Cynopsis: Kids!
12/18/08
Good morning. It’s Thursday, December 18, 2008 and this is your first early morning Kids briefing.
4Kids Entertainment, Inc. yesterday announced a drop in its headcount by about 15% across all subsidiaries and divisions, as well as planning to reduce its operating costs by $4-5 million in 2009. The operation review and layoffs come just as 4Kids and Fox Broadcasting Company end their relationship, as previously reported, bringing an end to the 4KidsTV Saturday morning programming block on Fox this month.
Publisher, Catalyst Game Labs, LLC, and Pinata Games have formed a strategic alliance, contingent on the Catalyst’s purchase of the WizKids properties, which includes HeroClix. Last month The Topps Company announced its was closing WizKids, its Seattle-based hobby gaming company, due to economic issues. Should Catalyst purchase WizKids’ properties from The Topps Company, Pinata will begin as operator for the HeroClix brand immediately. Under the proposed partnership, Pinata and Catalyst would be able to release new games both together and independently.
MORE KIDS STUFF
Nickelodeon rings in the New Year with some first kisses in Kisses & Misses on Saturday, January 3, 8-10p. The programming block will feature possible first puckers on new episodes of iCarly (8p) and True Jackson, VP (8:30p), as well as episodes of Drake & Josh (9p) and H20 (9:30p).
VIZ Media, LLC and Warner Home Video (WHV) sign an exclusive US and Mexico home entertainment distribution deal for new and catalog DVD releases from VIZ Media. Effective April 1, 2009, WHV will pick up franchises such as Naruto, Bleach, Death Note and Inuyasha, among others.
We all know that more and more kids use the internet to find out more about TV shows, movies, toys and products they see in ads. According to Mediamark Research & Intelligence‘s (MRI) new 2008 American Kids Study, 43% of kids 6-11 visited a website they saw or heard about in a commercial or ad. Of the approximately 10.7 million kids who reported visiting a company’s site after seeing it in an ad, it is the older kids who are more likely to actually to go to that specific site: K6-7 (26.5%); K8-9 (33.3%); and K10-11 (40.2%); gender-wise it is almost even, with boys slightly higher. The study was conducted with about 5,000 kids via an in-home survey, as well as a separate survey of primary caregivers in those same households focusing on the kid’s purchase in influence activities. Additionally, kids who say they visited a site after seeing/hearing about it in an ad/commercial are more likely (%) than the average US kid to:
- Use the internet every day (48%)
- Have a personal email address (41%)
- Parents let them go anywhere they want online (40%)
- Use instant messaging (IM) (40%)
- Downloaded music in the last month (34%)
- Downloaded a TV show in the last month (29%)
MARKETING/LICENSING
A little something for some Harry Potter fans still hurting from Warner Bros.‘ shift in the release of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince from last month to July 17, 2009. Well, at least those who happen to be in NYC over the next few days anyhow. Clearview Cinemas has unveiled its plan to feature all five current Harry Potter movies for a six-day marathon of sorts, at the wonderful Ziegfeld Theater in NYC, beginning tomorrow, December 19 through December 24. During the opening weekend, the Harry Potter movies will be shown for more than 12 consecutive hours in the order of their release, starting at 10a each day with Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and concluding with Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Fans can find the full six-day schedule (and buy tickets online) at www.clearviewcinemas.com.
Raggs LLC. Is set to release Raggs Rocks, a new activity book (65 pages) and DVD for preschoolers, this January 2009. The DVD includes two episodes of the series as well as sing-a-long concerts, and music videos. Raggs Rocks will be available at retail chains including CVS/pharmacy and Kroger stores.
Debi Derryberry, voice-over artist (she is the voice of Jimmy Neutron) and singer/songwriter, is launching a new preschool+-targeted Debi Derryberry’s Baby Banana. The first product for the property is Baby Banana and the Licorice Tree, a book for kids pre-K through 2nd grade. Further plans for Baby Banana include a live show beginning in Q1 2009, a CD and interactive website both set for spring 2009, and plush toys for Q3 2009. Additionally, Derryberry is working on further product and programming for 2010.
STONE SOUP
Bestseller Children’s Fiction Books (top 10), Week of December 8, 2008: Title; Author (Publisher)
The Tale of Despereaux; Kate Dicamillo (Candlewick)
Inkdeath; Cornelia Funke (Scholastic/Chicken House)
The Maze of Bones; Rick Riordan (Scholastic)
The Book Thief; Markus Zusak (Knopf)
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas; John Boyne (Random House/Fickling)
The Graveyard Book; Neil Gaiman (HarperCollins)
The Hunger Game; Suzanne Collins (Scholastic)
The Mysterious Benedict Society; Trenton Lee Stewart (Little, Brown)
Slam; Nick Hornby (Riverhead)
The Invention of Hugo Cabret; Brian Selznick (Scholastic Press)
Compiled from data received from independent and chain bookstores.
Source: Publishers Weekly
Bestseller Children’s Picture Books (top 10), Week of December 15, 2008: Title; Author (Publisher)
If You Give A Cat a Cupcake; Laura Numeroff (HarperCollins/Geringer)
A Very Marley Christmas; John Grogan (HarperCollins)
Gingerbread Friends; Jan Brett (Putnam)
Big Words for Little People; Jamie Lee Curtis (HarperCollins/Cotler)
Swing!; Rufus Butler Seder (Workman)
Gallop!; Rufus Butler Seder (Workman)
ABC3D; Marion Bataille (Roaring Brook/Porter)
Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes; Mem Fox (Harcourt)
Olivia Helps at Christmas; Ian Falconer (Atheneum)
Barack Obama: Son of Promise, Child of Hope; Nikki Grimes (Simon & Schuster)
Compiled from data received from independent and chain bookstores.
Source: Publishers Weekly
EXECUTIVE MOVES
Sony Pictures promotes Rory Bruer to President/Worldwide Distribution, and in dosing so consolidates Sony Pictures’ worldwide theatrical distribution efforts under one roof. Additionally, Mark Zucker is named President/Sony Pictures Releasing International; he will report to Bruer. A 25 year veteran of Sony, Bruer had been President/Sony Pictures Releasing since 2002, and Zucker served as President /Distribution SPRI since 2006. Bruer will continue reporting to Jeff Blake, Chairman/Sony Pictures Worldwide Marketing & Distribution.
RATINGS
Live + Same Day Ratings Kids Cable Network Averages (000) for Tuesday, December 16, 2008, 6am-11pm, ranked by K2-11:
NICKELODEON: K2-11 1172; K6-11 547; TWEENS 9-14 400
DISNEY CHANNEL: K2-11 708; K6-11 427; TWEENS 9-14 343
CARTOON NETWORK: K2-11 588; K6-11 378; TWEENS 9-14 287
TOON DISNEY: K2-11 128; K6-11 70; TWEENS 9-14 55
Source: MTVN Research from Nielsen Media Research Data
Answer to Yesterday’s Trivia Question: What was the name of Rudy Huxtable’s pet fish who tragically died in Season #1? LAMONT Kudos to: Maria Abu Nerahoo-Nickelodeon/NY; Al Ovadia/Hidden Hills/CA; Claire Wilmut-Boomstone Animation, Inc./Ottawa
Today’s Trivia Question: What was the name of Barney Fife’s bloodhound on The Andy Griffith Show? (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!
12.18.08
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