Classic Media Announces Extensions to Key Kids Properties

LONDON: As Brand Licensing Europe opened in London today, Classic Media announced a deal for a Postman Pat animated theatrical release in 2011 and granted the master toy license for the new series Tinga Tinga Tales to Bandai.

Classic Media has concluded a deal with U.K.-based Timeless Films to produce a feature-length 3-D theatrical release Postman Pat for release in the fall of 2011. This marks the veteran mailman’s first big-screen appearance after almost three decades on TV; Pat’s most recent TV iteration, Postman Pat: Special Delivery Service, launched on CBeebies in September 2008. The feature film will be produced in the original stop-frame animation format with added CG and 3-D effects. The film is being penned by Kim Fuller, whose credits include Spice World, S Club 7 and Spitting Image, among others. Timeless Films will distribute the movie in the U.K. and internationally.  

Andrew Kerr, executive director of consumer products and marketing for international at Classic Media, noted: “Postman Pat is enjoying a renaissance at present with a successful TV series, strong licensing program, promotional campaigns with leading U.K. brands and a nationwide theater tour rolling out in 2010—the announce of a theatrical film deal in 3-D is the icing on the cake.”

Classic Media has also tapped Bandai as master toy partner for its new produced-in-Africa preschool animated series Tinga Tinga Tales. Bandai will create a range of toy product based upon the brand for launch in the U.K. late next year. Penguin Group has already signed on as master publishing partner for the brand, co-commissioned by CBeebies in the U.K. and Playhouse Disney in the U.S. Bandai’s territories include North and South America, the U.K. and Europe, Africa and the Middle East, and an option on Australasia.