Cynopsis: Kids!

06/18/09

Good morning. It’s Thursday, June 18, 2009, and this is your first early morning Kids briefing.

Framelight Productions and David Uslan unveiled plans to adapt the British author/illustrator Ian Beck‘s kid-aimed fantasy/adventure book trilogy The Secret History of Tom Trueheart, into a series of live-action feature film.  There is no director or screenwriter for the movie(s) so far, the first of which is currently set to being production in mid-2010.  Framelight’s Jeffrey D. Erb and Robert L. Robinson, Jr. will produce with Uslan.  Beck will serve as executive producer.

Nickelodeon plans to launch ChinaToon, a one-hour programming block featuring Chinese produced Mandarin-language series, in 13 territories across Southeast Asia on July 1 at 1p, per THR.  The result of continuing discussions between Viacom and China’s State Administration of Radio Film and Television (SARFT), ChinaToon will air in Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines.  Nickelodeon has acquired two Chinese animated series for the block.  The first is Magic Wonderland, which is about a fairy’s daughter caught in a battle against evil and is co-produced by Zhejiang Zhongnan Group Animation Video and China Central Television.  The second series is Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf (530 episodes), a five-year old program from Creative Power Entertainment about a clever goat that protects her pals from a wolf.  Nickelodeon has been airing Western-produced kid-targeted programming in China since 2001.

MORE KIDS STUFF

ValCom’s MyFamilyTV enters into distribution deal with Sky Angel US for its new KidMango programming block, increasing MyFamilyTV’s reach to 30 million households.  KidMango programs will run on Christian-centric Sky Angel’s Angel Two and KTV (Kids & Teens TV) channels, which are available in 13+ million homes via Dish Network DBS.  A joint venture between ValCom and Porchlight Entertainment, the KidMango block currently features 10 programs including Jay Jay The Jet Plane, The Secret World of Benjamin Bear and Adventures from the Book of Virtues.

Universal Studios Home Entertainment will release a two new direct-to-DVD movies, a Barbie and a Lego Bionicle title, on September 15, 2009.

• The new animated feature Barbie and The Three Musketeers features Barbie and her friends as the first girl musketeers who are on a mission to save the prince.  The DVD release features a range of extras including music videos, Barbie Fashion Show etc., and each DVD comes with a Barbie Pink Ticket Party instant win game piece  offering a range of prizes for kids 3-12 in the US.  Additionally, fans will also be able to buy and download the new movie (and other Barbie titles) from select online sites including iTunes.
• The new CG animated movie Bionicle: The Legend Reborn, which is based on Lego’s Bionicle line, is produced by Tinseltown Toons in association with The Lego Group features the voice of Michael Dorn (Lieutenant Worf on Star Trek: The Next Generation).

MARKETING/LICENSING

Glu Mobile launches the game Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs ( www.iceage3mobile.com) for mobile handsets worldwide. This game is Glu’s third mobile title based on Fox Mobile Entertainment‘s Ice Age franchise.  Fox’s new animated feature film Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs opens July 1, 2009.

Disney’s Consumer Products division is teaming with netbook maker ASUS to release a new spill-proof, kid friendly laptop that ships with upgraded parental control options and is pre-loaded with software and content aimed at K6-12. The Disney Netpal netbook, which comes in Magic Blue or Princess Pink, features an 8.9 inch LCD display, Wi-Fi capabilities and runs off of the Windows XP Home OS. Disney characters walk kids through popular applications including a web browser and email. A Radio Disney widget streams music and offers multimedia management from the desktop. The kid-targeted laptop is set to retail at outlets including Toys ‘R Us and Amazon.com for $349.99.

American Greetings Properties (AGP), Cookie Jar Entertainment and MediaLink Pacific have racked up a raft of licensing deals in a wide range of categories for American Greetings’ library of properties over the last month. 

Domestic licenses:

• AGP inks deals with Shocker Toys (US and Canada) for Madballs, My Pet Monster, Pretty Freekin Scary, and Sushi Pack; for Strawberry Shortcake with Nancy Sales Company; for Care Bears to Intradeco Apparel (US and Canada).
• Cookie Jar grants a Strawberry Shortcake deal with Planet Sox.

