Category Archives: Entertainment

Edutainment Licensing named worldwide distribution partner for kids’ nature series Hooray Hippo

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Edutainment Licensing has been named the worldwide distribution partner for the animated series Hooray Hippo, a newly developed series from Caters Media Group that combines 2D animation with real life footage to teach children about landscapes and animals.

The series has been developed for boys and girls in the pre-school and early year age group. It is Hooray Hippo and her friend Billy the bird who travel the world using captured footage of animals in their natural habitats, filmed by top wildlife videographers, while reeling off fun facts to help children understand the world they live in.

The show will help them learn about different environments and how they might differ from their own, to identify animals and make observations about their characteristics, and to spot differences and similarities between animal species and where they live.

With offices across four continents, Caters Media Group helps power global publishers across digital, social and TV platforms with video, photo and text media. It is also dedicated to producing and sharing, original, engaging content for millions of fans across its own brands, such as Hooray Hippo, Life on the Edge, Deep Blue Discovery, Storytrender and Pawsome Pets.

Genius Brands appoints Jessica Brinder as its new VP of international distribution

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Genius Brands International has appointed former Corus Entertainment sales executive, Jessica Brinder, as its new vice president of international distribution. The move arrives as Genius Brands continues to grow all areas of its business, including with the launch of its Kartoon Channel, and plans for further content in the pipeline.

In her new role, Brinder will oversee global content sales from Genius Brands’ catalogue of children’s programming, including flagship properties, Rainbow Rangers and Llama Llama, along with the upcoming Stan Lee’s Superhero Kindergarten, starring Arnold Schwarzengger, and new content produced under the Stan Lee Universe banner.

Lindsay Brown, who serves as director of international sales, will report to Brinder.

“This is an exciting time to be at Genius Brands as we continue to build our content portfolio, and I welcome Jessica to our team to help drive our content sales efforts around the world,” said Genius Brands’ chairman and CEO, Andy Heyward.

“We now have 100 per cent distribution of the Rainbow Rangers series in the Western Hemisphere and are expanding further internationally, as well as further product roll outs this year; our Llama Llama Netflix Original series is in season two with product on shelf; we have forged a new and important partnership with Alibaba group on our forthcoming Stan Lee’s Superhero Kindergarten, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger; and we have created the Stan Lee Universe banner, which will be generating a lot of new content over the next few years.”

Brinder said: “I am thrilled to work with Andy and the team at Genius Brands as we continue producing ‘content with a purpose’ for global distribution.

“We have a diverse catalog of enriching and entertaining programming with new original content coming down the pipeline, and I look forward to working with our broadcast and platform partners worldwide to bring our unique offerings to young audiences around the world.” 

 Brinder joins Genius Brands from Kickstart Entertainment in Canada, where she served as vice president of business development. She previously worked for over five years for Corus Entertainment, most recently as a senior sales manager of global distribution at Nelvana, managing the distribution of content in key territories around the world and overseeing the strategic direction and team of the global VOD business.  Brinder will be based in Toronto.

Acamar Films brings all episodes of Bing to Amazon Prime Video in the UK

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Acamar Films has signed a new deal with Amazon Prime Video to bring the most recent episodes of Bing to UK  streaming audiences, while extending its licence of the original 78 episodes for a further two years. The deal means that families can now watch all 104 episodes of Bing on Prime Video on the UK.

The latest series sees Bing, Flop and their friends joined by new characters Nicky and Dr Molly. Adapted for television from the much-loved original books by author Ted Dewan, Bing uses the power of story to explore strategies for both children and grown-ups to overcome obstacles and when things don’t go to plan.

 Acamar’s new deal with Amazon Prime Video also brings the first 26 x 7-minute episodes of the award-winning Bing to Prime Video audiences in Italy and Spain, where the series has already enjoyed huge linear and catch-up success.

“We’re thrilled to have extended our relationship with Amazon Prime Video in the UK, and to be able to introduce Bing to yet more viewers in both Italy and Spain,” said Eroulla Constantine, director of sales and distribution at Acamar Films. “It’s a testament to the success so far of Bing on Prime Video and we look forward to delighting yet more Bingsters with our stories.”

Prime Video offers customers a vast collection of TV shows, movies and more, all available to watch on practically any device.

Bing can now be enjoyed across multiple TV and SVOD services in 130 territories worldwide and via the ‘Bing: Watch, Play, Learn’ app (available now in the UK, Italy and Poland). The property goes from strength to strength with Bing recently, in May, winning ‘Best Property for the Year’ in Italy for 2019 activity.

