Deals You Missed: Sony, Cartoon Network, Wonkybot Studios

CPLG expands movie brands, Pinna grows Tara Tremendous, Caldera Creations unveils Seal Force Five, and a broadcaster launches anti-bullying initiatives.

Sony Pictures Consumer Products          

Sony Pictures Consumer Products has expanded its existing multi-year partnership with London-based licensing agency CPLG to represent Sony Picture’s catalogue in seven additional markets in EMEA.

CPLG will represent Sony Picture’s film and TV portfolio in Benelux, France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the UK and the Middle East, in addition to its existing territories, Italy and Spain. The licensing agency will be responsible for expanding Sony Picture’s popular brands including, Ghostbusters, Jumanji, Vivo, and popular adult-skewing TV series Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul and Outlander.

To start, CPLG is going to focus its efforts on the Ghostbusters franchise, with new products, events and collaborations in anticipation of the new Ghostbusters movie set for summer 2020.

Hoho Entertainment

London-based prodco Hoho Entertainment has teamed up with burgeoning US prodco Caldera Creations to develop the animated comedy/adventure series Seal Force 5 (pictured).

Created by Caldera Creations’ founders and cousins Paul and Rob Caldera, five arctic seals are mysteriously mutated into human form and assemble to stop a shadowy organization from destroying the world.

Aimed at kids six- to 10-years-old, the 26 x 22-minute animated series is expected to be delivered in 2022, according to a spokesperson from Hoho. The Calderas chose seals as the protagonists after considering cute animals that hadn’t already been turned into icons, Paul said in a statement.

Wonkybot Studios

Los Angeles-based prodco Wonkybot Studios has partnered with audio on-demand entertainment company Pinna to co-produce podcast series Tara Tremendous: The Egyptian Curse. The Egyptian Curse is a 12 episode stand-alone season that expands on the adventures of Wonkybot’s superhero-themed podcast Tara Tremendous: The Secret Diaries.

Pinna has also licensed the first two seasons—24 episodes containing more than six hours of content—of the Tara Tremendous podcast for distribution on its streaming platform.

Created, written and directed Stewart St. John, the podcast series is aimed at kids three- to 12-years-old. The first episode of the new season premiered on Monday, with new episodes rolling out weekly and exclusively on Pinna’s streaming subscription service. The premiere episode is also available at Wonkybot’s site, along with the official video trailer. In the new season, Gen Z superhero Tara Tremendous finds herself at the center of an ancient Egyptian mystery that threatens to destroy the entire world.

This is the first co-production venture for Wonkybot Studios since it announced its audio-first strategy to create family-friendly franchises. Wonkybot is developing several other original family-themed scripted podcast and audio series created in-house, and is in discussions with other studios and independents looking to hire them to produce audio series based on their IP.

Cartoon Network

Cartoon Network is expanding its anti-bullying efforts through a partnership with Minneapolis-based nonprofit PACER’s National Bullying Prevention Center and San Francisco-based nonprofit 826 National, to launch the “Include Someone, Make a Difference” campaign, kicking off in October for National Bullying Prevention Month.

As part of the campaign, Cartoon Network is airing a new PSA across the US, with a call to action for kids to include others. The companies are also launching online resources and a website that will track and highlight nationwide participation. “Include Someone” will also roll out with a kit that features a poster, educators guide and stickers to reward kid’s inclusion efforts.

The new campaign follows recent research commissioned by the kidsnet, which found that 58% of kids nine to 11 don’t know what to do or say when they see another person get picked on for be left out. Cartoon Network and 826 National have also co-created an inclusion-focused storytelling lesson plan for elementary and middle school students, that’s available online.

826 National and Cartoon Network are also expanding the Inclusion Storytelling curriculum in 2017 through a contest, which invites participating educators at qualifying schools to win a school-wide storytelling event focused on creating, sharing, and celebrating stories of inclusion, with the winning school’s authors getting to create a publication.

Source: Kidscreen