Cynopsis: Kids!

06/30/08

Good morning. It’s Monday, June 30, 2008, and this is your first early morning Kids briefing.

Breakthrough Animation inks a US cable TV deal with Jetix US, the action block that airs on Toon Disney, for the animated series Jimmy Two Shoes (26×30).  A Breakthrough Animation Production, Jimmy Two Shoes is produced in association with Teletoon (Canada) and Jetix Europe, and will air from early next year in both regions.  Breakthrough Entertainment Inc distributes the series.

Brighter Minds Media and Pocketwatch Games will release the new family-targeted environmental issue focused game Venture Artic this week.  A simulation game, Venture Artic asks players to establish and maintain ecosystems of the Alaskan tundra to sustain life for caribou, polar bears, bowhead whales, and 19 other land and aquatic animals featured in the game.  The game is a follow-up to Venture Africa.  Giving kids the chance to try to keep the balance of how much snow will melt come spring, needing to provide food for predators, and having to deal with issues of deforestation and extinction is pretty compelling.  Different modes can be selected depending on the age of the family member playing, and thus the difficulty. And yes, the game comes in packaging that is composed of 100% recycled materials, 30% post-consumer waste materials.

Lerner Publishing Group enters into a licensing deal with USA Today to develop a range of new educational book series for tweens/teens according to Publishers Weekly.  Lerner’s Twenty-First Century Books unit will publish the new books.  The initial series, USA Today Lifeline Biographies, will launch with four biography titles about Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey, Tiger Woods and Vera Wang.  Further biography titles are in the works for release in fall 2009, according to the report.  Additionally, Lerner and USA Today are developing other book series for fall 2011 that will reflect the various sections of the newspaper.

BE., a youth entertainment production and performance community, has launched two kid comedies on G4, in paid timeslots. The programs, Say What (12×30), a sketch comedy, and Kids Unlimited (12×30), a sitcom, are running on Saturdays and Sundays at 8:30a.  The shows star members of BE.’s Bay Area youth performer’s community, some of whom also helped write and direct.  The two series aired for about a year on The CW Network in the San Francisco Bay Area, and new episodes are currently in production.  Additionally, Be. Productions has begun production on a new show titled B. Boppin, with another series, titled I Hate That Show, on the way.

As part of the 25th anniversary of American Greetings’ Care Bears property, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment and American Greetings Properties are set to release the 2-disc DVD, The Care Bears: Care-A-Lot Collection, August 26, 2008.  Comprised of 22 episodes of Care Bears, the collection is packaged with an activity booklet featuring games and activities.

Lionsgate and HIT Entertainment release their new DVD title, HIT Favorites: Halloween Spooktacular on September 9, 2008.  The title includes Halloween-themed episodes of preschool series including Barney & Friends, Bob the Builder, Angelina Ballerina, Fireman Sam and Thomas & Friends.  Bonus features on the release include an episode each of Kipper and Fifi and the Flowertots.

This summer the kid-centric music act Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer launch their first podcast.  The Cathy & Marcy’s Songshop free podcasts debut on July 1 with Better When We Sing It Together, a 5-minute podcast featuring none other than Cathy & Marcy.  The duo plans to post a new free podcast every three weeks or so with each offering music and activities, which will also be available via iTunes and other services.

MARKETING/LICENSING

Spain’s Imira Entertainment enters into a deal with ZDF Entertainment for the licensing, merchandising and publishing rights deal for ZDF’s live-action series H20: Just Add Water for Spain, Portugal and Andorra.  The tween-targeted H20: Just Add Water (52×26 and 2×90) is currently airing in Spain on Megatrix, the Saturday and Sunday morning block on Antena 3, and on Nickelodeon (Spain), as well as other countries worldwide.  A third season of the series is currently in production and will be available for Q2 2009.  Imira also represents the rights for a number of titles from ZDF including Wicked Science and The Lost Treasure of Fiji.

Are we there yet? How ’bout now? NCircle Entertainment introduces Perfect for the Car, a summer display promotional program offering a selection of kid’s video titles at select grocery stores nationwide through the end of August.  Aimed at families heading out on the road this summer and looking for new and some previous DVD releases to entertain the kids.  Available in customized floor and counter retail displays, the DVD titles ($6.99 each) include Heathcliff, Hermie & Friends, Mighty Machines, Sabrina the Animated Series, Sonic Underground, Super Mario Bros. and The Littles, among others.

STONE SOUP

Weekend Box Office Estimates for kids/tweens/teens rated G, PG or PG-13; June 27-29, 2008:
Wall-E (Buena Vista) G                                                                      Opening Weekend $62.5m
Get Smart (Warner Bros.) PG-13                                                         $20.0m-2 wk total $77.3m
Kung Fu Panda (Paramount (DreamWorks)) PG                                    $11.7m-4 wk total $179.3m
The Incredible Hulk (Universal) PG-13                                                 $9.2m-3 wk total $115.5m
The Love Guru (Paramount) PG-13                                                      $5.4m-2 wk total $25.3m
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (Paramount) PG-13 $5.0m-6 wk total $299.9m
You Don’t Mess with the Zohan (Sony/Columbia) PG-13                        $3.2m-4 wk total $91.2m
Iron Man (Paramount) PG-13                                                              $2.3m-9 wk total $309.2m
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (Buena Vista) PG                    $1.1m-7 wk total $137.7m
The Visitor (Overture Films) PG-13                                                     $305,000-12 wk total $7.7m
Source: Box Office Mojo

EXECUTIVE MOVES

Paul Ward is appointed to the new position of EVP/Primetime Acquisitions and Strategy, MTVN Kids & Family Group, per Variety.  Ward, a Nickelodeon veteran, will be responsible for acquiring programming Nick at Nite, as well as overseeing the on-air promos and ad sales for the NAN group.  Ward, who joined the company about 20 years ago, was part of the team that launched TVLand (1996).  Here’s to ya Paul!

RATINGS

Live + Same Day Ratings Kids Cable Network Averages (000) for Thursday, February 11, 2008, 6am-11pm, ranked by K2-11:
NICKELODEON:         K2-11 1242; K6-11 709; TWEENS 9-14 479
DISNEY CHANNEL:     K2-11 1127; K6-11 814; TWEENS 9-14 601
CARTOON NETWORK: K2-11   797; K6-11 528; TWEENS 9-14 383
TOON DISNEY:           K2-11   125; K6-11   85; TWEENS 9-14   62
Source: MTVN Research from Nielsen Media Research Data

Answer to Yesterday’s Trivia Question: On Nick Jr’s animated series Ni Hao, Kai-lan, what is the name of Kai-lan’s monkey friend? ? HOHO Kudos to: John Thomas NCC/NY; Kelly-Ann Fentress-Nickelodeon Preschool Television/NY; John Ko-qubo/NY; Emmy Johnston-MTV Networks/Chicago; Sherry McLeod-Treehouse TV/Corus Entertainment/Toronto

Today’s Trivia Question:  On what children’s series would you find a cat named Periwinkle? (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 — Cyn
06.30.08

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