Lionsgate, LeapFrog Ink Deal for Direct-to-DVD Films

SANTA MONICA/VANCOUVER,
April 1: Lionsgate has reached a multi-year agreement
with LeapFrog Enterprises, a developer of technology-based learning products,
and rights holder and producer Chris D’Angelo, to develop, produce and
distribute multiple educational direct-to-DVD feature films.

The multi-year
deal provides Lionsgate with worldwide rights to the films in all territories
except China. In addition, Lionsgate has acquired the home-entertainment
distribution rights to LeapFrog’s catalogue, all of which were created and
produced by Chris D’Angelo and have sold more than 4 million units through five
DVD releases. The rights will begin to transition to Lionsgate in 2009 as they
become available.

This most
recent deal comes on the heels of Lionsgate's multi-year agreement with HIT
Entertainment to distribute HIT's catalogue of children's non-theatrical
product throughout North America. With the LeapFrog and HIT agreements in
place, Lionsgate expects its family home-entertainment market share of
non-theatrical product to grow to approximately 15 percent.

Lionsgate is
currently the industry’s fourth-largest distributor of children’s
non-theatrical titles and the second largest for children’s non-theatrical
features. The company releases to DVD brands like Scholastic’s Clifford the
Big Red Dog, American Greetings' The Care Bears, Cookie Jar
Entertainment’s The Doodlebops, MGA’s Bratz and Nelvana’s Miss
Spider’s Sunny Patch Friends,
as well as Speed Racer and the Marvel Animated Features
series, in addition to the HIT titles.

“The LeapFrog
DVD line has been extremely successful because the well-known brand truly
resonates with parents who feel that LeapFrog is a name they can trust,” said
Anne Parducci, the executive VP of marketing and family entertainment at
Lionsgate. “LeapFrog has been synonymous with education for parents and
children since the company’s inception, and that educational message will be
the focal point of all our releases. Creating new educational DVDs and
acquiring the LeapFrog library supports our mission of delivering trusted
product built on the twin themes of entertainment and education to families
throughout North America.”

—By Irene Lew