Aardman goes next level personalisation with funwisher.com to offer customised Shaun the Sheep ‘episodes’

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Aardman has partnered with the wish-fulfillment platform, funwisher.com, an initiative that offers personalised wishes from sports stars, actors, influencers, musicians, and now animated characters. From today, fans can order customised wishes from Shaun the Sheep online in the form of their own personalised videos.

The five minute episodes, which are set on the farm, will be sent to the lucky recipient to enjoy again and again. All that users will need to create their bespoke videos are some photos of that special someone, along with providing basic information about them: their name, age, interests and Shaun will come up with a script and, together with his friends, they will develop a unique video greeting.

Rachael Peacock, senior brand manager at Aardman, said: “We’re delighted to be working with Funwisher to offer our fans something truly unique with their very own personalised Shaun the Sheep episode. What a baa-rilliant birthday gift!”

Initially, it will be birthday messaging available for personalisation, but in the coming months fans will be able to have Shaun and his flock deliver bespoke videos for every occasion: name day, Children’s Day,  exams, end of the school year and the holidays.

Through this innovative platform, not only will consumers receive an exclusive gift but there is also the added benefit of supporting a charity that Aardman support at the same time. A percentage of sales from each video will go to one of the following charities; The Grand Appeal, The Children`s Sleep Charity or Brake the Road Safety Charity, and can be selected by the consumer on purchase. 

Custom wishes from Shaun the Sheep will launch in English-speaking territories around the world from Friday 21st August. Polish and German language versions will also be available soon.

Italy’s Rainbow celebrates its 25th anniversary in style at the Giffoni Film Festival

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The Italian animation and children’s content studio, Rainbow, celebrated its 25th anniversary at this year’s prestigious Giffoni Film Festival, one of the best-loved kids’ film festivals in Europe that this year was celebrating its own half a century.

A special Rainbow installation set the scene on Tuesday, August 18th, when the opening night paid homage to the entertainment company founded in 1995 by its president and CEO Iginio Straffi. Marking its own milestone, the Giffoni Film Festival will this year run as a four-part special edition, with activity taking place until December this year.

For the duration of the event, visitors can delve in the world of Rainbow through unpublished images and the first cartoon drawings that have conquered the hearts of children and adults, from the birth of the classic Winx Club world all the way up to 44 Cats, a revelation Series of 2018 broadcast in over 20 languages, and the latest news born from the inspiration of Iginio Straffi.

During the opening night at the Yaris Arena, a video celebrating the content company was also presented, and Claudio Gubitosi, founder and director of Giffoni Opportunity, honoured the company with the Giffoni 50 Award, for its 25 years of success.

“There is something magical uniting Giffoni’s story with Rainbow’s one,” said Iginio Straffi, founder of the Rainbow Group. “The same tenacious and passionate ambition to try make a dream come true, to transform a youthful aspiration into a great reality. Claudio Gubitosi loved cinema as a boy and managed to make Giffoni a world capital of cinema.

“I wanted my stories, created by looking at the horizon beyond the Apennines, to be told and heard all over the world. Two impossible dreams, two dreams that, once fulfilled, met each other.”

Among the protagonists of the world entertainment market, Rainbow is a constantly growing reality thanks to the imagination and vision of Iginio Straffi, an entrepreneur who was able to turn his dreams into reality, offering them to millions of people around the world.

Bit Fry Game Studios scores NFL Players Association partnership for its latest video game push

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Bit Fry Game Studios has struck up an agreement with OneTeam Partners and the NFL Players Association to bring an officially-licensed football game to the studios’ growing line-up of sports videogames.

The games developer already incorporates select NFL players into its existing arcade action NHL-licensed hockey game Ultimate Rivals: The Rink, and its upcoming NBA-licensed basketball game, Ultimate Rivals: The Court. With the NFLPA license, Bit Fry will enable users to play on the virtual gridiron with superstar athletes from across hockey, basketball, baseball, and soccer, alongside a select roster of NFL players.

The agreement grants Bit Fry the right to feature the names, numbers, images, and likenesses of nearly 2,000 current NFL players in an arcade action football game. OneTeam, the NFLPA’s group licensing representative, facilitated the deal.

