Mumbai: Lionsgate has entered into a distribution agreement with leading consumer entertainment products company MGA Entertainment for Little Tikes brand. The deal was announced by Lionsgate Executive Vice President of Marketing and Family Entertainment, Anne Parducci.
Under the terms of the multi-year deal, Lionsgate has secured the home entertainment distribution rights, including electronic sell-through and VOD, for the United States and Canada to product created under the all-new Animated Little Tikes Entertainment label. Consisting of four CGI-animated stories, the first release under the new label — Little Tikes Land — is scheduled to hit retail this fall.
The Little Tikes announcement significantly expands Lionsgate’s existing relationship with MGA Entertainment, which began in 2006 with the announcement that Lionsgate would be the exclusive home entertainment distributor of animated and direct-to-DVD features for the highly popular Bratz brand of fashion dolls as well as the first live action Bratz theatrical release. The deal was expanded in 2007 to all Bratz catalog features and extended Lionsgate’s rights to include video-on-demand and international distribution in the United Kingdom.
The announcement continues Lionsgate’s momentum in the family genre, as it comes on the heels of the studio’s recent multi-year agreements with family entertainment leader HIT Entertainment and leading developer of technology-based learning products LeapFrog Enterprises, Inc.
Through those deals, Lionsgate became the exclusive distributor of HIT’s valuable catalog of children’s non-theatrical product throughout North America and signed a worldwide agreement with LeapFrog to develop, produce, and distribute original direct-to-DVD features. With these agreements in place, Lionsgate expects its family home entertainment market share of non-theatrical product to grow to approximately 15%, positioning the Company as one of the three industry leaders in that space.
"Lionsgate is thrilled to be in business with MGA once again with Little Tikes, one of the most respected family brands in the world," said Parducci. "We are proud to add Little Tikes, an evergreen company that has been around for almost 40 years, to our roster of highly recognized and trusted family brands. Little Tikes has demonstrated tremendous brand awareness and trust among parents that is certain to carry over into the DVD aisles."
"We consider Lionsgate the perfect partner for our Little Tikes animated DVD feature. They have a great understanding of today’s family entertainment marketplace," said MGA Entertainment CEO Isaac Larian.
The deal with MGA continues to build on Lionsgate’s tremendous success distributing product from some of the most prominent family brands in the marketplace. Currently the industry’s third largest distributor of children’s non-theatrical titles and the second largest for children’s non-theatrical features, Lionsgate releases to DVD a virtual who’s-who in family entertainment brands, including MGA’s Bratz Scholastic’s Clifford the Big Red Dog, American Greetings’ The Care Bears, HIT Entertainment’s Thomas & Friends, Bob the Builder, Barney, Angelina Ballerina, Cookie Jar Entertainment’s The Doodlebops, Nelvana’s Miss Spider’s Sunny Patch Friends as well as Speed Racer and the Marvel Animated Features.
