ZAG to premiere two new Miraculous animated films on Disney Channel and Disney+

Disney Channel and the studio’s own streaming platform Disney+ have acquired the global rights to two new Miraculous animated TV movies, set to air this autumn and spring 2021. The two new feature films will take the cast of Miraculous – Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir on their first overseas adventures, the first to New York City, the second to Shanghai.

The launch is the result of a partnership between the independent animation studio ZAG and the European animation leader ON Kids & Family. The two companies are also currently in production on a $60 million budget animated Miraculous feature to be released globally in autumn 2021 or early 2022.

The two animated TV movies, Miraculous World – New York -United HeroeZ and Miraculous World – Shanghai – Lady Dragon, will be available on Disney Channel and Disney+ who have acquired global rights except for Brazil and China. It will then roll out across France’s TF1 for the second window.

Brazil’s Gloob (Grupo Globo), Canada’s Family Channel & Télé-Québec and UK’s POP have acquired respective territory rights.  Created by ZAG and produced by ZAG and ON kids & family (Mediawan Group), the 3D-CGI-animated TV movies are directed by Thomas Astruc.

“With our two new movies, we’re expanding the world of Miraculous like never before as Ladybug and Cat Noir explore New York and Shanghai, and meet new superheroes as they take on treacherous villains far away from their home city of Paris,” commented Jeremy Zag, founder and CEO of ZAG.

“We thank all of our fans for their continued love for Ladybug and Cat Noir, and our tremendous partners, and we can’t wait to share this whole world of new amazing hero characters with everyone.”

Aton Soumache, president and co-founder of On Kids & Family, added: “We are fortunate to be the producers of an extraordinary franchise, that has grown forcefully over time, with phenomenal success and which crosses frontiers. It is now time to extend “The Miraculous World” and today we are taking our universe to a decisive stage in its evolution. The legend will now expand all over the world.”

Miraculous has garnered over 16 billion views on YouTube (authorized and of user-generated content) and has seen over 150 million products sold during the past three years. Miraculous is the winner of thirteen awards, including the 2018 Teen Choice Award for Choice Animated Series, and airs in over 120 countries across the globe.

Disney to launch cloth face coverings and donate proceeds to the Red Cross

Disney is launching a range of non-medical, reusable cloth face coverings featuring Disney, Pixar, Marvel, and Star Wars characters for kids and families in the UK via its shopDisney platform.

As part of the launch, Disney will donate 100 per cent of the proceeds from the sales of the cloth face coverings, up to £500,000, to Red Cross organisations across Europe, including the British Red Cross and its ongoing work to support people in crisis, from now until November 30th this year.

Disney will also donate 100,000 cloth face coverings to vulnerable children and families in local communities across Europe through long-standing charity partners, including in the UK MediCinema, who aim to bring comfort and inspiration to children.

“We hope that Disney’s donation of critical funds and cloth face coverings will help bring comfort and support to kids and families in need during these challenging times,” said Mike Stagg, general manager, The Disney Store and shopDisney EMEA.

“This is another great example of Disney’s ongoing support to bring comfort to vulnerable children and families when they need it most,” said Kat Mason, MediCinema Chief Executive. “These cloth face coverings, with the Disney characters that children know and trust, will help our hospital patients feel more comfortable with staff and when they visit our in-hospital cinemas.”

The cloth, non-surgical face coverings come in small, medium, large and extra-large sizes and in a wide variety of prints featuring a range of fan favourite characters, including: Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Elsa, The Avengers, the Child – affectionately known as Baby Yoda – and more.

Disney’s cloth face coverings are available to pre-order from today in packs of four on shopDisney.co.uk. They are priced at £20 and are estimated to ship in August.

Disney to launch cloth face coverings and donate proceeds to the Red Cross

Disney is launching a range of non-medical, reusable cloth face coverings featuring Disney, Pixar, Marvel, and Star Wars characters for kids and families in the UK via its shopDisney platform.

As part of the launch, Disney will donate 100 per cent of the proceeds from the sales of the cloth face coverings, up to £500,000, to Red Cross organisations across Europe, including the British Red Cross and its ongoing work to support people in crisis, from now until November 30th this year.

