Cynopsis: Kids!
03/31/09
Good morning. It’s Tuesday, March 31, 2009, and this is your first early morning Kids briefing.
India’s DQ Entertainment unveils plans to produce a new 3D HD animated version of Rudyard Kipling’s’ The Jungle Book as a TV series (52×11) and TV movie (1×60) based on the series, which are slated for delivery by 2010. With a budget of about US$12 million, the TV series and TV movie are a co-production with German broadcaster ZDF and its distribution/licensing arm ZDF Enterprises (ZDF-E). DQE holds majority global rights including TV and all platforms of distribution, home video, VOD, publishing, merchandising and all form of licensing. ZDF/ZDF-E holds distribution rights for Europe (excluding French, English and Irish territories), Middle East and Latin America for the series and movie. Already set in place, TF-1 Broadcasting and its distribution/licensing TF-1 Enterprises, will serve as the French partner, while NBC Universal will be responsible for home video distribution in the UK, France, Australia, New Zealand and Japan.
Nickelodeon was the big winner, ratings winner that is, as it handed out its 22nd annual Kids’ Choice Awards (KCA), which was followed by the premiere of the new animated series The Penguins of Madagascar on Saturday night, March 28 at 8-9:30p and 9:30p respectively.
- KCA set an all time high with 7.7 million total viewers P2+ watched the kid kudos fest. The net also set KCA records among kid viewers with K2-11 3.8 million, K6-11 3.0 million and Tweens 9-14 2.9 million. A record 4.6 million households tuned into the show.
- The 9:30p debut of The Penguins of Madagascar, the DreamWorks Animation SKG and Nickelodeon co-produced animated series, became the network’s most watched series premiere ever, with 6.1 million total viewers P2+. The bow knocked the premiere of All Grown Up out of the way with its 2003 5.2 million total viewers. The Penguins of Madagascar launch was also Nick’s largest animated debut among K6-11 with 2.3 million. Additionally, it was the best series premiere for the net with Tweens 9-14 2.3 million.
More good news for DreamWorks Animation SKG as its new 3D movie Monsters vs. Aliens, its first 3D movie, broke Imax theatre records when it opened over the weekend (3/27-29). The movie was the largest Imax 3D opening ever with $5.1 million on 143 Imax screens domestically, with close to 9% of the box office gross from less than 2% of the screens where the total screens where the movie debuted. Monsters vs. Aliens was released by Paramount is both 2D and 3D movie theaters with an overall estimated weekend total box office take of $59.3 million. The Imax release also set new records in Russia, Ukraine and the Philippines.
NEW PRODUCTION & DEVELOPMENT
Cookie Jar Entertainment gets the greenlight for its new animated TV series titled Peter Pepper’s Pet Spectacular. A co-production between Canada’s Cookie Jar Entertainment and South African animation studio Clockwork Zoo, broadcaster CBC (Canada) has picked up 26 episodes of the series. Peter and Pepper’s Pet Spectacular is based on the book of the same name by the mother and son team, author Betty Paraskevas and illustrator Mickey Paraskevas, who also wrote/illustrated the book/TV series, Maggie and the Ferocious Beast. The series marks the first Canadian South African animation co-production where the work will not be subcontracted.
MORE KIDS STUFF
Sprout, the 24/7 digital cable and satellite preschool network, acquires the new live-action puppet series Mighty Jungle (46×11) from Decode Enterprises. Produced by Halifax Film, Mighty Jungle will premiere on Sprout on Friday, April 24 at 5:30p as part of a special Mighty Earth Week (April 20-24) celebration of Earth Day. Beginning on Monday, April 20, Sprout’s The Sunny Side Up Show will be honor the planet on Mighty Earth Week by talking about different ways parents and kids can care for the Earth. Games and coloring pages for Mighty Jungle will be available at SproutOnline.com from Thursday, April 9. Sprout is a joint venture of Comcast Corporation, HIT Entertainment, Sesame Workshop and PBS.
EchoStar’s Sling Media signed a deal with HIT Entertainment to provide free access to a number of HIT shows on the Sling.com video portal. Shows such as Thomas The Tank Engine, Barney and Bob The Builder will be featured. Sling.com offers channels from more than 130 content partners.
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MIPTV 2009
Portfolio Entertainment is at MIPTV showcasing Hood, a new cross-platform, animated comedy/adventure series for tweens. Portfolio is developing with series with Teletoon (Canada), which will feature a blend of animation styles including 2D digital content. Created by Howie Shia, Hood revolves around a secret group of super teens that zip into their special powered hoodies, enhancing each member’s specialty, allowing them to monitor and defend the world against various threats. Shia is creating the series bible and initial scripts for the series with the help of story editor Mark Leiren-Young.
