOON NETWORK:  K2-11   816; K6-11 550; TWEENS 9-14 430
TOON DISNEY:            K2-11   137; K6-11   70; TWEENS 9-14   58
Source: MTVN Research from Nielsen Media Research Data

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Today’s Trivia Question:  On the animated series Dexter’s Laboratory, what was Dexter’s ballet-loving sister’s name?   (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
07.28.08

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B OPENING: MKTG PROD MGR/DISCOVERY/LA: Resp for overseeing elements for cross promotional opportunities for TLC. 3-5 yrs exp in on-air promo/mktg/ prod.  Ad sales exp a +. Full posting and apply: www.discovery.com Job number 8109 (8/2)

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