International licenses:

• AGP inks and ad/merchandising/publishing representation deal with Copyright Promotions Licensing Group (Belgium, France, Luxembourg and the Netherlands) for Holly Hobbie & Friends; Think Wow Toys (Australia, Canada, France, Germany, New Zealand, Spain, UK, US and US territories and possessions) for Silly Slammers; for Care Bears with Union Beauty Creative Marketing (Taiwan); Strawberry Shortcake with Nikken (Paraguay) and Hakan Canta San. (Algeria, Bahrain, Bulgaria, Dubai, Egypt, Iran, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, UAE)
• Cookie Jar grants deals for Strawberry Shortcake with Showa Industria e Comercio de Importacao (Brazil), Malwee Malhas (Brazil), IBC-Instituto Brasileiro de Cultura (Brazil), Companhia Fabril Lepper (Brazil), and Bonona Importadora e Comercio (Brazil), Sociedad Comercial Federal Internacional (Chile), Ronda (Colombia), Tai Heng (Peru), Modern Times (Cyprus, Greece), and Wall Art (Israel, Gaza Strip and the West Bank).
• MediaLink Pacific inks deal for Care Bears with T & G Holding (Hong Kong, Macau) and Seggan Taiwan (Taiwan).

EXECUTIVE MOVES

The Joy Tashjian Marketing Group (JTMG) appoints two new executives, Lisa Napolitano as Director/Sales and Retail and Heather Cavalli as Product Development & Administration Coordinator.  Napolitano previously toiled for NBC Universal in Business Affairs.

RATINGS

The launch of Zeke and Luther on Disney XD Monday, June 15 at 8:30p becomes the best series premiere ever for Disney XD (and it predecessor network Toon Disney) among Tweens 9-14 183,000 as well as Tween Boys 9-14 131,000.  Additionally, the series launch gave the network its best performance on a Monday night at 8:30p among K6-11 253,000.  When Disney XD launched in the US on February 13, 2009, its lineup included the series premiere of Aaron Stone, which bowed with a Tween 9-14 166,000.

Live + Same Day Ratings Kids Cable Network Averages (000) for Sunday, June 14, 2009, 6am-11pm, ranked by K2-11:
NICKELODEON:         K2-11 1160; K6-11 755; TWEENS 9-14 567
DISNEY CHANNEL:     K2-11 1098; K6-11 771; TWEENS 9-14 625
CARTOON NETWORK: K2-11   536; K6-11 360; TWEENS 9-14 282
DISNEY XD:               K2-11   145; K6-11 118; TWEENS 9-14   94
Source: MTVN Research from Nielsen Media Research Data

Live + Same Day Ratings Kids Cable Network Averages (000) for Monday, June 15, 2009, 6am-11pm, ranked by K2-11:
NICKELODEON:         K2-11 1140; K6-11 676; TWEENS 9-14 603
DISNEY CHANNEL:     K2-11 1186; K6-11 815; TWEENS 9-14 678
CARTOON NETWORK: K2-11   692; K6-11 502; TWEENS 9-14 406
DISNEY XD:               K2-11   219; K6-11 166; TWEENS 9-14 135
Source: MTVN Research from Nielsen Media Research Data

Live + Same Day Ratings Kids Cable Network Averages (000) for Tuesday, June 16, 2009, 6am-11pm, ranked by K2-11:
NICKELODEON:         K2-11 1193; K6-11 709; TWEENS 9-14 527
DISNEY CHANNEL:     K2-11 1185; K6-11 853; TWEENS 9-14 709
CARTOON NETWORK: K2-11   564; K6-11 386; TWEENS 9-14 286
DISNEY XD:               K2-11   232; K6-11 179; TWEENS 9-14 159
Source: MTVN Research from Nielsen Media Research Data

Answer to Yesterday’s Trivia Question:   This partial intro was for what popular classic children’s TV series?  “The cereals you like the most! The cereals made by POST … take you to the secret mountain retreat of ______________.”   CAPTAIN VIDEO  Kudos to just one … Keith M. Manzella-EastWest MG/NY.  Okay – here’s an easy one …

Today’s Trivia Question:   What is the name of Speedy Gonzalez’ cousin?   (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!
06.18.09

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