“Bit Fry is the leading studio in the arcade-action sports segment and is thrilled to be bringing the NFL players into the Ultimate Rivals universe with another play-book shredding, category defining title that gives football a video-game treatment unlike any seen before it,” said Ben Freidlin, CEO and founder of Bit Fry Game Studios and the creator of the Ultimate Rivals franchise.

“Fans of the franchise can expect the studio to remain dedicated to an exceptionally high quality experience, including all of the standard baseline ingredients of a Bit Fry game, such as 60fps framerates minimum, an unprecedented balance of approachable gameplay and high skill-cap depth, and industry standard-setting visuals and auditory aesthetics.”

Steve Scebelo, interim president, NFL Players Inc, added: “Bit Fry’s games continue to impress, providing opportunities for fans to create virtual team mashups while including the likes of Alex Morgan, JuJu Smith-Schuster, Mike Trout and Skylar Diggins-Smith.

“As we look for new ways to connect with sports gamers, especially in today’s climate, this is an exciting development for fans and the future of gaming.”

“We are constantly exploring ways to innovate how athletes interact with fans across the ever-evolving games landscape, and this partnership with the NFLPA and Bit Fry Game Studios illustrates the creative potential that exists,” said Ahmad Nassar, CEO, OneTeam Partners.

Ultimate Rivals™: The Rink is available now exclusively on Apple Arcade and will be followed by Ultimate Rivals: The Court. Bit Fry’s football game is scheduled for release in 2021, with platforms to be announced at a later date.

The Gruffalo readies new Australian adventure with exclusive The Gruffalo Spotter 2 app launch

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The Gruffalo is taking further strides down under thanks to a new deal that will see Queensland’s The Ginger Factory, Illawarra Fly and Wildlife Sydney Zoo in New South Wales, and Rippon Lea Estate in Victoria come on board as the brand’s exclusive The Gruffalo Trail partners.

Under a new deal brokered by Magic Light Pictures’ Australian licensing agent, Merchantwise Licensing, the three sites will be the first in the world to activate The Gruffalo Spotter 2 app when it launches at the locations across the country next month.

The Gruffalo Spotter 2 app follows the runaway success of the original, ground-breaking Gruffalo Spotter app launched with Forestry England in 2017, when it was the first development of its kind. Using the very latest Augmented Reality technology, the free app brings to life the characters from the much-loved Gruffalo. This second app was produced by Magic Light Pictures, in partnership with Forestry England, developed and animated by Nexus Studios.

Families can learn about the characters from the picture book, written by Julia Donaldson and illustrated by Axel Scheffler, and interact with the 3D characters from the film on the self-led trails, which are lined with facts about forest animals, and fun activities. Through face and body recognition technology, the characters now look at the children directly, encouraging them to play along.

Mixing animated characters with the real-world environment, the app encourages children to get exploring, firing their imaginations and enabling them to have an all-new forest experience. The Gruffalo Spotter 2 app is available for free with no in-app purchases from the App Store and Google Play and requires downloading before visiting.

Meanwhile, a further deal executed by Merchantwise Licensing will see a Smiffys range of The Gruffalo dress-up costumes launch next month ahead of October’s Book Week in Australia.  The ‘onesie’ costume available for sizes three to five years, will launch across a number of Australian retail destinations including Spotlight and Costumebox.

“We are thrilled to be announcing the partnership with The Ginger Factory as an exclusive Australian The Gruffalo Trail location in time for the global first launch of The Gruffalo Spotter 2 here in Australia. The trail continues to be as popular as when it first launched at Illawarra Fly, Wildlife Sydney Zoo and Rippon Lea Estate last year, so we anticipate it to be a must-do experience for those in and visiting The Ginger Factory on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast,” said Merchantwise Licensing’s general manager, Kerryn McCormack.

“For the first time, The Gruffalo dress-up costumes will be available here in Australia and we are pleased to be launching this range with Smiffys ahead of Book Week in October across a number of our key retail partners.”

Mayflower 400 cultural anniversary programme gets underway with extension into 2021

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Arts Council England and the Mayflower 400 team are hitting the play button on a programme of activity surrounding the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower. The programme started in Southampton earlier this month with the launch of Wampum: Stories from the Shells of Native America, a national touring exhibition curated by The Box, Plymouth.

This will be followed with an online documentary presented by the TV historian Dan Snow on September 16, marking exactly 400 years to the day since the Mayflower ship set sail. The documentary will reflect the story of the Pilgrim’s journey, its impact on the Native American people who helped them when they first arrived and the wider colonial context of this journey.

It will also include a look at some of the cultural projects involved in the programme.

The Mayflower 400 programme will then run through to 2021 culminating with a Four Nations Commemoration Ceremony involving the USA, Netherlands, UK and Wampanoag nations on July 11 next year.

Deputy leader of Plymouth City Council, Pete Smith, said: “It’s been an extraordinarily challenging year, but we’re delighted to be able to carry so much of the Mayflower 400 commemorative programme into 2021. A huge amount of work has already gone into all of these events, so it’s fantastic that locals and visitors will still be able to enjoy what is an impressively varied and creative programme throughout the next year. 

“The finale will be the spectacular Mayflower Four Nations Public Ceremony on the Hoe; it’s going to be an unmissable event which brings together all four nations involved to reflect on the Mayflower story.” 

Adrian Vinken OBE, Chair of Mayflower 400, added: “After all the recent uncertainty I’m delighted that we’re finally in a position to confirm the key elements of the Mayflower 400 programme starting now and taking us through to next July. We look forward to people across the country engaging with these remarkably diverse activities and the raft of other smaller Mayflower community projects based on the voyage and its many impacts.”

The Mayflower 400 programme is supported by national supporters and sponsors; Womble Bond Dickinson, National Lottery Heritage Fund, Arts Council England, Department for Culture, Media & Sport, Visit England, Visit Britain, Plymouth City Council, Royal Navy and Babcock. 

For all Licensing enquires please contact enquiries@lmiuk.com 00 44 (0) 1425403430

Myne Cards joins retailer Squizzas!’s growing line up of licensed gifts and accessories

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Myne Cards has taken its place alongside staples of the licensed gift space such as Funko and licensed Monopoly, having found a new home with the gift retailer Squizzas. The online and brick and mortar retailer has seen ‘exponential sales’ throughout lockdown, and has now bolstered its licensed catalogue with the complete Myne Cards range.

The Myne Cards licensed range currently includes the likes of Wallace and Gromit, Skinnydip London, The National Gallery, Beryl Cook, To Home From London, Howard Robinson’s Selfies, and Dominique Vari.

“This is an exciting time for Myne Cards. As travel restrictions slowly start to ease, we are seeing more customers take their bank card protection seriously,” said Keith Milburn of Myne Cards. “Working with Squizzas! who has a wide presence online, is a great match as their customers love eye-catching licensed designs.”

Luke Bedden of Squizzas!, added: “Our customers enjoy buying and collecting fun, interesting products with their favourite brands, from Funkoverse to Monopoly, so adding the Myne Cards licensed range provides more choice to our customers, just as they start travelling again.”

The full range of Myne Cards is available now at Squizzas.co.uk

Peppa Pig joins growing raft of licensed characters in the Tonies portfolio

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Hasbro and Entertainment One have signed a new partnership with the popular children’s audio system, Tonies to bring its pre-school property Peppa Pig to the line-up of Tonies characters this October. Through the partnership, a total of nine different Peppa Pig stories totaling over an hour of content is coming to the platform this AW.

Peppa Pig is the latest in a line of big launches for the Tonies brand this year, a company that has seen vast success over the last year having engaged with parents and families in search of entertainment during the UK’s lockdown months.

The new launch engages children in the world of Peppa, George and the cast of Peppa Pig with stories including Peppa Goes on Holiday, and George and the Noisy Baby. The Tonies stories will feature a full cast of voices, music, and special effects from the popular TV series.

Launched in the UK in 2018 by Patric Faßbender and his friend and co-founder Marcus Stahl, the Toniebox is an intuitive speaker system that has gone on to revolutionise story time for children. The Toniebox is a screen-free audio toy with simple controls that boasts an interactive way for children aged three to eight to engage with their favourite stories.

Through its growing portfolio of licensed characters, it is fast becoming a favoured route of engaging children with their favourite licensed IP, too. Kids can listen to each Tonie character’s audio content simply by placing the Tonie character on top of the box.

Tonies UK GM Manon Sel, said: “We are delighted to announce this latest addition to the Tonie-Family, which is sure to excite children and fill their homes with even more audio joy this Christmas. The characters of this hit series join our ever-growing line up of both licensed and Tonie-owned figures and bolster our range of audio content.”

Over 14 million Tonies and 1.5 million Tonieboxes have been sold across Europe since the launch and 2020 started with the exciting announcement of the brands’ expansion to the USA – expected towards the end of this year.