Year: 2023

 The Sandbox, a leading decentralized gaming virtual world and subsidiary of Animoca Brands, has launched a partnership with Cloudco Entertainment and its iconic property, Madballs. Madballs has sold millions of toys since its initial launch in the 80s and has an extensive consumer products program, inclusive of apparel, video games, comic books, and more. The partnership with Madballs will include the development of digital collectibles and the introduction of a unique Avatar collection. Each Avatar will be based on the original, outrageously disgusting Madballs characters, plus never-before-seen designs from the ‘80s, featuring ghastly faces, grotesque names, and disruptively funny attitudes to match. Customized with unique, randomly generated traits, each Madball boasts over 20 hand-crafted animations and offers a first-of-its-kind experience in The Sandbox metaverse.

Miraculous Ladybug and Cat Noir, the globally popular heroes of ZAG Heroez Miraculous – Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir animated TV series, make their film debut this year in the US$100+ million animated movie, Ladybug and Cat Noir: The Movie. To celebrate, the movie doll line from ZAG’s global master toy partner, Playmates Toys, will be available at major retailers in fall 2023. The announcement was made today by Jeremy Zag, Founder and CEO, ZAG, and Georgia Manolas Walker, VP of Marketing, Girls Brands, Playmates.

Global independent animation studio ZAG in conjunction with local licensing partners Novabrink and Xalingo have unveiled the first Ghostforce toy products at ABRIN in Sao Paulo, Brazil, the largest event in the toy sector across Latin America. ZAG is most well-known for mega hit global brand Miraculous – Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir, and Ghostforce; and the company is in production on Melody, an animated feature starring singer, songwriter and actress, Katy Perry. Several additional new IPs are also in development.

Further expanding the Afro Unicorn program and perfectly timed with Women’s History Month, founder and African American trailblazer April Showers announced a new global licensing partner, Magical Beauty, LLC, for the empowerment-led brand with the mission to positively uplift and impact women and children of color. Ms. Showers, founder and CEO of Afro Unicorn, stated: “I am extremely proud of what Afro Unicorn has achieved in less than four years, and I am incredibly grateful for the tremendous amount of support we have received from our licensing and retailer partners, the media, and a whole host of influencers that have shared our story. We are thrilled to add Magical Beauty, our first black-owned global licensing partner, as our newest licensee to offer our fans a whimsical experience in hair care.”

’Tis always the season to be jolly, and with this good cheer comes the announcement of a collaboration between The Lumistella Company and HarperCollins Publishers. Starting this September, HarperCollins Children’s Books will release an exciting range of eleven The Elf on the Shelf universe-themed titles over the next five years, and William Morrow Cookbooks will publish a holiday inspired, fun-filled cookbook in fall 2024. Global rights for The Lumistella Company publishing program were sold to Rich Thomas, VP/Director, Publishing, HarperCollins Children’s Books, and global rights for The Elf on the Shelf cookbook were sold to Cassie Jones, VP/Executive Editor and Editorial Director for William Morrow Cookbooks, by Cait Hoyt at Creative Artists Agency.