Harry and His Bucket Full of Dinosaurs

TV Kids Weekly, August 22, 2006

NAME: Harry and His Bucket Full of Dinosaurs

ORIGIN: The animated TV series is based on popular children’s books
from the U.K.

CREATORS: Harry and His Bucket Full of Dinosaurs was originally drawn and written by Ian Whybrow and
illustrated by Adrian Reynolds and has been brought to television by CCI
Entertainment Inc.

TV SHOW: The first series of 52 22-minute episodes airs on Cartoon
Network U.S. and is one of the network’s top-rated preschool programs. A second
season of 52 episodes is already in the works.

Based on well-known books, Harry
and His Bucket Full of Dinosaurs is an
animated preschool series that follows the adventures of 5-year old Harry and
his toy dinosaur friends. He carries his dinosaurs around in a bucket and when
he jumps into the bucket, he enters Dino World and the dinosaurs come to life.

EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Arnie Zipursky, the co-chairman and CEO of CCI
Entertainment; Annette Frymer, the COO of CCI Entertainment; and Christopher
O’Hare, the managing director and producer at Collingwood O’Hare Entertainment.

MAIN BROADCASTERS: Harry airs on
Cartoon Network in the U.S., Teletoon in Canada, Five and Playhouse Disney in
the U.K, Super RTL in Germany, ABC in Australia, and in many other major
territories around the world.

TV SALES: The series has been sold to some 54 territories around the
world, including such major markets as the U.S., the U.K., Canada, Germany,
France, Spain, Italy, Australia, Latin America and China.

MAJOR TOY LICENSEE: Fisher-Price will be releasing action figures (talking and
regular), plush (and giant plush), interactive games, playsets and more. In the
U.S. the products will be exclusively available in Target stores starting this
month.

OTHER PRODUCTS: CCI Entertainment is launching a robust merchandising
program for the property this fall. Following the extensive toy line from
Fisher-Price, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment will introduce eight episodes
from the first season to DVD titled To Dino World and Back! Publishing partner, Random House, will also debut the
first series of TV tie-in books. More licensing partners in a full range of
categories are currently being pursued.

STRATEGY FOR ROLLOUT: “Harry and His Bucket Full of Dinosaurs is a book property that we believe has the magic that
makes children and parents want to spend time with the characters,” says
Charles Falzon, the co-chairman of CCI Entertainment. “It’s more than just a
quick fix.” In the U.K., where the property originated, Harry books sell very well. And CCI has learned that children
love to hear the stories over and over again. And knowing how well children
were responding to the books gave CCI high hopes for the development of the TV
series.

“We knew that the relationship
with Harry was going to be much
deeper,” continues Falzon. “Secondly, the fact that the books were doing well
in the U.K., in the U.S and in Australia meant that Harry was not about a specific culture, it transcended. And the
third thing was that Harry represented
a whole world of imagination that empowered kids. It lets kids explore and
discover things in that world of imagination.”

When Harry jumps into his bucket
to play with his dinosaur friends, he enters Dino World. And as Falzon
explains, this is a place that has the same challenges, rewards and excitement
of real life, “but is also surreal enough that a child can go in there, and
explore, and play, and read, and imagine, and do all those things that kids
like to do.”

Falzon felt all these elements not
only provided great potential for a preschool series, but also for the
merchandising that could be derived from it. The series, in fact, has rated
well on a number of major broadcasters, including Cartoon Network in the U.S.,
Five and Playhouse Disney in the U.K., Super RTL in Germany, Treehouse in
Canada and ABC in Australia.

What Falzon most enjoys about any
good children’s property is its ability to extend beyond the TV screen and
provide little ones with the opportunity to play and pretend. “Merchandising
for some people in the kids’ entertainment business has a bad name,” he says.
“I, however, think it’s exactly what kids need. So the play value and the toys
and the activity sets and the pop-up books and sticker books, that extension of
the experience is what really excites me. That’s where we’re doing quite well
in product development: we extend the experience. The products are out already
in every Target store in the U.S.”

A number of major retailers in the
U.K. will be rolling out products this fall. Penguin in the U.K., Random House
in the U.S and publishers in other countries have committed to a series of new
books.