Animation Licensing News 2012 (July)

The following article highlights a variety of licensing notes announced throughout July 2012. Notable inclusions comprise the revival of an animation magazine in China, a slew of updates from Nickelodeon domestically and globally, and some footwear for fans of Phineas and Ferb.

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Earlier in the month, MARVEL Entertainment inked a partnership with apparel and uniform supplier Russell Athletic for various collegiate clothing. According to the new agreement, MARVEL superheroes will now adorn various casual clothing alongside the logo and emblem of more than 200 colleges across the United States.

Thor adorns a t-shirt for Kansas State University, Iron Man takes up arms for UCLA, and so forth. Participating universities largely include recognizable Division I institutions, such as Michigan State, Ohio State University, UNLV, and others.

The preschool animation Mouk, from French production studio Millimages, earned a number of successful licenses in the way of merchandise, stationary, home wears, novelty items, and children's apparel only a few weeks ago [recent A.I. news: "Mouk Preschool Animation News" (06/2012)]. In July 2012, Nottingham Forest, a licensing agency familiar with the needs of consumers on the Iberian peninsula, acquired the rights to represent Mouk in all the traditional product categories. Nottingham Forest will also take charge of toys, back-to-school products, and interactive items. Mouk, based on a line of picture books (by Paris-based artist Mark Boutavant), is about two buddies who love to travel and encounter new and different cultures at each destination.

In China, Global Times recently published a fascinating article about the return of one of the nation's first animation magazines, Cartoon King, which returns to newsstands after being out of print for three years. The Cartoon King magazine has a history stretching back nearly two decades, and publishes information on comics and animation in addition to providing some genuine gallery space for young comics artists to prove their worth.

The downturn in print publishing and a lack of strong editorial leadership has been cited for the publication's absence. There are other "animation magazines" occupying Chinese shelves, but many of them are are privately owned and are quite young (established in 2005 or later).

Cartoon King returns by way of a joint collaboration between the original owner, Shanghai Animation Film Studio, and Shanghai Tianjing Cultural Communication Company.

Autumn 2012, for Winx Club, has been projected as a key season for more than a year now. New animation, doll collections, toys, and now comics/graphic novels and home video releases are on the schedule. The girls' fantasy series about magically inclined teens recently earned a debut on the graphic novel market courtesy of VIZ Media. Two 96-page volumes of VIZ's Winx Club comic are already in stores, a third volume is scheduled for release by September 2012. In the third volume, Bloom makes new friends and discovers old enemies after getting a job at a restaurant on the lakefront of Magix.

In other Winx Club news, the home video release of Winx Club: The Secret of the Lost Kingdom is scheduled for release August 7, 2012 ($16.99). The two-disc release, published by Nickelodeon, contains the new CG television special as well as seven episodes of the animated series.

Autumn also bodes well for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the new Nickelodeon TV series that will premiere domestically in September, and internationally only weeks thereafter. The UK is slated to premiere the series in October 2012. Television Espanola (Spain) will broadcast the CG series in spring 2013.

In the way of new licenses, Nickelodeon & Viacom Consumer Products announced more than thirty new TMNT licenses for the UK segment this past month:

wheeled goods, games and arts and crafts products (Sambro); apparel (TV Mania); outerwear and nightwear (Cooneen Misirli); footwear (William Lamb); accessories and gifts (VMC, Zeon); homewares (Character World); stationary and back-to-school items (Copywrite Designs); bedroom and outdoor play (Worlds Apart); publishing/annuals (Egmont, Parragon); greeting cards, party supplies (Hallmark, Amscan); and foodstuffs (BIP, Kinnerton, and Lightbody).

In other, Nickelodeon general news, parent group Viacom has reached an extensive Latin America licensing agreement with Agosin Group. The partnership is considered a "regional deal" that covers than 15 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, including Venezuela, Costa Rica, Peru, Chile, Colombia, and Dominican Republic. According to reports, Agosin Group will license Nickelodeon properties in these territories, like SpongeBob SquarePants, Dora, the new TMNT series, as well as MTV's Beavis and Butthead characters and Comedy Central's South Park. Meanwhile, in India, the recently restructured Viacom18 Media board has moved ahead with Nickelodeon character merchandizing for television sets, mobile phones, and personal fans. According to executives familiar with the matter, there are "huge plans" lined up over the next six months for the region.

Elsewhere, Etnies, which markets various sports apparel and shoes, has reached an agreement with the folks at Disney for a line of Phineas and Ferb footwear. Various shoe collections sporting character combinations from the animated television series will be available globally from October 2012 forward, with new styles cycling into retail on through spring 2013.

"With characters that skateboard, surf and snowboard, Phineas and Ferb is a perfect fit for etnies," Mike Regan, Global Brand Director for etnies, commented on the licensing partnership.

"The footwear collection will connect fans of etnies' action sports lifestyle to this award-winning show and Phineas and Ferb viewers with shoes that creatively illustrate the personalities of the characters."