A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE FROM DISNEY CHANNEL

Cynopsis: Kids!

03/31/08

Good morning. It’s Monday, March 31, 2008, and this is your first early morning briefing.

Disney Channel has begun production on the preschool-targeted CG animated series Jungle Junction.  Produced in the UK by Spider Eye Ltd., Jungle Junction is scheduled to premiere in 2009 on Disney Channels and Playhouse Disney channels around the world.  With a focus on environmental messages and pre-literacy skills, such as signs and symbols that are seen in the daily life of a preschooler, the music-filled series follows the jungle adventures of a group of characters that are part animal and part vehicle.  Jungle Junction is created by Trevor Ricketts (Shaun the Sheep).

MORE KIDS STUFF

Each spring orange takes on a voice of its own, that of happily screaming kids and tweens celebrating their favorites in 18 categories … and such was the case again this past Saturday night, March 29, 8-9:30p, with the live broadcast of Nickelodeon’s 2008 Kids’ Choice Awards (KCA).  Hosted by Jack Black, his second time in the role, the 21st annual shriek-fest (yikes, does that make us old? – OK, it makes me old), celebrities walked the orange carpet, presented and received orange blimps and a number of them, including Harrison Ford, Orlando Bloom and Black, getting the green slime treatment. Some 86+ million kids (March 3-29) cast their votes, more than twice that as last year, for their favorites, which included winners such as Johnny Depp, Miley Cyrus, Drake Bell, Tony Hawk and Cameron Diaz (see lower down for a full list of winners).  While the KCA repeated several times over the weekend on both Nickelodeon, The N, Nicktoons and TurboNick, this week will also include the premiere of a highlights special, Kids’ Choice Awards: Best of the Mess on Nickelodeon, Tuesday, April 1 (8:30-9p).

Disney Channel picks up 35 new episodes each of its animated preschool series Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and My Friends Tigger & Pooh.  Walt Disney Television Animation produces both series.

B. Wooding completes a series of international kids program sales just ahead of MIPTV (Cannes April 7-11, 2008).

• Broadcast rights for Roofters are licensed to Al Jazeera (Middle East)
• The Tale of Tillie’s Dragon is licensed to Al Jazeera (Middle East), Samanyolu Yayin Holding A.S. (Turkey), Barnhill Group (Russia and CIS countries), and DVD rights to Kartunz (Poland)
• Baby Genius is acquired for broadcast by Baby First TV (Europe), Provideo (Romania), Innoform (Singapore), with VOD rights going to Treehouse Direct (Canada), via Puff TV for Rogers (Canada) and Telenet (Benelux), and for DVD to Zima/Cine y Video (Mexico and Central America), Majors for Minors (South Africa), Cosar Editores (Chile), and Essentials Marketing Editorial (Colombia).

Joining Foothill Entertainment’s lineup at MIPTV next month is the animated series Zot the Dog (13×30).  Produced for ITV (UK), Zot the Dog is based on author Ivan Jones’ books that follow the adventures of a Dog Named Zot and his best buddy Clive.  Foothill will also showcase the CGI development project Boy and the Dinosaur, created by Jason Harding, and Big Top Island (26×11).  Big To Island is slated for delivery in fall 2008.  Both series will be produced by Splash! Productions.  Additionally, pre-production continues on the preschool series, Iconicles.  Commissioned by BBC/CBeebies for 2009, the interactive variety series comes from phuuz entertainment and is co-produced with Create Media Ventures in the UK.

Foothill has also inked a number of deals ahead of the market including: Kiddo the Super Truck has been acquired by SABC (South Africa), RTP (Portugal) and RTV (Slovenia); The live-action dance movie Hip Hop Kidz is picked up by RAISAT (Italy); Little Monsters has been purchased by TF1 (France) and Channel 4 (Finland); the animated movie Toy Warrior is picked up by Canal J (France) and DigiTurk (Turkey); with Microscopic Milton being licensed to Disney Spain, Canal + (Poland) and RTV (Slovenia); finally Rarg will be released on DVD under a new home video license deal IMC Vision.

Also leading into MIPTV, Nelvana Enterprises has inked a worldwide home entertainment rights deal for the CGI-animated series, The Backyardigans (60 episodes), with FremantleMedia Enterprises, excluding the US and Canada.  Produced by Nick Jr. and Nelvana Studios, the first season of The Backyardigans is set to be released on DVD in Japan, with seasons two and three bowing in various other countries (again except the US and Canada, where they are already available).

News from the Bologna Children’s Book Fair, which opens today and runs through Thursday, April 3, in Italy: Atlantyca Entertainment is named the exclusive licensing and merchandising agent in Italy for three of Taffy Entertainment’s brands, Code Lyoko, growing Up Creepie and Dive Olly Dive!  According to the deal, Atlantyca’s new licensing division, led by Elisa Pezzutti, will establish and manage licensing and merchandising programs for each property across a range of key categories.  Under a previous agreement, Taffy Entertainment will similarly represent licensing for Atlantyca’s Geronimo Stilton property outside of Italy.

HarperCollins has completed a six-figure deal with ballerina Darcey Bussell for her book series Magic Ballerina.  Targeted to girls 5-8, the Magic Ballerina series revolves around a young girl who joins a ballet school and the adventures her ballet shoes take her on.  The first titles are to be published in October 2008, followed by additional titles in spring 2009.  Bussell is working on the series with another writer.  HarperCollins will showcase the series in Bologna this week.

