Cynopsis: Kids!

06/24/08

Good morning. It’s Tuesday, June 24, 2008, and this is your first early morning Kids briefing.

RC2 Corporation, a US-based toy company, inks a deal to acquire the Children’s Publishing Division (CPD) of Publications International, Ltd.  Under the deal RC2 will pay US $163 million in cash for CPD.  CPD publishes 10+ million kid’s books each year, including electronic books, story books, Story Reader and Poingo, many of which are sold at toy stores as well as book retailer in North America, Europe, Latin America and Asia.

Italy’s Atlantyca Entertainment launches its new content-publishing division.  Simultaneously the division inks its first licensing deal with Taffy Entertainment, a unit of The MoonScoop Group, to produce novels loosely based on Taffy’s animated series Code Lyoko.  Atlantyca plans to publish a series of four Code Lyoko books, the first of which is slated for release in early 2009.  Moving forward, the company also plans to develop novels based on other entertainment properties, with a goal of publishing 50+ products annually.  The new content-publishing division comes closely on the heels of Atlantyca’s launch of its licensing division, which manages the international licensing efforts for Geronimo Stilton brand and also serves as the Italian licensing agent for Taffy Entertainment’s Code Lyoko, Growing Up Creepie and Dive Olly Dive!

NEW PRODUCTION & DEVELOPMENT

Laika Entertainment, the animation studio owned by Phil Knight (of Nike fame), is looking for a Hollywood movie studio to partner on several feature films it is developing, per Variety.  Laika, which is in the midst of completing work on its first stop-motion animated movie Coraline based on Neil Gaiman’s book of the same name, and will be distributed by Focus Features.  Projects Laika is reportedly shopping around include:

• Here Be Monsters! – a project based on Alan Snow’s fantasy books set in 1850s London, which revolves around a 12-yr-old who lives in a world beneath the city that is inhabited by monsters but wants to live a normal life in the above ground world.
• Jack and Ben – a CGI animated project about brother birds that find themselves in a dangerous road race during their migration south.
• Paranorman – based on an idea by Chris Butler, who was the story chief on Coraline, about a 13-yr-old boy that must help his town that is under a secret curse.

Other projects being developed by Laika, according to the report, include The Wall and the Wing, an adaptation of a book by Laura Ruby, an untitled comedy/adventure based on a young-adult book trilogy, and a project about the background of Halloween.

MORE KIDS STUFF

TVN Entertainment Corp., a TV on-demand company, and Anime Network team up in a three-year VOD services partnership.  Included under the deal are industry-wide distribution and asset/metadata management services to support Anime Network’s subscription (SVOD) and free on demand (FOD) programming across various formats.  The agreement also provides Anime Network with access to TVN’s suite of on-demand products and services, which includes ADONISS, iPRI – an interactive tool that allows programmers to update VOD metadata before, during, and after asset distribution to VOD servers, and TVNow – a service that converts live programming into on-demand content, which is then made available to viewers within hours of the event.  The deal also supports Anime Network’s on-demand advertising initiatives.  Anime Network, a subsidiary of A.D. Vision Inc., ditched its linear cable channel earlier this year to focus on its SVOD and FOD efforts.

And the Moon Men will be handed out this year in … (drum roll) … Los Angeles.  MTV announced that the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs) televised live from Paramount Pictures studios in LA on September 7, 2008 at 9p, of course tape delayed for the West Coast audience.  Marking its silver anniversary, MTV’s 25th annual VMAs will air live and only once in its original full broadcast incarnation.  MTV will look to its audience to help determine the nominees among other things.  MTV’s Dave Sirulnick is the executive producer, with Jesse Ignjatovic set to executive produce the show for the network.

MARKETING/LICENSING

PPC Enterprises, the commercial division of the Picture Production Company Group (PPC), signs a deal making Empire Inter-Merchandising Group the licensing agent for its CGI animated kid’s series Pinky & Perky across Taiwan, Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, China and the Philippines.  Empire Inter-Merchandising Group will showcase Pinky & Perky next week at the Hong Kong International Licensing Show. PPC Enterprises holds worldwide rights to Pinky & Perky, and is looking to extend the brand into the publishing, apparel, collectibles and housewares categories.  Pinky & Perky is set to premiere this fall 2008 on CBBC on BBC One.

Chorion enters into a deal with Exim Licensing Group to represent its Mr. Men & Little Miss brand for merchandising and promotions in Latin America, the Caribbean and Hispanic Puerto Rico.  The Mr. Men & Little Miss property is based on the book series by Roger Hargreaves.

