Classic Media Nabs Big Idea
by Karen Raugust -- Publishers Weekly, 9/15/2003
Classic Media, the company that owns licensing and entertainment rights to the Golden Books portfolio of properties, as well as intellectual property rights to Rocky & Bullwinkle, Lamb Chop and many other entertainment and publishing franchises, has entered into an agreement to purchase Big Idea Productions. Big Idea, creator of the bestselling decade-old VeggieTales line of inspirational videos, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection earlier this month as a condition of the purchase. The final sale will depend on the outcome of bankruptcy proceedings.
Big Idea Books, introduced in August 2002 through a licensing deal with Zondervan, surpassed the one million-copies-sold mark in the imprint's first eight months on the market, with eight more titles coming out this fall. Coloring and activity formats from Dalmatian Press are doing well in mass retailers, bookstore chains and the CBA market, and SoftPlay is a new licensee for cloth books to be introduced in 2004. Big Idea has sold more than 30 million videos and three million audio recordings since 1993.