Actress/singer/author Julie Andrews and her daughter Emma Walton Hamilton are moving the publishing imprint The Julie Andrews Collection to Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, a division of Hachette Book Group USA, from its previous home at HarperCollins.  The imprint’s first new title in its new home, Julie Andrews’ Collection of Favorite Poems, Songs and Lullabies, will be published in fall 2009.  The title will be released with a bonus CD featuring archival musical recordings and new narrations by Andrews.  Other titles planned for release include an additional anthology, as well as the launch of a new picture book character, The Very Fairy Princess, set for spring 2010, which will follow the adventures of a mischievous girl and her quest to become a fairy princess.  Editorial Director Liza Baker will oversee the Julie Andrews Collection.

Last year we launched Cynopsis Digital, the year before the Cynopsis Daily Video, the year before Cynopsis audio podcast, and the year before that Cynopsis International.  It seems it has become something of a trend for us to launch something new each and every year, and why should this year be anything different?  Announcing Cynopsis Media: Top Tier, our newest Executive Search Division.  An extension of our well known Classifieds section, Top Tier will use our extensive reach to help locate and screen the best person for the executive job you are looking to fill.  Whether you’re looking for a new hire, or a change of scenery yourself, let us know, we can help.

STONE SOUP

Winners at Nickelodeon’s 2008 Kids’ Choice Awards included kid favorites in:

Movies

Movie: Alvin and the Chipmunks

Actress: Jessica Alba

Actor: Johnny Depp

Voice in an Animated Movie: Eddie Murphy in Shrek the Third

Animated Movie: Ratatouille

TV

Show: Drake & Josh

Reality Show: American Idol

Actress: Miley Cyrus (Hannah Montana)

Actor: Drake Bell (Drake & Josh)

Cartoon: Avatar: The Last Airbender

Music

Music Group: The Jonas Brothers

Female Singer: Miley Cyrus

Male Singer: Chris Brown

Song: Girlfriend (Avril Lavigne)

Sports

Male Athlete: Tony Hawk

Female Athlete: Danica Patrick

Wannabe

Cameron Diaz

Other Categories

Video Game: Madden NFL ’08

Book: Harry Potter (series)

Weekend Box Office Estimates for kids/tweens/teens rated G, PG or PG-13; March 28-30, 2008:
21 (Sony/Columbia) PG-13                                 Opening Weekend $23.7m
Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who! (Fox) G              $17.4m-3 wk total $117.3m
Superhero Movie (MGM (Weinstein)) PG-13          Opening Weekend $9.5m
Tyler Perry’s Meet the Browns (Lionsgate) PG-13  $7.8m-2 wk total $32.8m
Drillbit Taylor (Paramount) PG-13                        $5.8m-2 wk total $20.6m
Shutter (Fox) PG-13                                           $5.3m-2 wk total $19.1m
10,000 B.C. (Warner Bros.) PG-13                       $4.9m-4 wk total $84.9m
College Road Trip (Buena Vista) G                       $3.5m-4 wk total $38.4m
Never Back Down (Summit Entertainment) PG-13 $2.4m-3 wk total $21.3m
Vantage Point (Sony/Columbia) PG-13                 $2.4m-6 wk total $69.3m
Source: Box Office Mojo

EXECUTIVE MOVES

Eileen McCarthy is named Program Director, KidsCo, the newly launched kid/family aimed channel.  McCarthy had been Programming Director, Asia for the Hallmark Channel in Hong Kong.  She previously toiled for April Films Pty Ltd (Australia), Sky Channel (Australia) Racing, Walt Disney Television (Singapore) and Network 7 Australia.

Razor & Tie Entertainment promotes Marty Gottesman to Director/Licensing & Administration.  He was most recently Manager/Licensing & Royalty Administration, and will continue to report Angela Alvino, VP/Finance & Operations.

RATINGS

Live + Same Day Ratings Kids Cable Network Averages (000) for Thursday, March 27, 2008, 6am-11pm, ranked by K2-11:
NICKELODEON:         K2-11 1045; K6-11 499; TWEENS 9-14 407
DISNEY CHANNEL:     K2-11   818; K6-11 541; TWEENS 9-14 416
CARTOON NETWORK: K2-11   586; K6-11 359; TWEENS 9-14 288
TOON DISNEY:           K2-11   133; K6-11   54; TWEENS 9-14   33
Source: MTVN Research from Nielsen Media Research Data

Answer to Yesterday’s Trivia Question:  On what children’s show can you find helpful characters Felipe, Turner, Stretch, Squeeze, Pat, Dusty and Rusty?  HANDY MANNY (Playhouse Disney)   Kudos to: Joel Press-DC Comics/NY; David S. Larson-CBS Television/NY; Jacqueline Cutler-Tribune Media Services/NY; Denise Wiggins-The Weather Channel/Atlanta; Justin Meadows-Disney/ABC Cable Networks Group/Burbank; Meryl Alper-Nickelodeon/Burbank; Jason Atkinson-Radio Disney Network/Burbank; Rebecca Rodriguez-Disney Channel/Burbank; Steve Folwer-The Licensing Shop/Toronto

Today’s Trivia Question: On what animated children’s TV series could you find a cat intern named Princess Blossom Pepper Doodle Von Yum Yum or “Blossom” for short? ( 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!
03.31.08

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JOB OPENING: SVP STRATEGIC RESEARCH/Disney*ABC Dom TV/Burbank: 10 yrs broad-based TV exp + 7+ yrs mgmt; leading edge exec w/proven ability to assess media trends/developments. APPLY www.disneycareers.com Req #137377  (4/5)

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