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Random House U.K. Forms Merchandise and Media Unit
Random House Group in the U.K. has formed Random House Enterprises, a new unit devoted to extending its content and trademarks, for both children and adults, into consumer products and content platforms including television, live events, and gaming.
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Licensed Characters Add Spice to Cookbooks
Whether you're a fan of Star Wars, Sesame Street, or True Blood—there's a cookbook out there for you.
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DreamWorks Animation to Buy Classic Media
DreamWorks Animation, the studio responsible for the Madagascar and Shrek film series, has agreed to acquire Classic Media, owner of vintage and new entertainment properties including Rocky & Bullwinkle, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, and VeggieTales, for $155 million.
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CafePress Partners with Penguin Young Readers Group
From “I think I can” magnets based on Watty Piper’s The Little Engine That Could, illus. by Loren Long, to Betty Bunny books and infant bodysuits based on stories by Michael B. Kaplan, illustrated by Stephane Jorisch, CafePress.com has begun showcasing products from children’s books published by Penguin Young Readers Group.
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Expanding the Halo Universe
Interactive gamers are awaiting the holiday 2012 release of Halo 4 from 343 Industries and Microsoft Game Studios; it’s the latest in one of the all-time bestselling videogame series. The Halo franchise, which encompasses games, publishing, and merchandise, has generated nearly $3 billion in retail sales worldwide since 2001.
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Licensing International Expo 2012
The Licensing International Expo offers a microcosm of the trends being tracked by publishers who acquire licensed properties. This year’s show, held last week in Las Vegas, not only spotlighted key trends but seemed to confirm that the licensing business is gaining strength after several tough years.
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Book-Based Brand Extensions Highlighted at Las Vegas Licensing Expo
Publishing properties are making news at the 32nd annual Licensing International Expo this week, with several licensors and licensing agents announcing new launches and new representation of book-based licensing programs.
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Penguin Acquires Moshi Monsters License for U.S.
Moshi Monsters, the online virtual world for children licensed by Mind Candy, has expanded its U.S. publishing program. Penguin Young Readers Group will serve as the master licensee, with plans including sticker/activity books, pick-a-path chapter books, 8x8s, and guidebooks, among other formats.
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Peppa Pig Picks U.S. Publishing Partners
Entertainment One Family has signed its first U.S. publishing deals, with Scholastic and Candlewick, for Peppa Pig, an animated TV series for preschoolers.
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Immedium Ties In with 'Justin Time'
Immedium, the publisher of the Octonauts book series, has signed a license with Guru Studio for a series of books based on the preschool adventure TV series, Justin Time. The relationship between Immedium and Guru goes back to around 2006, when a Guru producer contacted Immedium shortly after the first Octonauts title came out, according to publisher Oliver Chin.
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Finn and Jake's Next Adventure: Books with Penguin
Cartoon Network has licensed Penguin Young Readers Group for books tied to its series Adventure Time, starring Finn the Human and Jake the Dog. The show is in its fourth season and is the #1 television program on Mondays for children 6-11.
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Licensing Hotline: May 17
Candlewick plans to expand its MoshiMoshiKawaii publishing program, launched in 2011 with three search-and-find titles, with the addition of two smaller-format activity/search books in August of this year.
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Tie-Ins Attract TV Viewers to the Mystery Genre
Television shows, from Columbo to Criminal Minds, have long inspired book series in the mystery genre. Creating licensed novels based on a detective show—attracting TV fans and satisfying the show’s producers, while not alienating avid mystery readers—can be difficult. Yet the track record of such publishing programs is good, with several achieving bestseller status and some outliving the show on which they’re based.
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HMH Adds Tie-Ins to Hobbit List
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, longtime U.S. publisher of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings trilogy, has secured the U.S. rights to release tie-in books for the films The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and The Hobbit: There and Back Again.
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Big Bird and Friends Go Ape for Comics
Sesame Workshop has licensed Ape Entertainment and its Kidzoic imprint to produce original print and digital comic books for young readers featuring the Sesame Street characters.
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Licensing Hotline: March 29, 2012
Bookstores are among the retail chains helping consumers whet their appetite for licensed merchandise based on The Hunger Games. The movie’s $152.2 million opening-weekend box office take was the third largest for any film and the largest ever for a non-sequel.
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Licensing's New Balancing Act
The adage “think global, act local” is an increasingly apt description for the international publishing strategies of Hollywood film studios, television producers, and digital brand owners when it comes to licensing their content.
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S&S Goes Medieval with HIT's Mike the Knight
HIT Entertainment has signed Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing as its first licensee in the U.S. and Canada for the CG-animated television series Mike the Knight.
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Nickelodeon Heads to Random House
Random House Children’s Books will become the primary publisher for Nickelodeon, taking over all trade publishing formats from longtime licensee Simon & Schuster as of January 1, 2013.
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Toy Fair Shines Light on Evolving Licensing Business
Licensed products typically are front and center at the annual New York Toy Fair, with toys and games based on movies, TV shows, and classic characters driving a significant portion of sales in that industry. Many of the publishers exhibiting at the show highlight their licensed titles as well.
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