Mumbai: Dolphin Digital Media has expanded its digital rights portfolio through its licensing partner, Dolphin Entertainment, which has secured more than $100 million in production and marketing financing from Continental Entertainment Capital (CEC), an affiliate of Citigroup, for a slate of six feature films targeting teens and tweens.

Dolphin Entertainment is a producer of children’s and young adult entertainment, including Nickelodeon’s series Zoey 101, the Roxy Hunter mystery movie franchise, and the upcoming Spectacular, Nickelodeon’s first-ever musical, scheduled to premiere in the first quarter, 2009.

Dolphin Digital Media has an exclusive, worldwide, ten-year license with Dolphin Entertainment for the use of its current and future brand properties for the creation of secure social networking sites and other digital media commercial opportunities, including the creation of online fan clubs, as well as video and music download rights and related branded merchandise sales.

"We believe the production of feature motion pictures is a natural extension of our business of creating engaging and high-quality productions targeting our core demographic of children and teen audiences, a market we know very well," stated Dolphin Entertainment president and Dolphin Digital Media chairman and chief executive officer Bill O’Dowd.

The first feature film to be produced under the financing arrangement is Soul Surfer – The Bethany Hamilton Story, an inspirational true story about the well-known female teen surfer who lost her left arm in a shark attack and who overcame the debilitating injury to become a professional surfer today. Other films to follow will cover a wide range of genres, including musicals, romantic-comedies, and thrillers.