A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE FROM RADIO DISNEY

Cynopsis: Kids!

10/26/09

Good morning. It’s Monday, October 26, 2009, and this is your first early morning Kids briefing. 

HandMade Films acquires Larry Schwarz’s NYC-based Animation Collective Group in a deal valued at a maximum of US$12 million, and has partnered with National Geographic Kids to launch the joint venture Handmade Kids TV.  Schwarz will remain the creative head of the Animation Collective Group for Handmade Kids and will also serve on the Handmade Kids board of directors.  Additionally the newly formed Handmade Kids inks a deal with the Duchess of York, Sarah Ferguson to adapt her books Tea for Ruby and the Little Red series as animated TV programs. The terms of this deal were not announced other than Ferguson will remain involved with her properties and will become a non-executive director of the Handmade Kids board. HandMade’s acquisition of Animation Collective is subject to profit performance over a three-year period. HandMade is set to release its CGI animated feature film Planet 51 in the US next month, which Sony is distributing.  Production on its movie Eloise in Paris, featuring Uma Thurman, is set to begin pre-production soon, with an additional six movies planned for release over the next two years.

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE FROM CYNOPSIS MEDIA EVENTS

Following the BBC Trust‘s mostly positive review of children’s services earlier this year, the BBC lays out plans for the additional $41.8 million it pledged for BBC kid’s content across its services over the course of three years:

• The funds will help support of existing big budget successful programs such as The Sarah Jane Adventures, Horrible Histories and My Almost Famous Family, as well as further seasons of 3rd & Bird and Kerwhizz for CBeebies.  Additionally, funds will be earmarked for development of new original series, specifically comedy and dramas.
• Funds will also go towards bolstering kid-targeted audio offerings such as streamed, downloadable audio content for kids.  The CBeebies website is set to re-launch next month with every page featuring a link to a new version of the CBeebies Radio Player.
• Plans also include growing the CBBC website, which had seen a decline, to achieve its weekly reach to 900,000 by April 2010.  To achieve this goal, the site will see improved navigation.  The site will be refreshed in early 2010, and feature newly created areas for kid shows like Horrible Histories, Tracy Beaker and Serious Explorers to keep visitors longer.
• Money will go towards regaining audience lost when kid’s programs were shifted earlier in BBC One’s afternoon schedule, and development of a new weekday program to play during the CBBC block on BBC One at 5:30p, which would serve as a strong lead-in to the 6p news.  If a new show is developed and is successful, over the next two years the BBC will consider reinstating Blue Peter and Newsround to their original time slots.  In the meantime, however, the CBBC programming block on BBC One will stay put at 3:05-5:15p.
• BBC will also continue to address digital programming for kids by looking to extend CBBC channel hours and providing its programs on-demand via the kid’s iPlayer.

NEW PRODUCTION & DEVELOPMENT

DreamWorks Studios picks up the movie rights to the young adult five-book series Wicked by authors Nancy Holder and Debbie Viguie and published by Simon & Schuster.  Brothers Aaron and Matthew Benay (Brad Bird/Pixar/Warner Bros. upcoming 1906) will write the screenplay adaptation based on their own pitch.  The Gotham Group is producing the movie.

Anne Hathaway, Neil Patrick Harris and Rodrigo Santoro are in talks to star as the voices in director Carlos Saldanha‘s new 3D digital animated movie Rio for Blue Sky Studios and Fox Animation, per THR.  Saldanha also directed Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs for Blue Sky Studios and Fox Animation.  Slated for release on April 8, 2011, Rio follows the adventures of a nerdy macaw that sets out from his cage in Minnesota to make his way to Rio de Janeiro.  Producing the picture are Chris Jenkins (Surf’s Up) and Bruce Anderson (Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who).

MARKETING/LICENSING

Sesame Workshop appoints IMG as its licensing representative for Korea.  Under the agreement, IMG will oversee the Sesame Street brand in categories such as apparel, accessories, stationery, home decor, books video and audio.  As always Sesame Workshop’s proceeds from all sales of Sesame Street products go back into its kid-targeted educational projects.

The Pepperidge Farm Flavor Blasted Goldfish brand teams with the NBA and NBA star Dwyane Wade (Miami Heat) to launch the Team Xtreme, a new program that encourages American kids to get outside and play.  Kids are invited to be part of Team Xtreme at GoldfishFun.com/team_xtreme_park to track their play activity, find play ideas, and enter sweepstakes among other things.  The site also includes a video featuring Wade telling kids to get outside and play that pops up after kids have been on the site for 15 minutes.  The initiative will supported via 30-second spots airing throughout next month on Nickelodeon, Disney Channel and Cartoon Network.  Additionally, Sports Illustrated for Kids subscribers will receive their November issue wrapped with a Goldfish brand ad about Team Xtreme.  Additionally, Flavor Blasted Goldfish brand has signed on as the presenting partner for the first NBA FIT/WNBA FIT Dribble, Dish and Swish, which features 200 events aimed at K7-12 being held in eight NBA cities December 2009 through February 2010.  Dribble, Dish and Swish is designed to encourage participants to stay active and lead healthy lifestyles; information about the program can be found at NBA.com.

Marvel Entertainment inks several new co-branding partnerships:

• Marvel teams with Feld Motor Sports to feature both Iron Man and Spider-Man on custom designed monster trucks that will take part in the worldwide Monster Jam live tour beginning in January 2010.  Under the deal co-branded merchandise, including accessories, specialty items, DVD inclusion, posters, sticks and show yearbooks, will be sold at the Monster Jam shows and via MonsterJam .com.  Monster Jam events air on Speed Channel and CBS>
• Marvel enters into a deal with Harley-Davidson and SGI Apparel to launch an exclusive line of co-branded products featuring its characters including apparel and accessories for newborns, infants, toddlers and kids. The items will be available exclusively via Harley-Davidson dealers worldwide.
• Marvel also partners with Orange County Choppers (OCC) to introduce an exclusive line of co-branded motorcycles and merchandise featuring Marvel’s super hero characters, which include classic Spider-Man, Hulk, Iron Man, and Wolverine, marvel Heroes, Marvel Comics/Retro, Marvel Extreme, Marvel Universe and Marvel Studios upcoming movies Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America and Avengers.  Debuting this fall the co-branded products include production-line choppers and custom motorcycles as well as apparel, toys and collectibles available via OCC’s website, retail store and dealer network.

STONE SOUP

Baby Einstein might entertain your kid, but will or has it made him/her a genius?  Well, if you purchased a Baby Einstein video between June 5, 2004 and September 5, 2009 and the genius enhancement didn’t happen at your house, you are eligible for a refund/trade-in offer from Disney, per the NYT.  The offer can be for $15.99/title (up to 4 DVDs per household) or select trades.  Disney, which acquired Baby Einstein in 2001, has grown the line into other categories such as toys, books, and educational support items (e.g. flash cards) among other products.  Three years ago Disney dropped the word “educational” from its marketing of the Baby Einstein line, as did another company, the Brainy Baby Company (not owned by Disney), following a false advertising complaint filed by The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC) with the Federal Trade Commission.  The CCFC is again claiming victory for Disney’s unique refund move.  According to the report, lawyers had threatened Disney with a class-action suit if they didn’t offer a refund plan.  The Baby Einstein new refund offer is good through March 10, 2010 and requires no proof of purchase.

Weekend Box Office Estimates for kids/tweens/teens rated G, PG or PG-13; October 23-25, 2009:
Where the Wild Things Are (Warner Bros.) PG                      $14.4m-2 wk total $54.0m
Couples Retreat (Universal) PG-13                                      $11.1m-3 wk total $78.2m
Astro Boy (Summit Entertainment) PG                                Opening Weekend $7.0m
The Stepfather (2009) (Sony / Screen Gems) PG-13            $6.5m-2 wk total $20.4m
Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant (Universal) PG-13 Opening Weekend $6.3m
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (Sony/Columbia) PG        $5.6m-6 wk total $115.2m
Amelia (Fox Searchlight) PG                                               Opening Weekend $4.0m
Toy Story/Toy Story 2 (3D) (Buena Vista) G                        $1.0m-4 wk total $30.2m
Good Hair (Roadside Attractions) PG-13                              $1.0m-3 wk total $2.9m
The Invention of Lying (Warner Bros.) PG-13                       $900,000-4 wk total $17.0m
Source: Rentrak ( www.rentrak.com )

Answer to Yesterday’s Trivia Question:  Here’s a snippet from a popular TV theme song … can you finish the line?  “Let’s ride with the family down the street. Through the courtesy of _____________.”  FRED’S TWO FEET from THE FLINTSTONES  Kudos to: Julie Stowell-Tribune Media Services/NY; McPaul Smith-Whoop Inc./NY; Howard Rosenstein-Meredith Video Solutions/NY; Ray Foushee-WDRB/Louisville; Murray Schultz-Spectrum Global Comm/Chicago; Judy Yoon-Disney Media Sales & Mktg/Burbank; Steve Behlin-Disney Publishing/Glendale; Brett Ashy=The Ashy Agency/LA; Lover Keyes Roy-Pacific Technical Group/Burbank; Brent Ebert-Cartoon Network/Sydney; Sherry Lake-Treehouse/Toronto

Today’s Trivia Question:  What popular animated series included this line:  “Yum, it’s been lightyears since you programmed synthetic brownies.”     (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
 Gwen Billings for Cynopsis Kids!
10.26.09

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