LIONS GATE HOME ENTERTAINMENT'S FHE DIVISION,
MARC BROWN STUDIOS AND WGBH BOSTON TO CO-PRODUCE DIRECT-TO-VIDEO FEATURE FILM STARRING EVERYONE'S FAVORITE AARDVARK
ARTHUR
First-Ever Feature Film Based On Popular Children's Character
From Hit Television Series To Be Released in 2006
Production Expands FHE's Upcoming Slate Of Direct-To-Video Animated Features Starring Today's Top Children's Properties
SANTA MONICA, CA, and VANCOUVER, BC, May 2004 -- Lions Gate Home Entertainment's Family Home Entertainment (FHE), a division of Lions Gate Entertainment (AMEX and TSX: LGF), Marc Brown Studios and WGBH Boston will co-produce the first-ever full-length direct-to-video feature film starring one of the most popular characters on children's television -- Arthur. The film, which will be enhanced by the addition of CGI animation, is set to hit stores in 2006. The deal was jointly announced by Glenn Ross, President of Lions Gate Home Entertainment's FHE and Marc Brown, creator of Arthur and President of Marc Brown Studios.
The star of his own hit PBS KIDS television series, Arthur was recently nominated for a Daytime Emmy® Award for Outstanding Children's Animated Program. Based on Marc Brown's best-selling books, the Arthur television series provides valuable lessons such as the importance of sharing, honesty, creativity and being yourself. In episodes that never moralize or talk down to kids, Arthur and his friends encounter the joys and difficulties that all kids experience and manage to handle each situation with imagination, kindness, and a lot of humor. With nearly 12 million weekly viewers, Arthur has been rated one of the top children's shows in the US for the last seven years. Arthur has won numerous awards, including the George Foster Peabody Award and five Daytime Emmys -- three in the Outstanding Children's Animated Program category. Q scores report 89% of preschool moms are familiar with the series (source: Q score 2003).
"Arthur is one of those properties that will be a mainstay because of the consistently superb story telling, the positive relationships of the characters and because it is just plain fun," said Ross. "There are a tremendous number of children's properties available, but only a handful that really have proven longevity. It is an absolute thrill for us to be able to bring a property like Arthur into the FHE library, joining our very selective list of beloved children's favorites like Care Bears, Barbie™ and Clifford the Big Red Dog."
"I'm thrilled to be working with Lions Gate on this project," Marc Brown said. "It's a wonderful opportunity to offer children and families a great new Arthur adventure beyond television in an extended, new and exciting format."
ABOUT LIONS GATE ENTERTAINMENT
Lions Gate Entertainment is the leading diversified independent producer and distributor of motion pictures, television programming, home entertainment, family entertainment and video-on-demand content, and its prestigious and prolific library of 8000+ titles is one of the largest in the entertainment industry. The Lions Gate brand name is synonymous with original, daring, quality entertainment in markets around the world.
ABOUT MARC BROWN STUDIOS
Marc Brown Studios is an Emmy and Peabody Award winning children's multimedia company committed to educating children and families through entertainment for over 25 years. Arthur, the cornerstone of the MBS catalog, is enjoyed and respected by families in more than 60 countries throughout the world.
ABOUT WGBH BOSTON
WGBH Boston is America's preeminent public broadcasting producer, the source of one-third of PBS's prime-time lineup as well as many public radio favorites. WGBH-produced Web sites generate 25% of the traffic to pbs.org, the most-visited dot-org on the Internet. WGBH is a pioneer in educational multimedia and in technologies and services that make media accessible to the 36 million Americans who rely on captioning or video descriptions. WGBH has been recognized with hundreds of honors: Emmys, Peabodys, duPont-Columbia Awards…even two Oscars. In 2002, WGBH was honored with a special institutional Peabody Award for 50 years of excellence.
About UNITED MEDIA United Media (UM) is a worldwide licensing and syndication company that focuses on building brand equity around a wide range of creative content. The company recently signed the new PBS kid series, Jakers! The Adventures of Piggley Winks, the MTA (New York Metropolitan Transit Authority), and the Emmy award winning television series, Arthur, to its portfolio of properties. It also collaborated with fellow E.W. Scripps company, Food Network, to build an all new licensing programming featuring the popular cable channel. United Media licenses and/or syndicates other properties, including PEANUTS, Precious Moments, Copyrights at United Media (The World of Beatrix Potter, Paddington Bear, etc.), Raggedy Ann & Andy, and Dilbert. United Media is an E.W. Scripps Company.