Sesame Workshop heads to Denmark this September 2009, when a new programming block featuring localized Sesame content will debut on public broadcasters TV 2. Hosted by Elmo and his new Danish pal, the new block (currently unnamed) will consist of two seasons (80×30) and will include programs Play with Me Sesame, Elmo’s World, and interstitials with Sesame Street’s Abby Cadabby.
The Jim Henson Company signs a new broadcast deal at MIPTV for its new CG animated preschool series, Dinosaur Train (40×30, 80×11) with public broadcaster NRK (Norway). Launching at MIPTV, Dinosaur Train is produced by Henson with co-producer Singapore’s Big Communications and with participation and with assistance of the Singapore Media Development Authority. Dinosaur Train will debut in the US on PBS Kids in fall 2009, with recent broadcast deals set in Canada with TV Ontario and British Columbia’s Knowledge. Henson will oversee all ancillary exploitation of the property, including international TV and video sales, and worldwide licensing and merchandising. PBS will handle DVD distribution in North America. UK production and financial support is being provided by Ingenious Media. RC2 Corp. is the global master toy licensee for Dinosaur Train, and its Learn Curve Brands will launch a line of products in the second half of 2010.
KidsCo picks up the broadcast rights to two animated series, DinoSquad (26×22) and The Future is Wild (26×22). KidsCo is co-owned by NBC Universal, Cookie Jar Group and Corus Entertainment. KidsCo acquired DinoSquad from Cookie Jar and will run the series across its global feeds (excluding Turkey, South Africa and Bulgaria). Additionally, the new animated series The Future is Wild is set to launch on KidsCo’s central and eastern European feed from April. DinoSquad airs in the US on Cookie jar’s CBS Saturday morning programming block. Co-produced by iVL Animation, a studio of ST Electronics, and Nelvana with the support of the Media Development Authority of Singapore (MDA), The Future is Wild is based on the adult-aimed CGI series, and follows the adventures of group of kids traveling in the future to solve mysteries of the Earth’s evolution while encouraging viewers to thinks about the future of our flora and fauna millions of years from now.
Aardman Rights inks a number of new TV and home entertainment pre-sales for its new preschool series Timmy Time (52×10). Currently in production, the series has already been picked up by CBeebies (UK) for debut in 2009, Disney Channels worldwide (including the US), and ABC TV (Australia), TF1 (France), DRGV (Denmark), YLE (Finland), NRK (Norway) and SVT (Sweden).
- New broadcasters signing on for Timmy Time include SuperRTL (German, Austria and German-speaking Switzerland), Nickelodeon for Benelux, as well as Estonian TV, Minimax (Hungary and CEE), HOP! (Israel and Romania) and Al Jazeera Children’s Channels (Middle East).
- New home entertainment rights takers for the show include ABC Video (Australia), Big Picture Entertainment (Spain), SF Norge (Scandinavia), 2entertain (UK and Eire), Mediaway (Poland), LNK (Portugal) and Svietco Entertainment (Russia).
HIT Entertainment taps producer/distributor Imira Entertainment to represent its TV rights catalogue and home entertainment distribution in Spain and Portugal. Under the agreement, Imira will serve as the key licensing agent for HIT’s TV series including Thomas & Friends and Bob the Builder, as well as the licensing agent for home entertainment releases for Fireman Sam, Angelina Ballerina and Barney.
EXECUTIVE MOVES
Zodiak Entertainment, a new unit of DeAgostini Group, appoints Saku Tuominen as its new Entertainment Group CCO. Tuominen will run the Entertainment Central Creative Unit of the company, reporting to Giorgio Gori, SVP/Zodiak Entertainment. A noted series creator, Tuominen was previously CCO, Zodiak Television Finland and a member of Zodiak’s creative unit The Distillery. Additionally, he founded, with Juha Tynkkynen, the Finnish production company Broadcasters in 1990, which was later acquired by Zodiak Television.
RATINGS
Live + Same Day Ratings Kids Cable Network Averages (000) for Friday, March 27, 2009, 6am-11pm, ranked by K2-11:
NICKELODEON: K2-11 1195; K6-11 578; TWEENS 9-14 438
DISNEY CHANNEL: K2-11 931; K6-11 635; TWEENS 9-14 484
CARTOON NETWORK: K2-11 581; K6-11 383; TWEENS 9-14 274
DISNEY XD: K2-11 133; K6-11 83; TWEENS 9-14 59
Source: MTVN Research from Nielsen Media Research Data
Answer to Yesterday’s Trivia Question: According to the cartoon version of “The Tick” what speed is faster than light? LINT The speed of lint is faster than the speed of light because it gets on your clothes so quickly after they’re washed. Kudos to … nobody. Ouch.
Today’s Trivia Question: At what school would you find Bubbles, Chuchie, Do, and Aqua – and who are they better known as? (Email Cynthia@cynopsis.com 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!
03.31.09
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