Disney will also donate 100,000 cloth face coverings to vulnerable children and families in local communities across Europe through long-standing charity partners, including in the UK MediCinema, who aim to bring comfort and inspiration to children.

“We hope that Disney’s donation of critical funds and cloth face coverings will help bring comfort and support to kids and families in need during these challenging times,” said Mike Stagg, general manager, The Disney Store and shopDisney EMEA.

“This is another great example of Disney’s ongoing support to bring comfort to vulnerable children and families when they need it most,” said Kat Mason, MediCinema Chief Executive. “These cloth face coverings, with the Disney characters that children know and trust, will help our hospital patients feel more comfortable with staff and when they visit our in-hospital cinemas.”

The cloth, non-surgical face coverings come in small, medium, large and extra-large sizes and in a wide variety of prints featuring a range of fan favourite characters, including: Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Elsa, The Avengers, the Child – affectionately known as Baby Yoda – and more.

Disney’s cloth face coverings are available to pre-order from today in packs of four on shopDisney.co.uk. They are priced at £20 and are estimated to ship in August.

LEGO and Disney go retro with classic Mickey Mouse and Minnie sets

The classic look Mickey Mouse and Minnie are to be immortalised in brick form, thanks to a new partnership between Disney and LEGO that will see the Danish toy company launch new building sets depicting the animated icons in their original look.

With this new construction set, fans can re-live memories and immerse themselves in the worlds of both LEGO and Disney.

The large-scale LEGO|Disney Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse Buildable Characters come with nostalgic and stylish details that not only includes their recognisable original outfits, but a series of buildable accessories to pose with, including a retro camera, a guitar, and a photo album complete with pictures of the iconic duo’s adventures from years gone by.

Each figure in the new set also stands on a base that resembles an old-time film reel, complete with the original character signatures. Mickey Mouse stands tall at 14 inches high and Minnie Mouse at 13 inches, while the set boasts an impressive total of 1,739 bricks to build with.

LEGO designer, Ollie Gregory, who worked on the project, said: “We always look to design things that people would like to put on their shelf, including my own, which is why we went for the ‘classic’ Mickey Mouse design with the iconic silhouette and colour palette – as a surprise for builders, the characters insides are built from colourful elements inspired by classic outfits worn by the the pair in the past.

“The Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse Buildable Characters are extremely detailed and intricate, and there were lots of challenges to overcome. For example, to create the tips of their noses we even had to bring back the LEGO Classic Space Helmet in black, which hasn’t been seen since 1987. LEGO fans will also notice that we have debuted a new colour in this set, 363 – TR. Brown with Opalesence, the first time it is included in any set – so there’s lots to explore with this build.”

Siso Toys UK is launching The Child plush toys later this year

Siso Toys UK has become the latest to tap into the popularity of one of the Star Wars canon’s most baby-faced characters, having detailed the forthcoming launch of its new plush range inspired by The Child from the Disney+ series, The Mandalorian.

Coming in at 25cm tall, and as cute as a button, the new The Child plush toy will be available to fans and collectors from October this year, giving 2020 the silver lining it truly needed.

Mayur Pattni, head of marketing at Siso Toys UK, said: “We’re excited to be bringing our new plush toy inspired by the Child to market. Made from quality fabrics, it is incredibly cute and is bound to capture the heart of every Star Wars fan.”

The new release will be promoted with fanzine sampling and social media activity that will run throughout the season.

The Child shot to popularity when the character appeared in Disney’s first live-action Star Wars streaming series, The Mandalorian back in 2019. A popular licensing programme swiftly followed, emerging from the US and now landing on UK shores to coincide with the launch of Disney+ earlier this year.

Wild + Wolf signs major Disney deal for its growing Ridley’s Games brand

The design-led gifting company, Wild + Wolf has signed a new partnership with Disney to bring a cast of popular Disney, Pixar, Marvel, and Star Wars properties to its Ridley’s Games portfolio this year.

Marking the first licensed range for the growing games brand, the product collection will consist of games and puzzles featuring gameplay that remains true to and captures the detail of the licensed characters and properties.

Ridley’s’ bestselling games like Think Fast! and Selfish will be adapted into editions, popular formats such as reaction games will be developed with unique themes, and original games will also be launched across the Disney, Pixar, Marvel and Star Wars franchises.

The contract will include rights across the UK, France, Iberia, GAS, Benelux, Nordics, Italy, CEE, the Middle East, Africa, Australia and New Zealand.

The initial collection will be launching in AW20 will include: Think Fast: Disney Edition, Drawsome: Disney Edition, Disney Villains Selfish, Disney Quiz Trivia, Star Wars Force Battle, Star Wars Selfish, Star Wars Jigsaw Puzzle, Star Wars: Mandalorian Game (Name TBC), Star Wars Quiz Trivia, Star Wars: Don’t Upset The Wookie, Marvel Hulk Smash, Marvel Spidey Sense, and Marvel Quiz Trivia.

“We couldn’t be happier to work with Disney,” said Emma Puzey, licensing manager of Wild + Wolf. “Disney, Pixar, Marvel and Star Wars are global household brands that are loved by millions of people around the world. Our licensed range strengthens our mission to create innovative, giftable, and entertaining games for all ages.”

The license comes at a time of significant growth for the games brand, as Ridley’s Games was just exhibited at its first London Toy Fair, celebrated a bumper year of award wins, received a dedicated UK account manager, as well as seeing great success in expanded international distribution with translations into multiple languages.

Surge in Disney+ subscribers amid global lockdown boosts demand for Hasbro’s ‘Baby Yoda’

The surge in subscribers to Disney+ amid global coronavirus lockdown measures has already provided a boost to Hasbro’s licensed toy sales, particularly, the global toymaker has stated, to the popularity of the ‘Baby Yoda’ character from the Disney original TV series, The Mandalorian.

Demand for the character – officially called The Child – was already high when Disney+ first launched to US audiences in November last year, but, according to Hasbro’s CEO Brian Goldner in conversation with Yahoo Finance, the recent spike in Disney+ subscribers looking for entertainment while in self isolation, has drive the demand further.

“We clearly have seen that streaming has become more of a force in making connections with consumers and driving merchandising,” Goldner said earlier this week. “That’s always been a question: Could streamed content drive merchandising? And clearly Baby Yoda has done that. We saw that in the fourth quarter with some of our product directly related to The Mandalorian.

“Our pre-sales around Baby Yoda have been incredibly robust and we’re very excited to ship Baby Yoda late spring.”

Available for pre-order for the past few months, Hasbro newest Star Wars The Mandalorian toy range – including the Baby Yoda product line – will be landing on shelves this spring.

On top of this, Goldner has revealed that it’s not just Star Wars merchandise that has received a boost recently, but so too has Frozen, other Disney Princess lines, and Marvel toys.

“We’re seeing that overall Star Wars sales are performing well year-to-date, because the movie [‘Rise of Skywalker’] was incredibly popular, and then the home entertainment window has come more quickly, as has ‘Frozen 2.’ Disney has advanced those windows and made those home entertainment windows available to consumers more quickly on Disney+. We clearly see Disney+ as a major advantage to Disney and also to licensees of Disney like Hasbro,” said a representative from Disney.

Mad Beauty lands exclusive Superdrug deal for its Disney’s Mulan beauty and lifestyle range

The health and beauty specialist, Mad Beauty is readying itself for the cinematic debut of Disney’s live action remake of Mulan with the launch of a new range of Mulan licensed beauty, bath and lifestyle products exclusively with Superdrug.

Ahead of the film’s March 27th UK release date, Mad Beauty has developed an extensive range, spanning pampering face masks, cherry-blossom make-up brushes, hair clips, bath fizzers and more.

The Disney Mulan range launched exclusively at Superdrug stores and online on Wednesday, February 26th.

The Disney Mulan Face Mask, Mulan Hair Clip Set, and Chinese cherry blossom Disney Mulan Bath Fizzers are joined by the Mulan Hairbrush set, and make-up brush set. The range also includes a Disney Mulan Lip Balm, Disney Mulan Bath Tea, Disney Mulan Bath and Body Set, and Disney Mulan Eyeshadow Palette.

Mad Beauty has had an ongoing partnership with Superdrug for the past three Christmas seasons. The new Disney licensed Mulan deal will see Mad Beauty extend its range into twice the number of Superdrug stores from this spring.

Trevor Cash, managing director at Mad Beauty, said: “We are very excited about this exclusive Mulan collection. Superdrug has been a valued partner of Mad Beauty’s for the last three Christmas seasons, so to have the opportunity to launch a full range on a FSU in twice as many stores as normal in spring is a fantastic bonus.

“We are very proud of the beautiful collection developed together to coincide with the launch of Mulan movie launch and would like to thank Superdrug and Disney for their support.” 

Disney and UEFA team up to encourage young girls into football with Playmakers campaign

Disney has teamed with the UEFA to develop a ground-breaking football programme that uses the studio’s penchant for storytelling to encourage more young girls into football with the initiative it has called, Playmakers.

Inspired by academic research that has demonstrated the positive role of storytelling in helping children take up sport,  Playmakers also aims to increase the proportion of girls meeting the World Health Organisation’s minimum standards for physical activity.

Targeting five to eight year-old girls not currently playing football, seven UEFA national associations –Scotland, Norway, Belgium, Poland, Austria, Romania, and Serbia – will roll out the Playmakers campaign through schools, clubs and local communities, with more associations expected to introduce the programme later in the year.

Each of Playmaker’s ten initial training sessions follow the narrative of Disney and Pixar’s billion dollar global box office smash hit, Incredibles 2. Equipped with footballs, bibs and cones, trained coaches encourage participants to play the roles of popular characters, such as Elastigirl, Violet, Mr Incredible and Dash, bringing the film’s action scenes to life through movement, teamwork and imagination.

“If you’re going to teach football through the power of storytelling and play, you have to do it with the best stories and characters in the world, and Disney is the perfect partner for this,” said Nadine Kessler, UEFA Head of Women’s Football.

“By taking that Disney magic, and implementing the first-ever pan-European girls’ grassroots football programme, we will give any girl the best possible opportunity to fall in love with football.”

As Playmakers rolls out across Europe, new Disney storytelling will be added to the programme.

Early sessions will see the Playmakers programme focus on building girls’ confidence in their movement, encouraging creative thinking and communicating easily with their friends. Later sessions introduce girls to basic football skills.

Kessler added: “We want girls to have the same feeling and be encouraged to create their own game and make their own decisions. This is exactly what this programme is about – creating an environment for all girls to flourish and develop, whether that be fundamental movement skills, football basics or life skills and values.

“We truly believe that this unique programme can be the spark for a more active generation of football-loving girls.”

At the centre of the Playmakers’ campaign will be a play-based learning programme developed following a literary review from Leeds’ Beckett University in England. Commissioned by UEFA, the review assessed academic research into what motivates young girls to participate in sports, identifying best practice coaching methods to create a safe learning environment.

The programme is also the result of a knowledge-transfer partnership with the English Football Association who is currently running the Shooting Stars programme in partnership with Disney.

Playmakers represents a first step toward achieving one of the main goals of  UEFA’s own Time for Action mission statement, in which UEFA Women’s Football aims to double girls’ and women’s participation in football by 2024.

“It is UEFA’s duty as European football’s governing body to empower girls to play the game,” added UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin, “Through this partnership with Disney, we will open up football to an audience not yet engaged with our sport.”

On top of this, it is across Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), that Disney has a long-standing Healthy Living Commitment, using its storytelling to get families more active and working to educate and inspire children about healthy eating.

This has led to a variety of partnerships on inspirational campaigns, such as Public Health England’s 10 Minute Shake Up, which inspired two million kids to get active and register more than 100 million extra minutes of physical activity.

In Poland, Disney launched its #GetMovingWithDisneyJunior initiative, a campaign spearheaded by local sporting champions, which reached more than 30,000 youngsters. The campaign involved the creation of more than 30 films, which featured children exercising alongside Disney Junior characters.

Nicole Morse, Disney EMEA’s vice president of integrated marketing, said: “This brilliant Playmakers initiative is another great example of Disney’s long-term commitment to help future generations lead healthier lifestyles.

“By using our much-loved characters and stories as a force for good, we can really make a difference and inspire families and children to be more active. So we’re very proud that by partnering with UEFA on the first pan-European girls football programme, we will encourage more and more girls across the region to get active, build their confidence and participate in playing football, all in an environment that has been specifically designed for them.”

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

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: