Viva Piñata

TV Kids Weekly, July 10, 2007

ORIGIN: An original entertainment property, Viva Piñata is a vibrant world of living piñ¡´¡ animals that is designed to capture and inspire the imagination of people of all ages. 4Kids Entertainment, Microsoft and Rare Ltd. bring Viva Piñatato life with a colorful, engaging animated TV series, video game and merchandise licensing program.

CREATORS: 4Kids Entertainment and Bardel Entertainment.

DISTRIBUTOR: 4Kids has exclusive rights to represent Viva Piñata worldwide across broadcast, home video, music and merchandise licensing.

TV SHOW: Viva Piñata is a 3-D CGI animated comedy adventure series consisting of 52 half-hour episodes or 104 11-minute programs. 4Kids selected Bardel Entertainment, the award winning Vancouver-based animation company, to execute the 3-D CGI animation in hi-definition format.

Viva Piñata introduces kid viewers to the anything-can-happen world of piñatas. These party animals live the sweet life on the lush Piñata Island. But, what they like best is to blast off to parties around the world to bring joy and fun to kids of all ages. The main cast of memorable characters include Fergy Fudgehog, a nervous, high-strung and entirely obsessive fellow; Paulie Pretztail, a keenly observant character with a very dry sense of humor; Franklin Fizzlybear, a big, lovable and innocent guy who enjoys the simple life and Hudson Horstachio, a true piñatas superstar who dresses and acts it, until his friends bring his hooves back to the ground, along with a whole lotta other piñatas—over 100 in total who bring this series to full life.

The series launched in September 2006 on 4Kids TV in the U.S. and YTV in Canada. The program is also available in the U.S. on 4Kids TV VOD on Comcast and Cox Cable networks. See www.VivaPinata.com and www.4Kids.tv for more information.

EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Norman Grossfeld and Lloyd Goldfine

TV SALES: Viva Piñata has been licensed for TV broadcast to France 3 (France), RTL II (Germany), Canal J (France), Nickelodeon (U.K., Netherlands, Spain, Australia and New Zealand; pay TV in all markets except Netherlands), NRK (Norway), SIC (Portugal) and UCOI (Israel), among many others who have signed on to this witty, fast-paced comedy adventure series.

OTHER PRODUCTS: Microsoft Game Studios (video games) introduced the Viva Piñata video game exclusively for the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system in November 2006. American Greetings (social expression and party goods), DecoPac (cake and bakery decorations), Unique Industries (piñatas and foil balloons) and Rubie’s Costumes (Halloween costumes) have all joined the Viva Piñata  party with products expected to debut at retail beginning fall 2007 and beyond. Other partners include Prima Games (official game strategy guide) and Cherry Lane (Music Publishing).

STRATEGY FOR ROLL OUT: 4Kids has developed a licensing and merchandising program for Viva Piñ¡´¡ aimed at creating new and engaging digital content across media (television, music and online) to keep Viva Piñata relevant and top of mind among kids. The core demographic for Viva Piñata is kids aged 6 to 11.