Electronic Arts’ Casual Entertainment label has unveiled plans to adapt Workman Publishing Company Inc.’s curriculum-based Brain Quest for the Nintendo DS.  The first two multi-mode Brain Quest games, one for third/fourth graders and the other for fifth/sixth graders, will be released for the DS in time for back-to-school this fall 2008.  Like in the original version of Brain Quest players will answer a series of age/grade appropriate, however in the video game version, answering questions will get players points that are redeemable for collectibles, which in turn can be used to customize up to six scenes in the game.

Best Western International has partnered with Disney Channel for a promotion based on the network’s new TV movie Camp Rock.  Now through August 17, members of the Best Western Rewards program who stay any six nights at a Best Western hotel will received a collectible US $50 Best Western Camp Rock Travel Card (in Canada CDN $50), while AAA/CAA Preferred members will receive the travel card after five nights.  Additionally, Best Western and Disney Channel’s Camp Rock are offering a chance to win a four-day trip for four to anywhere in the US, a guitar autographed by Jonas Brothers and Demi Lovato and an amp. Entries can be submitted at www.DisneyChannel.com/CampRockGetaway , now through June 29, 2008. ( www.bestwestern.com/summer)

Subaru of America, Inc. signs on with ESPN as the exclusive automotive sponsor of X Games 14, which will be held in LA July 31-August 3.  New to X Games 14 will be Skateboard and BMX SuperPark, BMX Street and Women’s Moto X Racing.  For a schedule of X Games 14 rally events and a complete event schedule visit www.expn.com .

STONE SOUP

In conjunction with The Zula Patrol, the animated math/science-centric series aimed at K4-8, joining the qubo Saturday morning block on NBC next month, which we told you about last week, The National Head Start Association (NHSA) is partnering with The Zula Patrol to address issues of science and math literacy in students across the US.  According to the NHSA, Zula’s Launch Pad for Learning lessons and Exploration Kits dovetail with Head Start’s math and science domains, providing developmentally appropriate educational experiences that address various learning styles of young kids.  The Zula Patrol will also join qubo’s line-up next month on ION Television and Telemundo.  Additionally, the series will continue to air on public TV stations in the US.

Best known for familiarizing preschoolers around the world with letters and numbers, the local adaptation of Sesame Street in Kosovo, where the series is titled Rruga Sesam (in Albanian) and Ulica Sezam (in Serbian), is making an additional impact on its viewers.  According to a new study conducted in Kosovo, the series is making a significant impact on how kids view other ethnicities within their community.  NY-based Fluent Pubic Opinion & Market Research, in collaboration with Kosovo-based SMMRI, conduced a random survey of 536 5-6-year-olds over six weeks, with half watching the series and the other half not. Overall, kids who watched the show were 74% more likely than kids who did not to demonstrate positive attitudes towards kids from different ethnic backgrounds.  Further results found that versus kids who didn’t watch the show, kids who watch were more likely to:

• See kids of a distinct race/ethnicity as being similar to them
• Express a willingness to interact with kids of different race/ethnicity
• Express acceptance of a kid that does not speak their language
• Kosovo Albanian expressed greater willingness to help a Serbian kid and vice versa
• Sesame Workshop is currently seeking funding for another phase of the project in Kosovo.

RATINGS

Live + Same Day Ratings Kids Cable Network Averages (000) for Friday, June 20, 2008, 6am-11pm, ranked by K2-11:
DISNEY CHANNEL:     K2-11 1069; K6-11 797; TWEENS 9-14 672
NICKELODEON:          K2-11 1072; K6-11 557; TWEENS 9-14 417
CARTOON NETWORK: K2-11   804; K6-11 581; TWEENS 9-14 433
TOON DISNEY:           K2-11   193; K6-11 104; TWEENS 9-14   76
Source: MTVN Research from Nielsen Media Research Data

Answer to Yesterday’s Trivia Question: Jaleel White provided the voice of the title character in what cartoon?  SONIC THE HEDGEHOG Kudos to: Kyle Luna-Animation Insider/Tobyhanna, PA; EJ Offurum-Tru TV/NY; John Ko-qubo/NY; Al Ovadia-Al Ovadia & Associates/Hidden Hills, CA; Claire Wilmut-Boomstone Animation Inc./Ottawa

Today’s Trivia Question:  Who was the voice of Iago the parrot in both the Disney film Aladdin (1992) and on the TV series (1994-1996)? (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
06.24.08

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