Category Archives: Highlight

The Snail and the Whale, Shaun the Sheep, and Moominvalley among finalists in British Animation Awards 2020

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The Snail and the Whale, A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon, and The Tiger Who Came to Tea have all been named among the finalists in this year’s British Animation Awards.

Rewarding the very best in British animation across a variety of categories, the British Animation Awards – now in its 24th year – attracts the great and the good from across the industry to its biennial celebration of the craft.

This year’s ceremony will be held at London’s BFI Southbank on March 12th 2020, where it will unveil the latest names to join the list of illustrious winners from past years.

This year’s finalists included in the Best Voice Performance category are renowned British actors Sally Hawkins (Paddington, The Shape of Water) and Bella Ramsey from Game of Thrones, who are nominated for their work on The Snail and the Whale and as Hilda in Hilda – The Hidden People respectively.

They are up against strong competition from the cast of The Rubbish World of Dave Spud and young newcomer Clara Ross for The Tiger Who Came to Tea.

The Best Long Form category includes nominations from the likes of Aardman Animations and its A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon; two festive favourites from Magic Light Pictures, Zog and The Snail and the Whale; The Tiger Who Came to Tea from Lupus Films, and Aliens Love Underpants And…Panta Claus from Tiger Aspect.

Contenders for the Best Children’s Series award include The Amazing World of Gumball from Cartoon Network, the Shaun the Sheep series from Aardman, Moominvalley from Gutsy animations, The Rubbish World of Dave Spud from Illuminated Films and 101 Dalmatian Street from Disney.

Up for the Best Animation in a Commercial award is The Wind in the Willows for The Wildlife Trusts, the commercial Whatever You Call It by Moth Studio for Marie Curie and the organic baby food NatureNes by Studio AKA for Nestle.

Meanwhile, the family favourites Hey Duggee, The Adventures of Paddington and Clangers are each nominated for the Best Children’s Pre-School Series award.

Some of the leading British animation courses are represented in both Best Undergraduate and Best Postgraduate Student film categories including nominees from Falmouth University School of Film and Television, University of Creative Arts in Farnham, Arts University Bournemouth and the Royal College of Arts London. In an encouraging sign for the industry, all four finalists in the Best Undergraduate category are women.

New for 2020 is the Best Social Good Award, while four additional award categories will be announced on the night.

BAA director, Helen Brunsdon, said: “Animation leads the way in visually imaginative and innovative forms of storytelling. From a record number of submissions, I am delighted to see rich and diverse talent make it through to the final stages of the various categories.

“The nominated finalists for 2020 are shining examples of the best in the business. I wish them all the best of luck and look forward to the big night on March 12th at the BFI South Bank where all will be revealed.”

The awards themselves (the BAAs) are unique artworks, featuring sheep, created especially for the occasion by a range of leading international and UK animation artists: a measure of the worldwide respect felt for British animation.

Spin Master Entertainment’s new animated series Mighty Express lands Netflix deal

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Spin Master Entertainment’s new CG-animated series Mighty Express has been picked up by Netflix to debut globally (excluding Canada) in September this year.

The 52 x 11-minute series is executive produced by Spin Master Entertainment’s EVP Jennifer Dodge and co-CEO Ronnen Harary, alongside the Canadian outfit, Atomic Cartoons, providing animation services.

Owned by Spin Master, Mighty Express is a series that follows the adventures of a group of kids who run a train station and work together with the Mighty Express train. The Netflix deal marks the first time Spin Master has launched a series straight to a streaming platform.

Spin Master will also launch a toy line and a consumer products licensing programme in 2021.

The new series joins Spin Master’s existing line-up of pre-school animated shows, which includes the hit Nick Jr series, PAW Patrol.

“Spin Master Entertainment has deep experience developing compelling stories and endearing characters for preschool audiences worldwide,” Dodge said. “We have the unique ability to take classic, beloved themes for kids, add innovation, combined with amazing storytelling and high-end animation to deliver fresh, new content.”

Disney reveals toys and consumer products line up for both Mulan and Onward

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In a double whammy for the studio, Disney has revealed the consumer products portfolio for not one but two of its upcoming blockbuster movies, detailing the toy lines and licensed products line-up for both Mulan and its new animated feature film, Onward.

Hasbro, Mattel, and Funko join the ranks of a heaving portfolio of product partners across the two movies, both slated for a cinematic release this March. The live action remake of Mulan will land on March 27th this year, while Onward will debut on March 6th.

Disney has pulled out all of the stops to deliver a consumer product programme that ticks all of the boxes this year, with ranges spanning some of the biggest names in toys and collectables, from Hasbro, Mattel, and Funko, to Rubie’s, Half Moon Bay, and more.

The Mulan programme kicks off with fashion dolls from Hasbro, Pop! Vinyl figures from Funko, and Disney Store exclusives including an enamel pin set and a Mulan dress up set. Centum Books has been tapped for a movie novelisation, while Rubie’s is delivering on the Deluxe Mulan Costume.

Pandora is releasing a line of licensed charms, while Half Moon Bay has mugs, travel mugs, and dishes covered. Bonnier is releasing storybooks, while there is still plenty more in the line-up to be discovered.

Meanwhile, Mattel well and truly has the Onward license on lock down with an expansive line up that includes role-play items such as the Onward Wizard Staff, as well as blind bag collectables, a core figure assortment, a mini vehicle assortment, feature plush, and a line up of soft toys of each of the film’s main characters.

The Disney Store has its obligatory line-up of gifts and accessory exclusives, including enamel pins, diaries, figurines, mugs and more, while Bonnier is delivering on the activity books, Phidal has a busy book and a jigsaw puzzle, and Panini completes the initial line-up with an Onward Sticker Collection.

Check out the trailers for both Mulan and Onward below:

The Emoji Company dives into swimwear with Mexico’s Mayaguana

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The Mexican swimwear brand, Mayaguana has partnered with The Emoji Company to launch a new collection branded swimwear lines for children and adults, as well as a selection of rashguards and towels.

Mayaguna mixes comfort, fast dry technology, and the appealing style of the Emoji lifestyle brand, all of which is now available at Mayaguana stores across a number of malls in Mexico, including Centro Comercial Paseo del Carmen, and La Isla Acapulco.

“This unique and colourful swimwear collection by Mayaguana is the perfect way to dress for the beach and to enjoy your summer holiday,” said Marco Hüsges, CEO and founder, The Emoji Company.

The Emoji Company now has the Emoji brand trademarked in over 130 countries across the globe, with a rapidly expanding portfolio of licensing partner to its name.

The emoji company works with over 700 renowned global partners including Sony Pictures Animation, Walmart, Fuji, Nestlé, Ferrero, Unilever, Tesco and Burger King and was ranked by the Licensing.biz Powerlist as the third most influential brand behind Lego and Coca-Cola.

Italian leather brand Furla positions itself as lifestyle brand with Timex watch partnership

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The Italian leather goods and accessories name, Furla, is looking to position itself as a wider lifestyle brand, kicking off with a new partnership with the watchmaker Timex Group.

Under the deal, Timex will produce and distribute a new line of Furla-branded watches to global retailers from this month in part of Furla’s move to diversify its offering and strengthen its name across other product categories.

“The synergy between Furla and Timex Group is evident through shared values, which include excellence in design and quality,” said Alberto Camerlengo, CEO of the Furla Group. “Timex Group is a company that fully understands and respects Furla’s aesthetics, its tradition and its ambition to be innovative and we believe will contribute to Furla’s growth and success within the watch category.”

The watch collections will be available within select watch retailers, jewellers and department stores, throughout travel retail and e-commerce sites, as well as in all Furla mono-brand boutiques.

The new assortment will be launched with an in-store preview in May 2020 at select Furla points of sale worldwide.

Tobias Reiss-Schmidt, CEO of Timex Group, added: “We are delighted to bring Timex Group’s expertise, global reach and long history as an authentic watchmaker to this new partnership with Furla.

“The Furla brand is a perfect fit within Timex Group, and we are excited to harness its rich heritage and brand vision through premium timepieces.”

Aurora World among slew of returning partners for the gifting brand Precious Moments

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The gifting and lifestyle brand, Precious Moments, has renewed a slate of long-serving licensees amid a burst of new activity for the IP that spans new partners, new themes, and growth into new product categories.

According to Spotlight Licensing, the Precious Moments brand has had a successful past 15 months, over which time is has increased its retail exposure and product placements, as well as grown into new categories.

Recent renewals for the Precious Moments brand include Aurora World, who will continue to develop plush and soft dolls, Card Corporation, who has renewed the rights to market branded prepaid credit, debit, and gift cards, and Harland Clarke, who will continue to market Precious Moments branded cheque book covers.

These are joined by further renewals from PersonalizationMall.com and its personalised gifting options, Retail Centric Marketing and its activity books, and Zazzle and its print on demand services.

“Precious Moments holds an important place in consumers’ hearts and minds and we are pleased to reaffirm these partnerships with valued licensees who have long recognised the unique appeal and value of the brand and helped get the licensing program to where we are today,” said Carole Postal, president of Spotlight Licensing and Brand Management.

Shehnaz Safiuddin, vice president, product and marketing for Precious Moments, added: “These licensees have been an integral part of building and maintaining our evergreen brand and we are thrilled to be able to continue partnering with all of them to continue creating exciting new products for Precious Moments fans to enjoy.”

Ladybird and Phidal Publishing join European-wide licensee roster for Masha and the Bear

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British publishing house, Ladybird has joined Phidal Publishing as book partners for the hit animated series, Masha and the Bear, with plans to release new titles later this year.

The pair make up just part of a Europe-wide slate of licensing partners to join the Animaccord portfolio of licensees for its hit series Masha and the Bear, now spanning clothing, storage boxes, food supplements, and more.

It’s in Italy that the textile brand Halantex will launch a full range of home textile products such as duvet/sheets sets, comforter, towels, ponchos, bathrobes, 3D shaped cushions, printed cushions, blankets and curtains. The licensed textile line will be distributed across mass markets, toy stores and online in the country.

Meanwhile, Easy Shoes, the Italian shoe manufacturer, will release its first licensed footwear collection with Masha and the Bear in the second half of 2020. The range will include sports shoes, casual shoes, boots, rain boots, slippers, flip flops, sandals and more.

For the UK, Phidal Publishing will launch new kids-focused consumer products. At the end of 2019, Animaccord and Phidal closed a deal for the production of Masha and the Bear books in English, including a novelty format book and a magnetic drawing book with Masha and the Bear. It is already available online, in airport shops, at Costco and some other grocery stores.

This is supplemented by a deal with the British publishing company, Ladybird who has developed a Reader and Activity Book to assist with learning the English language that will be available this winter.

The production campaign will cover some important trade markets around the world.

On top of this, this winter will see Turkey’s Egemen Group launch its Masha and the Bear cardboard storage boxes. The first products will be distributed in A101, the biggest retail chain by number of stores in the country.

Still working its way across the categories and across the EMEA, Animaccord has signed a new deal with Sardas Cosmetics in Turkey via Lisans A.S for a wide range of products, including shower gel, shampoo, fragrance, body mists, and lip balm.

Kampotu, the largest vitamin supply manufacturer in Turkey, has joined the widening pool of Masha and the Bear licensees to develop a range of Voonka products including vitamins, minerals, food supplements and fish oil in May 2020. 

HH Poland, a leader in the interactive toy market in Poland, confirmed a deal with Animaccord for a licensed collection that will include interactive toys (remote control, mobile phone toy), wooden toys (jigsaw puzzles, blocks, chalk magnetic board), outdoor toys (as bowling) and stationery as stamps, modelling clay, crayons, markers and more.

The range will be available in discount channels, wholesalers, e-commerce and traditional retail stores in Q2, 2020.

Finally, for the Polish market his winter, Consalnet will offer Masha and The Bear wallpapers, wall stickers, pictures for purchase in Eastern Europe. The new collection will be available in catalogues, discount channels, wholesalers, e-commerce, modern traditional retail stores.

Warner Bros. partners with Wonderland Restaurants to bring DC-inspired dining experience to London

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Warner Bros. has partnered with the emerging experiential dining group, Wonderland Restaurants to bring a new, DC-inspired establishment to London’s Soho.

The restaurant, called Park Row, is scheduled to open at 77 Brewer Street, and will be the first fully-immersive DC-inspired restaurant experience in the world, bringing with it characters from the DC universe, including Batman, Wonder Woman, and Superman.

Wonderland Restaurants is a new group formed by leading names in the culinary world, including its executive chef Cláudio Cardoso, the former group executive chef at Sushisamba, innovation director Mark Garston, the former head of central development at the Fat Duck in Bray, and creative director Mike Bagale, the former executive chef at Alinea in Chicago.

This trio will be responsible for the development of the menu.

Park Row will occupy the 18,000 sq ft basement at the Crown Estate’s Grade II-listed venue. It will have 330 covers across five restaurants and three bar areas with interiors designed by London-based Ab Rogers Design (ARD).

ARD has designed the interiors to bring DC’s famous fictional environments to life.

Pennyworth’s (named after Bruce Wayne’s butler, Alfred), will serve historically-inspired British sharing dishes. The Iceberg Lounge, dedicated to Batman comic book villain the Penguin, will be the largest restaurant in the Art Deco dining room featuring an international menu, cocktail bar and live entertainment.

There will also be a Harley Quinn-inspired restaurant and an Old Gotham City speakeasy, serving cocktails and sharing plates. The Monarch Theatre, Park Row’s multi-sensory tasting menu experience, will use projection mapping technology ‘to explore the psychology of heroism through food.’

James Bulmer, chief creative officer at Wonderland Restaurants, who founded and owns the group together with private equity investors, said: “This is a project many years in the making, with every detail carefully thought out to deliver a unique experience for our guests. Trends in our sector are moving towards fun, immersive and experiential dining and our aim is to demonstrate this on a grand scale with exceptional food and drink to match.”

Peter van Roden, senior vice president of Global Themed Entertainment at Warner Bros. Consumer Products, added: “Warner Bros. Consumer Products and DC have been integrally involved in the creative development of the concept, collaborating and contributing to Wonderland’s vision for this unique experience and expression of the DC brand.

“We are hugely excited to see the first immersive DC-inspired restaurant open here in London and wish the incredibly talented team at Wonderland and Park Row all the best for its launch.”

Pocket.watch launches first London office in move to grow EMEA operations and reach

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Pocket.watch, the home of the Ryan’s World brand alongside a roster of YouTube famous IPs, has opened its first international office on London in a move to extend its reach across Europe and EMEA.

The company’s expanded global presence will be led by Danny Spronz, who will serve as pocket.watch’s managing director EMEA, and will be responsible for all business operations, advertising sales, consumer products licensing and content sales in the region.

Prior to pocket.watch, Danny was vice president digital partnerships and influencer marketing at The Walt Disney Company EMEA.

“The rate of demand for children’s programming from the biggest stars and creators loved by generation alpha across EMEA and other western territories shows no signs of slowing down and pocket.watch is uniquely positioned to fill this need,” said Spronz.

“Pocket.watch has proven time and again to be a trailblazer in the kids’ entertainment space and I am thrilled to be joining the team to help further the company’s success and reach into new territories.”

The company’s global expansion follows on the heels of NPD reporting that pocket.watch’s Ryan’s World line of consumer products was the number one new property in the UK in 2019.

To help service the global demand for premium content, pocket.watch has also entered into a partnership with Etisalat, the largest telecom operator in the Middle East, to bring the company’s premiere slate of kids programming, including Ryan’s Mystery Playdate, HobbyKids Adventures and Ryan’s World Specials, to e-Junior, Etisalat’s top UAE kids TV channel through SVOD and Pay TV.

In addition to programming, pocket.watch plans to roll out new consumer products from the Ryan’s World, Ryan’s Mystery Playdate and HobbyKids Adventures franchises within the territory in the second half of the year.

To help the studio reach an even larger global audience, pocket.watch will also expand its roster of creator partners, with the addition of Netherlands based creator JasonVlogs.

Since launching in 2015, JasonVlogs’ popular YouTube channel has amassed over 5 billion lifetime views. Pocket.watch will replicate its successful creator-to-franchise business model by working alongside JasonVlogs to develop an animated series launching this year.

Following the launch, the partners will extend the franchise into consumer products, games and more.

On top of all of this, the company is in active discussions with distributors for its exclusive, premium slate of creator fuelled content including animated series’ EvanTube’s Dollar Toy Squad and Onyx Monster Mysteries amongst others.

BBC Studios taps Step Inside Productions to launch first CBeebies-themed experiential pop-up tour for kids

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BBC Studios has tapped the London-based experiential production company, Step Inside Productions, to develop and manage the first CBeebies-themed interactive pop-up experience for children.

The CBeebies Rainbow Adventure has been designed for children under the age of six and their parents, families, or carers, delivering a transportable, inflatable CBeebies-themed structure spanning 350 square meters.

It contains an array of immersive activities based on CBeebies favourites, including Hey Duggee, Something Special, Sarah & Duck, Go Jetters, and Andy’s Dinosaur Adventures.

CBeebies Rainbow Adventure launches its year-round tour of the UK in April 2020, debuting at Ealing Common, before moving on to Brent Cross, Hull, Ipswich, Richmond, and York. Further UK locations will be announced in due course.

Step Inside Productions is part of Theseus Agency, which consults to clients in entertainment and media to develop new products, brands and business strategies and to source and execute commercial deals.

The company specialises in designing, producing, licensing and operating experiential entertainment formats and combines the vision and extensive experience in entertainment business, rights and design of its partners – Dan Marks, Victoria Molony and Samantha Hardingham – to develop and operate new experiential formats.

Dan Marks was the deputy managing director of British Telecom’s consumer division and CEO of BT TV. He has also held senior executive positions at Universal Studios Networks Worldwide, ProSiebenSat1 and TV3 Russia.

A best-selling author and experienced architectural designer, Samantha Hardingham has curated exhibitions in the UK and Europe. She led on the design of the CBeebies Rainbow Adventure.

Victoria Molony is a qualified lawyer and experienced business affairs adviser specialising in media, entertainment and telecoms. She has advised a range of clients including international broadcasters, Premier League football clubs and J.K. Rowling’s Pottermore on licensing, exploitation and distribution matters.

Marks said: “We’re incredibly excited to be launching CBeebies Rainbow Adventure into the experiential market. The rich insights and cross-sector experience that the partners bring have enabled us to take a truly holistic approach to the creation of new entertainment experiences.”

Mat Way, global director, live entertainment, at BBC Studios, added: “We are thrilled to be working with Step Inside Productions on the first ever CBeebies interactive pop-up experience. CBeebies Rainbow Adventure is an innovative, inspiring and fun way of bringing CBeebies branded activities to the UK regions.”