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Genius Brands and Stan Lee’s POW! Entertainment create Stan Lee Universe in ‘ground breaking deal for pop culture licensing’

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Genius Brands has secured a new and ground breaking deal with Stan Lee’s POW! Entertainment to create the Stan Lee Universe.

Under the deal, Stan Lee Universe will assume worldwide rights to the name, physical likeness, physical signature, live-action and animated motion picture, television, online, digital, publishing, comic book, merchandising and licensing rights to Stan Lee and his IP creations past, present, and going forward.

In announcing the deal, Andy Heyward, chairman and CEO of Genius Brands, said: “In all of Hollywood, there is no greater prize. This is the Holy Grail. Stan Lee Universe is a once in a lifetime asset drawn from over 100 original, heretofore unexploited properties, created by the most successful creator of intellectual property of our time.”

Jointly owned and subject to due diligence and documentation, the deal will leave Genius Brands as the managing and controlling partner of the Stan Lee Universe joint venture.

Stan Lee was the creator of the most successful characters ever made, including Spiderman, Iron Man, Black Panther, The Incredible Hulk, X Men, Thor, Captain America, Ms. Marvel,  Silver Surfer, Antman, Nick Fury, Guardians of the Galaxy, and of course the number one movie box-office franchise of all time, The Avengers.

For decades, Lee was the editor and creative force behind Marvel Comics, which was sold to the Walt Disney Company for $4.4 billion and has since proved to be worth many multiples of that amount.

“It’s almost impossible to conceive that one mind created all this wealth,” said Heyward. “The spinoffs alone defy the imagination. From animated television, to toys, apparel, video games, and every conceivable licensed product imaginable, Stan Lee characters populate the screens and retail shelves worldwide.

“There is no creator who has influenced pop culture and created more successful entertainment. Not even Walt Disney. Over and over, again and again, he created characters and stories that resonated in the hearts and minds of all peoples of all ages around the world, with billions and billions and billions of dollars of motion picture box-office, television, and consumer product licensing.”

Stan Lee Universe will be built from the repository of all of the characters and IP created by Stan Lee, post-Marvel Entertainment, not otherwise elsewhere. It is drawn from over 100 original Stan Lee creations, from which it will develop and license approximately seven properties per year.

“Having worked with Stan and been a close friend for almost 30 years, nothing could make me prouder than for Genius Brands to become the guardian of both his brand and body of work,” continued Heyward. “I have no doubt that the greatest characters, the greatest stories, and the greatest hits from the mind of Stan Lee have yet to be told. As big as Spider Man, Black Panther, X Men, and the Avengers are today, tomorrow it will be Stan Lee’s Tomorrow Men, his Stringbean, his Black Fury, and Virus.”

Former president of Marvel Productions, Margaret Loesch, said: “Stan Lee was a one of a kind. So is this asset, Stan Lee Universe is going to be an unimaginable source of blockbuster entertainment for many years to come.”

Former president of Walt Disney Television and chief content officer of Genius Brands’ new Kartoon Channel!, David Neuman said: “The spinoff opportunities for Kartoon Channel! alone are mindboggling, including a dedicated Stan Lee Universe programme block.” 

 Heyward concluded: “When we looked at the depth of these creations that sit in this library, the magnitude and value of this asset slowly began to sink in. There simply is no greater treasure chest of Intellectual Property anywhere. I feel like we went down to the basement of John Lennon and Paul McCartney’s recording studio and found 200 songs that had never been released.

“One was called Yesterday, another was called Hey Jude, and another called Sergeant Pepper. They were just waiting for us to bring them forth to the market, along with their names and likenesses, signatures, and the right to merchandise the Beatles.  It feels that big to us!

“We will be creating a dedicated business and creative unit specific to Stan Lee Universe. For the millions of Stan Lee fans, we look forward to taking this unique asset and faithfully bringing the characters to the movie screens, to comic books, to toys and licensed products worldwide.

“For the Genius Brands’ shareholders, we look forward to effectively and smartly monetising this asset across all platforms. I have no doubt that we will attract the most talented producers, directors, and marketers in the world as we unlock this one of a kind treasury and bring forth the next wave of Stan Lee creations for the world to experience and enjoy. We are proceeding immediately with our due diligence and expect final documentation to follow promptly thereafter.”

Genius Brands and Stan Lee’s POW! Entertainment create Stan Lee Universe in ‘ground breaking deal for pop culture licensing’

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Genius Brands has secured a new and ground breaking deal with Stan Lee’s POW! Entertainment to create the Stan Lee Universe.

Under the deal, Stan Lee Universe will assume worldwide rights to the name, physical likeness, physical signature, live-action and animated motion picture, television, online, digital, publishing, comic book, merchandising and licensing rights to Stan Lee and his IP creations past, present, and going forward.

In announcing the deal, Andy Heyward, chairman and CEO of Genius Brands, said: “In all of Hollywood, there is no greater prize. This is the Holy Grail. Stan Lee Universe is a once in a lifetime asset drawn from over 100 original, heretofore unexploited properties, created by the most successful creator of intellectual property of our time.”

Jointly owned and subject to due diligence and documentation, the deal will leave Genius Brands as the managing and controlling partner of the Stan Lee Universe joint venture.

Stan Lee was the creator of the most successful characters ever made, including Spiderman, Iron Man, Black Panther, The Incredible Hulk, X Men, Thor, Captain America, Ms. Marvel,  Silver Surfer, Antman, Nick Fury, Guardians of the Galaxy, and of course the number one movie box-office franchise of all time, The Avengers.

For decades, Lee was the editor and creative force behind Marvel Comics, which was sold to the Walt Disney Company for $4.4 billion and has since proved to be worth many multiples of that amount.

“It’s almost impossible to conceive that one mind created all this wealth,” said Heyward. “The spinoffs alone defy the imagination. From animated television, to toys, apparel, video games, and every conceivable licensed product imaginable, Stan Lee characters populate the screens and retail shelves worldwide.

“There is no creator who has influenced pop culture and created more successful entertainment. Not even Walt Disney. Over and over, again and again, he created characters and stories that resonated in the hearts and minds of all peoples of all ages around the world, with billions and billions and billions of dollars of motion picture box-office, television, and consumer product licensing.”

Stan Lee Universe will be built from the repository of all of the characters and IP created by Stan Lee, post-Marvel Entertainment, not otherwise elsewhere. It is drawn from over 100 original Stan Lee creations, from which it will develop and license approximately seven properties per year.

“Having worked with Stan and been a close friend for almost 30 years, nothing could make me prouder than for Genius Brands to become the guardian of both his brand and body of work,” continued Heyward. “I have no doubt that the greatest characters, the greatest stories, and the greatest hits from the mind of Stan Lee have yet to be told. As big as Spider Man, Black Panther, X Men, and the Avengers are today, tomorrow it will be Stan Lee’s Tomorrow Men, his Stringbean, his Black Fury, and Virus.”

Former president of Marvel Productions, Margaret Loesch, said: “Stan Lee was a one of a kind. So is this asset, Stan Lee Universe is going to be an unimaginable source of blockbuster entertainment for many years to come.”

Former president of Walt Disney Television and chief content officer of Genius Brands’ new Kartoon Channel!, David Neuman said: “The spinoff opportunities for Kartoon Channel! alone are mindboggling, including a dedicated Stan Lee Universe programme block.” 

 Heyward concluded: “When we looked at the depth of these creations that sit in this library, the magnitude and value of this asset slowly began to sink in. There simply is no greater treasure chest of Intellectual Property anywhere. I feel like we went down to the basement of John Lennon and Paul McCartney’s recording studio and found 200 songs that had never been released.

“One was called Yesterday, another was called Hey Jude, and another called Sergeant Pepper. They were just waiting for us to bring them forth to the market, along with their names and likenesses, signatures, and the right to merchandise the Beatles.  It feels that big to us!

“We will be creating a dedicated business and creative unit specific to Stan Lee Universe. For the millions of Stan Lee fans, we look forward to taking this unique asset and faithfully bringing the characters to the movie screens, to comic books, to toys and licensed products worldwide.

“For the Genius Brands’ shareholders, we look forward to effectively and smartly monetising this asset across all platforms. I have no doubt that we will attract the most talented producers, directors, and marketers in the world as we unlock this one of a kind treasury and bring forth the next wave of Stan Lee creations for the world to experience and enjoy. We are proceeding immediately with our due diligence and expect final documentation to follow promptly thereafter.”

Acamar Films expands its licensing and marketing units to meet global demand for Bing

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Acamar Films has created a dedicated UK team and strengthened key global roles within the outfit to better service the growing demand for its flagship property, Bing, on the world stage.

As pre-school property’s popularity continues to increase in the UK, Louise Simmonds has joined Acamar as head of UK licensing and merchandising, reporting into executive director of sales, Natalie Harvey. Her experience includes 15 years with 20th Century Fox, where she led the UK CP Business and most recently was the vice president for EMEA across the Fox portfolio, working across brands such as The Simpsons, Family Guy and Diary of a Wimpy Kid.

The dedicated UK licensing team also includes Claire Shaw and Janna Kirkby, who has recently been promoted to UK associate licensing manager.

Caroline Payne has also joined the team as UK marketing manager, covering both consumer and trade, and reporting into head of marketing Ruedilyn Schwegler. Most recently marketing manager at CinemaLive, Caroline was also at StudioCanal and Simon & Schuster and has worked on popular family entertainment brands including Paddington, Shaun the Sheep and Octonauts.

Laura Clarke has been promoted to head up licensing and merchandising in EMEA following successful CP launches, strong YouTube performance, optimum broadcast placement and the expansion of Acamar Films’ agent network in the last 12 months. Clarke joined Acamar Films four years ago from Mattel, where she was group director EMEA, and her wealth of experience working across all categories in the pre-school sector with major licensees also includes stints at HIT Entertainment and BBC Worldwide. She reports into executive director of sales, Harvey.

With an increasing appetite for Bing publications worldwide, Etta Saunders Bingham has joined Acamar Films in a global role as senior publishing manager, bringing an in-depth understanding and impressive track record of managing children’s brands from her work in licensed publishing and product development for a variety of successful companies including Half Moon Bay where she was head of licensing and publishing, and Parragon Publishing where she worked on an assortment of publishing titles.

Sandra Vauthier-Cellier, chief commercial officer, Acamar Films, said: “We are delighted to welcome such experienced new talent to Acamar Films, and also to recognise with these promotions the fantastic work our teams are doing to move and delight our audience, who are at the heart of everything we do.

“This new structure will enable us to strengthen our engagement with them via a multitude of touch points and expand that audience even further internationally.”

Molang goes for millennials and Gen Zs in Animal Crossing: New Horizons in game partnership

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Molang has launched five in-game looks on the video game smash hit, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, as part of the brand’s global strategy to reach millennials and Gen Z audiences.

A collection of five Molang player accessories are now available in the official shop, with free download friend codes hosted on Molang’s official Facebook , Instagram and YouTube channels. Millimages has confirmed that it will be supporting Molang’s apparel licensees in the promotion of their collections through Animal Crossing.

The new tie-up continues a busy period for the brand – which is represented in the UK and Ireland by Licensing Link Europe.

A Molang music album has notched up significant success on streaming platforms including Spotify, Deezer, Apple Music and Amazon. The ten songs are streamed over 40,000 times per month on Spotify and 20,000 times on Apple Music. Millimages supported the launch with nine animated video clips which are available on the Molang YouTube channel and have received more than one million views.

Meanwhile, Molang filters on Facebook and Instagram have proved popular since their launch in April and a reported 5,000 pictures are taken per week, generating more than 300,000 impressions.

The company is also busy developing an English version of the Molang website for Q4 2020, which launched in French in May 2019 and welcomes 10,000 visitors per month.

Lise Cosentino, director of marketing and communication at Millimages, said: “Molang may have found international fame on the internet, but we’re extending its rapid digital growth by tapping into the lifestyle activities our target audiences enjoy – including gaming. Partnering with Animal Crossing: New Horizons further demonstrates that Molang is more than a hit TV animation.”

Ian Wickham, director at Licensing Link Europe added: “This further emphasises the support that Millimages is providing, to ensure Molang continues to build at pace with the core consumers and in the right places.

“The dynamics of brand engagement have changed significantly since the start of the year and so to be involved with one of the stand out successes – Animal Crossing: New Horizons – highlights the appetite Millimages have for the properties’ success.”

 

Molang goes for millennials and Gen Zs in Animal Crossing: New Horizons in game partnership

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Molang has launched five in-game looks on the video game smash hit, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, as part of the brand’s global strategy to reach millennials and Gen Z audiences.

A collection of five Molang player accessories are now available in the official shop, with free download friend codes hosted on Molang’s official Facebook , Instagram and YouTube channels. Millimages has confirmed that it will be supporting Molang’s apparel licensees in the promotion of their collections through Animal Crossing.

The new tie-up continues a busy period for the brand – which is represented in the UK and Ireland by Licensing Link Europe.

A Molang music album has notched up significant success on streaming platforms including Spotify, Deezer, Apple Music and Amazon. The ten songs are streamed over 40,000 times per month on Spotify and 20,000 times on Apple Music. Millimages supported the launch with nine animated video clips which are available on the Molang YouTube channel and have received more than one million views.

Meanwhile, Molang filters on Facebook and Instagram have proved popular since their launch in April and a reported 5,000 pictures are taken per week, generating more than 300,000 impressions.

The company is also busy developing an English version of the Molang website for Q4 2020, which launched in French in May 2019 and welcomes 10,000 visitors per month.

Lise Cosentino, director of marketing and communication at Millimages, said: “Molang may have found international fame on the internet, but we’re extending its rapid digital growth by tapping into the lifestyle activities our target audiences enjoy – including gaming. Partnering with Animal Crossing: New Horizons further demonstrates that Molang is more than a hit TV animation.”

Ian Wickham, director at Licensing Link Europe added: “This further emphasises the support that Millimages is providing, to ensure Molang continues to build at pace with the core consumers and in the right places.

“The dynamics of brand engagement have changed significantly since the start of the year and so to be involved with one of the stand out successes – Animal Crossing: New Horizons – highlights the appetite Millimages have for the properties’ success.”

 

WildBrain CPLG to build lifestyle licensing programme for The Metropolitan Museum of Art

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The entertainment, sport and brand licensing agency, WildBrain CPLG, has signed a deal with The Metropolitan Museum of Art to exclusively represent the iconic New York institution as it looks to build out a licensing programme across EMEA.

Housing it under its Lifestyle division, WildBrain CPLG will assemble a licensing programme for The Met designed to appeal to families, millennials, and a diverse international audience across categories, including homewares, apparel, accessories, stationery, gifting, toys and activities, health and beauty, and collaborations.

The licensing agency will create a merchandise programme that combines The Met’s collections and art works, with the diversity and energy of New York and the museum’s mission to ‘collect, study, conserve and present significant works of art across all times and cultures in order to connect people to creativity, knowledge and ideas.’ The team will initially focus on building product ranges that utilise assets from a cross-section of The Met’s 17 curatorial departments and are tied into current fashion and homeware trends.

Victoria Whellans, group brands director at WildBrain CPLG Lifestyle, said: “The Metropolitan Museum of Art is one of the world’s most dynamic and inspiring museums and we’re very excited to add this prestigious institution to our expanding Lifestyle portfolio. As we begin building a unique licensing programme which will reinforce The Met as both educational and accessible, we look forward to bringing fresh, authentic and unexpected product ranges to a diverse selection of consumers across EMEA.”

Lisa Silverman Meyers, head of licensing and partnerships at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, added: “WildBrain CPLG has a unique passion for storytelling and shares our belief in the power that museums have to foster understanding through art and culture. Their dedication to our goal of bringing The Met to new places in new ways, paired with WildBrain CPLG’s proven track record of success throughout EMEA makes them an ideal partner for the Museum.”

Founded in 1870, The Metropolitan Museum of Art lives in three iconic sites in New York City – The Met Fifth Avenue, The Met Breuer, and The Met Cloisters. The museum is home to two million works spanning 5,000 years of art and ranks as the most-visited art museum in the Western hemisphere.

The Met is also the number one tourist attraction in New York City, with over seven million visits and 30 million web visitors in 2019. The Met celebrated its 150th anniversary on 13th April 2020.

Aardman strikes major deal with Tencent for Shaun the Sheep streaming in China

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The iconic British animation studio, Aardman has just struck up a new deal with Tencent Video in a new move to grow the audience for its hit Shaun the Sheep property in China.

Tencent Video is the leading online video streaming platform in China. Under the new deal, it will become the home of Shaun the Sheep’s library of 170 episodes, including series six which launched earlier this year. The placement with Tencent Video complements Aardman’s worldwide deal with Netflix for the entire Shaun the Sheep catalogue.

Robin Gladman, senior distribution and acquisitions manager, said: “Our new deal with Tencent Video is a truly exciting next step for our business in China and a great moment for the studio.

“Tencent Video will become a fabulous new home for our biggest global brand ‘Shaun the Sheep’ and help us reach millions of families across the territory.”

The studio continues to build its Chinese licensing programme for the brand alongside its agents UYoung, securing prestigious partnership and building a strong and loyal fan base. Most recently Shaun the Sheep has collaborated in a creative promotional partnership in China with a line of children’s clothing with Italian high fashion sportswear brand FILA.

The Shaun the Sheep x FILA Kids ‘Shake it with Shaun’ themed campaign was announced with a vibrant teaser video on Children’s Day (China), which achieved an impressive 11M views in just 24 hours. The new product range consists of a complete range of apparel, footwear and accessories for children and the launch will be supported by in-store activities featuring Shaun the Sheep character costumes and interactive dance machines for shoppers to enjoy, as well as a Tik Tok online Dancing Challenge followed the Shake it with Shaun video expected to attract millions of fans to participate.

With its increasing global appeal for families, the team at Aardman continues to develop its portfolio of Shaun the Sheep attractions and live experiences in the territory, including the national touring stage show Shaun the Sheep – The Alien Visitor in partnership with Hand in Hand Theatre Company and Shaun the Sheep Go To Sanya, launching at the Mangrove Tree Resort World, Hainan in summer 2020.

The Entertainer partners with Riverside Brands for ELC brand extension programme

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The UK’s family owned high street toy retailer, The Entertainer has partnered with Riverside Brands to lead its brand extension strategy for Early Learning Centre.

Under the new partnership, both the Happyland and core ELC brand will look to build out wider brand extensions into categories such as apparel, nightwear, health & beauty, publishing, nursery and experiences.

It’s been billed as ‘an exciting partnership for all involved as The Entertainer focuses on growing the Early Learning Centre brand since its acquisition in February 2019’. The partnership also marks a significant move for a retailer into the licensing, highlighting the commitment of the group to support the ELC brand during highly tumultuous times for UK retail.

Stuart Grant, global sourcing officer at The Entertainer, said: “We are extremely excited to be partnering with Riverside Brands on this exciting opportunity for the Early Learning Centre brand. With such a strong heritage as an iconic part of early years development we are confident there is more opportunity for the brand to be an even bigger part of children’s early years by giving them greater access to the characters through carefully selected brand extensions.

“We are confident that Riverside Brands is the right partner to achieve this in a way that protects the brand by securing opportunities to compliment the existing brand heritage.”

Ashley Holman, managing director of Riverside Brands, said: “We are delighted to be partnering with The Entertainer on this exciting opportunity for Early Learning Centre. ELC has been a much-loved brand for nearly 50 years and we’re looking forward to making its iconic characters more accessible through brand extensions into areas such as apparel and bedding.

“Children love these characters, they’re an important part of their early years and we’re looking forward to making them available in categories which will compliment the core toy ranges.”

Rocket Licensing picks up CBeebies’ English language learning series Yakka Dee!

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Rocket Licensing has been appointed as the international licensing agent (territories excluding China) for the popular CBeebies show, Yakka Dee! Currently in its third series, the animation and live action programme is now in production for series four and five, which are due to air in 2021.

Yakka Dee! is focused on English language learning for pre-schoolers learning to talk, children with speech difficulties, and those learning English as a second language.

The series has been developed by the writer and director, Katie Simmons (Go Jetters, Show Me Show Me, and Mr Bloom’s Nursery) and director and producer, Lotte Elwell (Peppa Pig cinema experience, Teletubbies, My World Kitchen and more) alongside Steve Smith at Beakus animation studio (Olobob Top).

Dee helps children learn language through play, visual representation and repetition. Each five-minute episode focuses on one word, with a mixture of live action and animated content and bright, bold colours. The branding is modern and vibrant, eye catching and idiosyncratic and hugely appealing to the young audience.

Yakka Dee! launched in 2017, with a peak audience of 474,000 viewers (8.9 per cent audience share) and is currently aired twice daily on CBeebies. BBC Studios has also signed for distribution in Ireland, Brazil, China, South Korea, Latin America and Turkey.

In 2019, a YouTube channel was launched, experiencing 5.3 million views in the first two months. The channel now has 161K subscribers and 46 million views, and is growing exponentially on a daily basis. ‘Aprende con Yakka Dee: Panza’, a Spanish episode via CBeebies Español, has had over 80 million views on the channel since launch, while ‘Yakka Dee: Banana’ has received 30 million views and ‘Can you Say Tummy?’ has reached 17 million in just three months.

Initially, Rocket’s core focus for the property will be on toy and publishing categories, as well as educational product and resources, followed by other preschool product categories including apparel, accessories, social stationery, and games. Consumer demand for licensed product is high, with weekly requests from parents via the brand’s social media pages for toys.

Rob Wijeratna, joint MD, Rocket Licensing, said: “Yakka Dee! is a real gem in CBeebies’ programming, and combines all of the must-have attributes of a successful preschool property – fun, education and great characters – with contemporary, bright and instantly recognisable production.

“We are also proud to be representing an ethnically inclusive brand, with Dee as a non-white lead character having become an inspiring role model for many. The loyal fan-base is ready and waiting for consumer products and we’re excited to start talking to licensees.”

Yakka Dee producers Steve Smith, Lotte Elwell and Katie Simmons comment: “We are thrilled to partner with Rocket for Yakka Dee! licensing. We are so proud of our character, Dee, and have seen first-hand how she empowers children to speak with confidence, energising them and connecting deeply with them. We are looking forward to working with Rocket to create more touchpoints for our audience, and in so doing help more children.”

Hasbro partners with Regatta for Peppa Pig outdoor clothing and accessories

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Hasbro has detailed a new partnership with the leading British outdoor brand, Regatta, that will see a bespoke collection of Peppa Pig outerwear and leisure accessories launch in spring/summer 2021 across the UK and Europe.

The Peppa Pig range from Regatta encourages girls and boys to be ‘Adventure Ready’ with a collection of 20 products suitable for all weathers including puddle suits, wellies, swimwear, jackets and fleeces that are both fun and functional. The outerwear pieces are designed to offer functional attributes such as breathable fabrics, 360 reflective finishes and waterproof surfaces ideal for families keen to enjoy the great outdoors.

A range of outdoor camping and leisure accessories featuring Peppa Pig designs will also complement the range, including sleeping bags, water bottles and camping chairs.

The new collection will be available in Regatta’s 86 stores throughout the UK and Europe and on its e-commerce site regatta.com, in addition to being stocked in almost 12,000 specialist outdoor retailers. Following the initial launch, Regatta plans to expand the range by adding new lines in Autumn/Winter 2021.

The partnership will tie in with Peppa Pig’s global brand marketing theme for 2021 entitled ‘Peppa’s Adventures’ and will be included in cross-promotional activity.

“Jumping in muddy puddles and experiencing the great outdoors as a family is a central theme in Peppa Pig,” said Marianne James, VP EMEA consumer products, family brands, Hasbro. “We’re delighted that the new partnership with Regatta will give families a range of robust, weatherproof Peppa Pig outerwear to get kids ‘adventure ready’ as they explore the world around them.”