News Anchor David Muir to Host TOTYs
David Muir, anchor of ABC World News Tonight with David Muir, will be the master of ceremonies for the 16th Annual Toy of the Year Awards (TOTY) ceremony. The event will take place Friday, February 12 at 6pm at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.
The ceremony will honor each of the TOTY winners and celebrate Bob Iger, chairman & CEO of The Walt Disney Company, as he is inducted into the Toy Industry Hall of Fame. The evening will also support the philanthropic work of the Toy Industry Foundation and spotlight TIA’s 100th anniversary.
Rovio Launches Publishing Arm
Rovio Entertainment announced the creation of Kaiken Publishing, a new affiliate company that will continue and build on Rovio’s book business while also developing publishing programs for new stories, worlds, and characters.
Kaiken will concentrate on children’s and teen content as well as comics for all ages, and work as the global master licensee of Rovio’s brands with a strong focus on Angry Birds. It will also develop new storyworlds in the spirit of Storm Sisters and Freya, Rovio’s young adult titles, while also creating publishing programs for other licensors.
Rovio’s books operations began in 2011 with The Bad Piggies Egg Recipes cookbook. Since then, the team has worked on creating and licensing hundreds of books in 35 languages and more than 50 countries. The Angry Birds Movie program has many partners on board, and Imprint, a part of Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group, acquired worldwide English rights for the first two Freya novels in 2015. The rights to the Storm Sisters series have been sold in eight languages.
WBCP, Mattel to Launch DC Super Hero Girls at Target
Warner Bros. Consumer Products (WBCP) and DC Entertainment, in partnership with Mattel, announced an exclusive partnership with Target to offer a first-look at the DC Super Hero Girls merchandise collection, featuring a special assortment of merchandise across multiple categories, including toys and dress-up, apparel and accessories, publishing, and more, to be sold exclusively at Target, beginning in March.
DC Super Hero Girls harnesses the power of the world’s most iconic female characters from DC Comics, including Wonder Woman, Supergirl, and Batgirl, as they learn to hone their super powers in a high school setting.
Boomerang, a division of Turner, is the exclusive broadcast partner for DC Super Hero Girls. From Warner Bros. Animation in partnership with Mattel’s Playground Productions, the first 44-minute television special is slated to premiere this spring. The DC Super Hero Girls digital animated shorts will also be featured on Cartoon Network’s CN App. Additionally, the first of a series of DC Super Hero Girls made-for-videos is scheduled for release later this year from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment.