Nickelodeon has extended its licensing agreement with Centrum Kids to launch a line of Centrum Kids Jimmy Neutron multivitamins. Centrum originally partnered with Nickelodeon to offer RUGRATS chewable multivitamins for kids, and will now present a new line featuring the characters Jimmy, Carl, Cindy and Goddard from the Oscar-nominated film JIMMY NEUTRON: BOY GENIUS and the Nickelodeon series THE ADVENTURES OF JIMMY NEUTRON, BOY GENIUS. Animated characters have always featured prominently in the kids vitamin arena.

Family entertainment company Raven Moon Entertainment, Inc. has
signed a multi-faceted development deal with Pangea Corporation, a
strategic marketing and content development entity, which specializes
in the kids entertainment and toy industries. Pangea will assist
Raven Moon in the further development of its intellectual properties,
while also establishing licensing and cross-promotional opportunities
for Raven Moon's GINA D'S KIDS CLUB brand, a series of
live-action/animated videos for children. Pangea has worked with DIC

Target Stores have announced that they have struck a deal with Gullane Entertainment to carry an exclusive array of THOMAS & FRIENDS merchandise including apparel, toys and home entertainment. One Target exclusive will be a series of pocket-sized, die-cast, portable THOMAS & FRIENDS trains called "Take Along Thomas & Friends," which will be accompanied by all-in-one play sets. Target will also carry exclusive lines of THOMAS & FRIENDS apparel for toddlers and young children, and will introduce an exclusive line of children's footwear.

McFarlane Toys and Warner Bros. Consumer Products have joined forces to create action figures based on Warner Bros. Pictures' highly anticipated second and third installments of THE MATRIX Trilogy -- THE MATRIX RELOADED and THE MATRIX REVOLUTIONS, both slated for release in 2003. Action figures based on the films will debut in conjunction with each film's release. McFarlane Toys is working closely with Warner Bros. Consumer Products to determine which characters will become action figures.

In a considerable licensing deal, Cartoon Network has acquired over 600 half-hours of programming from Warner Bros. International Television Distribution to air on Cartoon Network UK. "In a fiercely competitive market, this is a major boost for Cartoon Network. With these titles added to our formidable library plus other Cartoon Network productions, co-productions and acquisitions, we have an unbeatable line up," said Finn Arnesen, vice president of programming, acquisitions and development for Cartoon Network, Europe.

Barcelona-based Grupo Neptuno has completed a major deal with Basque television producer Euskal Irrati Telebista (ETB) for the distribution of its catalogue worldwide, excluding Latin America and Spanish-speaking stations in the United States. ETB's complete line up of more than 1,000 hours of documentaries, entertainment, animation, feature films and live-action series will join Grupo Neptuno's existing catalog, which includes the preschool series CONNIE THE COW, distributed by AAC Kids and TV-Loonland, and the Flash animated series 2020, a co-production with Megatrix.

Manga publisher Tokyopop has acquired publishing rights to the highly popular manga series LUPIN THE 3RD and the movie books for Katsuhiro Otomo's AKIRA. Tokyopop plans to publish the LUPIN THE 3RD series in its original right-to-left format, while AKIRA will join the company's growing catalog of "Cine-Manga" titles (digitally captured screen stills laid out in a storyboard format). With titles in its catalog including SAILOR MOON, GUNDAM WING, INITIAL D, REAL BOUT HIGH SCHOOL and COWBOY BEBOP, Tokyopop also publishes several hit properties based on popular Cartoon Network and Kids!

Gullane Entertainment’s popular children’s property THOMAS & FRIENDS, has now been translated into Spanish and Portuguese and will be seen in eighteen countries across Central and South America including Argentina, Chile, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Mexico, Peru and Puerto Rico, and throughout The Caribbean. The series launched in early July 2002 on Discovery Kids Latin America’s newly expanded pre-school block.

British animation producer, tv4c, has seen its pre-school animation series, BUSY BUSES, picked up by two regional terrestrial broadcasters in Japan for their autumn schedules. The 26 x 5-minute series is also currently airing daily on Kids Station, Japan’s biggest children’s satellite broadcaster and is enjoying its second run on EBS, Korea and ABC, Australia. BUSY BUSES will return to Living TV in the UK in September 2002 for a six month run.

Warner Bros. Worldwide Consumer Products and Mattel, Inc. have announced a comprehensive, multi-year agreement that grants Mattel the master toy licenses for several of Warner Bros.’ core franchises including LOONEY TUNES, BABY LOONEY TUNES, BATMAN, SUPERMAN and JUSTICE LEAGUE. Under the terms of the multi-year agreement, Mattel will develop and market products such as vehicles, action figures, playsets, plush, games, puzzles, dolls, adult collectibles and other categories based on the properties.