Including Paramount Pictures and Cartoon Network celebrating the launch of Sherlock Gnomes.
The Source rounds up more news from the licensing industry across the globe from the week.
Paramount Pictures has teamed with Cartoon Network to celebrate the launch of Sherlock Gnomes, the follow up to the hit animation Gnomeo and Juliet. The pan-European deal includes ad placements across all Turner on-air and digital properties throughout the UK, France, Italy, Spain and Germany. Turner held a special preview last weekend, while it has also created a co-branded Dangers of the Garden promotion to be featured on-air in the run up to the film release (May 11).
Coolabi has secured a deal with Animoca Brands Corporation to develop and publish a new Beast Quest mobile game, using the game engine from the successful Crazy Defense Heroes (which has generated $2m in its first quarter on iOS alone). The two companies will partner on the production and distribution of the game, which will bring the playstyle and technology of Animoca’s tower defence and collectable card fantasy mobile games with the stories and characters from the Beast Quest brand.
Nelvana has revealed a Canadian licensing and broadcast partnership with Sesame Workshop. Nelvana will exclusively broadcast Sesame Street and Sesame Studios’ content in Canada on Corus’ Treehouse – the number one preschool network in Canada. The company will also represent Sesame Street within the Canadian licensed consumer products community.
Mixed martial arts brand UFC has partnered with The Walt Disney Company’s direct to consumer and international division and ESPN. The deal will see exclusive live UFC content on ESPN+, as well as across a variety of ESPN’s TV, social and digital platforms – in English and Spanish – from January 2019.
Genius Brands International is continuing to build up the licensing partner roster for preschool brand, Rainbow Rangers. New partners in the US include Berkshire Fashions (outerwear), Disguise (Halloween costumes) and Ceaco (puzzles).
The new Fingerlings YouTube channel launches today (May 11). Three programmes will be produced: Fingerlings Tales, The Fingerlings Show and Hangin’ with Gigi, with new episodes for all being released every week.
Turner EMEA is to start production on a new series out of Madrid this summer. Vote for Juan is a scripted political comedy series of eight 30-minute episodes set in the world of Spanish politics. It is due to begin filming in June.
The Fred Rogers Company has rebranded to Fred Rogers Productions as it positions itself for further growth. The change is name is designed to better reflect the company’s expanding catalogue of programmes which include Daniel Tiger’s Neighbourhood, Peg + Cat and Odd Squad, as well as apps, games and more.
The Brand Liaison has appointed former Disney and Hasbro exec, Anita Castellar to manage special projects.
Want to read more news like this? Simply sign up to our daily digest by clicking here. You can also follow @LicensingSource on Twitter.
