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Special Event: MIPCOM

Headline News

Former Manga Ent. CEO Launches New Animation Licensing Company

Marvin Gleicher, co-founder and former CEO of Worldwide Operations for Manga Ent., has launched Marvin Media to develop, produce and license animated films to the international marketplace.

Gleicher joins Japanese animation director Keiichi Sato (KARAS, WOLF’S RAIN, THE BIG-O, GIANT ROBO), screenwriter: Manabu Ishikawa (FULL METAL ALCHEMIST, MO NO NO KE), Hisashi Oguchi (Bells & Whistles/ Tokyo) as producer for FLOATING MOON, an original environmentally-aware sci-fi feature based on Paul Kanter's story, due early 2010.

Angry Headline News

aniBoom To Present Four Animated Series At MIPCOM 2008

aniBoom will present four new animated series at MIPCOM 2008, taking place at Cannes' Palais des Festivals October 13-17.

The series -- ANIMAL NATION, ANGRY DOG, FREESTYLE and SNOWY THE FROSTMAN -- are all hits on aniBoom.com and aniBoom's network of branded Internet channels which, along with their mobile channels, reach more than 300 million viewers worldwide, a community whose comments, rankings and validation translates into significant risk reduction for TV broadcasters looking for new content with an enhanced probability of success.

Headline News

Fremantle Sails Into MIPCOM With Captains Hook, Blackbeard And Nemo

The Fremantle Corporation's latest acquisition, FANTASTIC TALES, encompasses a spellbinding collection of six animated features produced as a Canada/EU co-production by Canadian production companies Kaleidoscope Ent. and Comet Ent. for worldwide distribution by Fremantle.

Series Headline News

League Of Super Evil Threatens To Take Over Cannes

Nerd Corps' plan for ultimate global takeover (loosely disguised as a television show) continues to gain momentum, as THE LEAGUE OF SUPER EVIL prepares for launch at the MIPCOM Jr. screenings, and readies its online attack plan.

Headline News

Breakthrough Licenses Betty, Dudley

Breakthrough Ent. has closed several broadcast deals for its children's programming with broadcasters, heading into this year's MIPCOM.

ATOMIC BETTY, season three (26x30), has been licensed to Cartoon Network Latin America and THE ADVENTURES OF DUDLEY THE DRAGON (65x30) has been licensed to APTN in Canada.

Brand Headline News

4Kids Entertainment Brings On The RollBots

Amberwood Ent. has appointed 4Kids Ent. as the worldwide merchandise licensing agent and marketing brand manager for its new animated TV series, ROLLBOTS. 4Kids will manage global licensing opportunities, working closely with all licensees of the ROLLBOTS brand, including recently signed master toy licensee Mattel.

ROLLBOTS, a CG animated action-comedy with 26 episodes currently in production, features perfectly round robots with arm and leg appendages that retract, allowing them to roll at extreme speeds on roller-coaster-like tracks through their world, Flip City.

Series Headline News

DECODE Adds Martha Speaks To MIPCOM Line-up

DECODE Enterprises is bringing a diverse range of programming for all ages to MIPCOM 2008, including debut show MARTHA SPEAKS, from Studio B Productions and WGBH Boston. Also on its market slate are new episodes of established shows alongside brand new programming from DHX Media's production subsidiaries and third party producers.

Headline News

Garfield Heads To France

MEDIATOON will present the first episodes of the new CGI series of GARFIELD from French producer Dargaud Media at MIPCOM. American cartoonist Jim Davis, who created the comic strip 30 years ago, is the exec producer. In addition to the world famous comic strip, two blockbuster feature films, TV specials and a large amount of merchandising and Internet content, Garfield strikes again with 52x11 episodes shot in HD.

Productions Headline News

BabyFirst Launches In-House Production Unit

BabyFirst has formed BFTV Productions, an in-house unit established to produce original television programming expressly for the preschool market.

Now reaching 100 million home worldwide, BabyFirst is a commercial-free 24/7 channel designed for babies and toddlers and their parents. Arik Kerman, SVP of Programming for BabyFirst and the executive responsible the channel's programming, will serve as General Manager of BFTV Productions. Programming produced by BFTV Productions will be offered to preschool broadcasters worldwide.

Entertainment Headline News

DECODE Promotes Josh Scherba To VP Distribution

DECODE Enterprises, the distribution subsidiary of DHX Media, has promoted Josh Scherba from Director of Sales to VP, Distribution.

In his new role, he will continue to head the sales team for DECODE Enterprises' distribution catalogue which includes programming from DHX's production subsidiary's DECODE Entertainment, Halifax Film and Studio B Productions as well as acquired third party series.

Mipcom Headline News

Tudou Chief To Reveal Web Entertainment Future In China At MIPCOM 2008

Gary Wang, founder and CEO of Tudou, China's leading video sharing platform, will deliver a keynote at MIPCOM 2008. The address will be given on Thursday, October 16 within the framework of a day of debate dedicated to the convergence between TV, video sharing online communities and video games. The 24th edition of MIPCOM runs October 13-17 at the Palais des Festivals in Cannes, France.

Headline News

Cuppa Coffee Celebrates Nerds At MIPCOM

Do you know how many sun swords a wizard with only seven charisma points needs to slay a wandering armored Tharg troll? Likely, you don't have a clue, but this is common knowledge in NERDLAND, a new stop-motion animated pilot debuting at MIPCOM in October from Cuppa Coffee Studios and set to air this fall on TELETOON.

Headline News

Aardman Creates New Division -- Aardman Rights

Aardman Animations, the Bristol-based Academy Award-winning animation studio has restructured its Marketing, Licensing and International TV Distribution departments, merging them all into a newly formed division called Aardman Rights. The new division is set up to market and sell Aardman content across all media and it will seek to expand its IP portfolio by representing third-party properties.

Headline News

Creative Keynotes Announced At MIPCOM

Ze Frank, Internet legend and pioneer, comedian, presenter and lecturer, and Gary Carter, President, Creative Networks and Chief Creative Officer, FMX of FremantleMedia, will deliver a joint keynote on creativity at MIPCOM 2008, on Tuesday, October 14 in cooperation with the Entertainment Master Class, The Format Academy for Entertainment Television.

Licensing Headline News

Staff Cuts At Cookie Jar Finalized

KIDSCREEN Magazine reports that 80 full-time employees of the newly merged DIC Ent./Cookie Jar Group have been let go. Plans to restructure the company came earlier in August, following the July acquisition.

Most positions were eliminated effectively immediately, according to Cookie Jar CEO Michael Hirsh. Some departures will occur as far away as six months from now to finish up current projects. The company now employs between 230 and 240 people, including staff at CPLG the European licensing agency that was part of the DIC acquisition.

Mipcom Headline News

4Kids Debuts New Dinosaur King Episodes At MIPCOM

4Kids Ent. has set MIPCOM 2008 for the premiere of 26 all-new half-hour episodes of DINOSAUR KING.

The global broadcast line-up for DINOSAUR KING series includes Mediaset (Italy), RTL2 (Germany), France 3 (France), Canal J (France), TV2 (Denmark), TV4 (Sweden), MTV 3 (Finland), TVI (Portugal), LNK (Lithuania), Neljas (Estonia), Jetix (UK, Scandinavia, Spain and Latin America), MNET (South Africa) and YTV (Canada) among many others. New markets expected to close at MIPCOM include the U.K., Ireland, Australia and a number of central European countries.

Mipcom Headline News

Nickelodeon President Cyma Zarghami To Keynote At MIPCOM Junior

Cyma Zarghami, President of Nickelodeon/MTVN Kids and Family Group, will present the MIPCOM Junior 2008 Keynote on Sunday October 12. The 16th edition of MIPCOM Junior, the specialist international screening marketplace and conference for children's programming and merchandising will be held on the October 11-12 at the Carlton Hotel in Cannes, France.

During her address, Zarghami will share her vision of how the localization of global hit creative properties can result in a stronger worldwide brand presence.

Film Headline News

Secret Swedish Gnome Invasion

Swedish animated film GNOMES AND TROLLS: THE SECRET CHAMBER has sold to 69 countries so far, per VARIETY. The English-language children's film first screened this weekend at the Norwegian Film Festival in Haugesund.

GNOMES was directed by Robert Rhodin, who produced along with Carl Johan Merner for White Shark. It has yet to be sold in the U.S., U.K., France, Italy or Germany, but will screen at the AFM in Santa Monica, California in November and a TV version will be shown at MIPCOM in Cannes, France in October. An unfinished version showed at Cannes Film Market.

Disney Headline News

Claude Jumps Off The Page And Onto Playhouse Disney U.K.

Playhouse Disney U.K. has acquired a new U.K. preschool animation series, CLAUDE, scheduled to air later this year. The series is being produced by U.K. production companies Dot To Dot and Red and Blue Productions.

Headline News

Discovery Communications' David Zaslav To Deliver MIPCOM 2008 TV Keynote

David Zaslav, President and CEO, Discovery Communications, will present the MIPCOM 2008 Green TV Keynote on Monday, October 13. MIPCOM, the world's audiovisual content market, will be held in Cannes, France from October 13-17, 2008.

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