General Announcements – Page 10

Nickelodeon Acquires Global Rights to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Before Reading the following, please understand that we know you have a TON of questions…NONE of which we currently have the answers to. But we are working dilligently for you to find out. Now please, read on:

Nickelodeon to Develop New CG-Animated Television Series and Paramount Pictures to Develop Feature Film of Renowned Global Property

NEW YORK, Oct 21, 2009 — Furthering its mission to provide premium content to its audiences, Nickelodeon–part of MTV Networks, a division of Viacom Inc. (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B)–has acquired the global rights to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles from The Mirage Group and 4Kids Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE: KDE). The acquisition provides Nickelodeon, the world’s number-one entertainment brand for kids, global intellectual property rights to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the hit television, film and video game property that has delighted kids around the world for the last 25 years. The aggregate purchase price for the transactions is approximately $60 million.

Nickelodeon also announced plans to develop a new CG-animated television series based on the popular superhero franchise, anticipated to premiere in 2012. Additionally, in partnership with Viacom’s Paramount Pictures, a new release of a new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles feature film is also planned for 2012. Nickelodeon has also acquired all merchandising rights to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and will continue to work with its original and long-standing toy partner, Playmates Toys, which has been the creative force behind the successful TMNT master toy program over the last two decades.

“Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles shares a comedic sensibility with the Nickelodeon DNA, with added layers of action and fantasy that have kept this property an evergreen favorite with multiple generations of audiences,” said Cyma Zarghami, President, Nickelodeon/MTVN Kids and Family Group. “We are extremely happy to have the opportunity to be able to focus on this property and creatively re-introduce it to a new generation of kids.”

“Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is a property that maintains a very passionate global fan base, is rich with opportunity for a tentpole movie, and is exactly the right property for us to work together with Nickelodeon,” said Adam Goodman, President, Paramount Pictures.

“Mirage has been the proud keeper of the Turtles’ brand since 1984, and in 2009 we celebrated their 25th anniversary with our legions of fans,” said Gary Richardson, CEO, Mirage Studios. “Nickelodeon is a powerhouse global brand, and we are confident that the company will be a wonderful steward for Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo, Donatello and all the other TMNT characters and take them in all kinds of exciting and new creative directions.”

“We enjoyed our eight-year partnership with Mirage during which 4Kids and Mirage re-launched the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise for a new generation of kids around the world,” said Alfred Kahn, Chairman and CEO of 4Kids Entertainment, Inc. “We will also work with Mirage and Viacom so that our Turtles’ licensees can be assured of a seamless transition.”

Considered one of the most popular kids’ television programs of the 1980s, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is a classic, global property created in 1984 by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. It first debuted as a successful comic book series and then became a hit animated TV show, a live-action television series, and later spawned four blockbuster theatrical releases. The property also has translated into a significant consumer products business–with DVDs, video games, toys and more–that has generated billions of dollars at retail.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is based on four mutant turtles–trained in the art of Ninjitsu–who battle evil from the New York sewers. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated television series–jointly produced by 4Kids Entertainment and Mirage Studios–will continue to air on “TheCW4Kids” Saturday morning programming block on The CW network through Aug. 31, 2010.

About Nickelodeon

Nickelodeon, now in its 30th year, is the number-one entertainment brand for kids. It has built a diverse, global business by putting kids first in everything it does. The company includes television programming and production in the United States and around the world, plus consumer products, online, recreation, books and feature films. Nickelodeon’s U.S. television network is seen in almost 100 million households and has been the number-one-rated basic cable network for 15 consecutive years. For more information or artwork, visit http://www.nickpress.com. Nickelodeon and all related titles, characters and logos are trademarks of Viacom Inc. (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B).

About Mirage Studios

The Mirage Group is a group of companies, including Mirage Studios, Inc., located in Northampton, Massachusetts, that owned and managed the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles property from its creation in 1984 through 2009.

About 4Kids Entertainment

Master licensing agent for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, 4Kids Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE: KDE), is a global organization devoted to the creation, development, production, broadcasting, licensing and manufacturing of children’s entertainment products, with U.S. headquarters in New York City, regional offices for its trading card business in San Diego, California, and international offices in London and Hong Kong.

Cautionary Statement Concerning Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains both historical and forward-looking statements. All statements that are not statements of historical fact are, or may be deemed to be, forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements reflect the Company’s current expectations concerning future results, objectives, plans and goals, and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that are difficult to predict and which may cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ. These risks, uncertainties and other factors include, among others: the worsening of current economic conditions generally, and in advertising and retail markets in particular; the public acceptance of the Company’s programs, motion pictures and games on the various platforms on which they are distributed; competition for audiences and distribution; technological developments and their effect in the Company’s markets and on consumer behavior; fluctuations in the Company’s results due to the timing, mix and availability of the Company’s motion pictures and games; changes in the Federal communications laws and regulations; the impact of piracy; other domestic and global economic, business, competitive and/or regulatory factors affecting the Company’s businesses generally; and other factors described in the Company’s news releases and filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its 2008 Annual Report on Form 10-K and reports on Form 10-Q and Form 8-K. The forward-looking statements included in this document are made only as of the date of this document, and the Company does not have any obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances.

SOURCE Nickelodeon

http://www.nick.com

GGM Participates in 350.Org day of Action!

There is a little shop in my neighborhood by the name of Zinnia. If I were to sum them up, I would say they are an alternative arts and crafts store. If you’re ever in South Pasadena, definately check them out.

On October 24th, Zinnia will be selling hand crafted art to benefit 350.org, a non-profit whos mission is “to inspire the world to rise to the challenge of the climate crisis—to create a new sense of urgency and of possibility for our planet.” You can read all about them in the link above.

Here is some infor about the event:

At Zinnia we are going to be participating in a global event called 350 http://www.350.org/
Scientists say that 350 parts per million CO2 in the atmosphere is the safe limit for humanity.

Zinnia is planning a really cool event. We are going to hang 350 pieces of art, each on a wood panel that will be
350 X 350 picas (almost 5″ square, that Zinnia will be providing), each piece will sell for 350 pesos (about $26.00),
350 cents of each piece will go to 350 Carbon.

This event will be unveiled Oct 24th at 3:50pm. The artist of each piece will remain anonymous, but we will be advertising the artists participating in this event in hopes to generate a lot of awawareness. The artist of each piece will be revealed when the purchaser takes it off the wall. So, Zinnia is hoping to persuade artist into participating in the event by sending out up to 6 wood panels per artist, and paying for the shipping both ways. To sum it up, each piece will sell for 350 pesos ($26.22). From that amount we will send 350 cents to the 350 Carbon, then subtract .350% ($7.96), which will go to Zinnia, and then the artist will receive $14.76.

So why are we talking about this on GGM? Because we entered a piece to be sold!

Our Entry features a vintage Don figure I had lying around, busting out of an Archie comic. I figured, as this is for an environmental cause, an Archie comic featuring Manray of the Mutanimals would be appropriate 🙂

By the way, our $14.76 will be going into the Fan Book Fund 🙂

Large Photos of the Piece can be found here: http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v247/JNCOPosterboy/GGM/350%20Entry/

GoGreenMachine.Org To Publish Fan Driven Content Book

When GoGreenMachine.Org was created, it’s intention was to be a collaborative project to bring people from all corners of the Ninja Turtle Multi-verse together. To centralize the passion, creativity, and love we have for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles so that we could enjoy them on a level that had not previously been possible. While we think we have gone a long way toward this goal, we aren’t there yet. Which is why, today, I am pleased to announce our newest project:

Go Green Machine! – A Collection of Fan-tasic Art and Stories (Working Title)

After quite some time of sorting permissions and working out logistics, GoGreenMachine.Org is taking the next step in bringing the fans together and making your voices heard. We are publishing a book! But who is going to write this masterpiece? You Are.

Starting immediately, GoGreenMachine.Org will begin taking submissions of fan generated TMNT related art, photos, fiction, mini comics, personal profiles, stories, and anything else you can think of! A large selection of these works will be chosen to be included in the publication. This book is going to be created by the fans, for the fans. Our goal is to create a high quality tome of content that each of you can be proud of and allow you to make your mark in the mythos of the TMNT. You’ve given so much of yourself to the boys in green. Now it’s time for you to show the world.

Rules For Submission:
In an effort to not stifle creative juices, we would like to set as few rules as possible. If we are going to use something you submit but it needs to be modified for whatever reason, we will work with you to make it right. But please, no nudity or overtly sexual themes or scenes. Swearing and ninja-violence is ok.

All submissions must be 100% created BY YOU, and not have been published in anything else before.

What We Are Looking For:
Although we are hoping that people suprise us with content we didn’t even KNOW we were looking for, here is a list of ideas to get your brain jumping:

Art – This can be something you’ve done recently or something from your childhood
Photos – Were you at an event? Meet the Mirage gang at a Con? Run into Kevin at the supermarket? Or just had a Turtle-rific 8th birthday party? We want to see it!
Life Stories – If you’ve read this far into this announcement, chances are, the Turtles have touched your lives in amazing ways none of us could even dream of. So tell us!
Fiction – Are you one of those very talented writers who love putting our heroes in death defying situations? Tell us a story.

How To Submit:
Submit any entries directly to our administrator at: Stephan@GoGreenMachine.Org

All submissions must be accompanied by a high resolution photo of yourself (strongly encouraged, but optional), and a breif bio. These will most likely be included in the publication somehow to give each of you proper credit.

The Fine Print:
In submitting anything to us for publication, you are automatically stating that we have the right to publish your work without any compensation to you. Understand that you are doing this because you want to be part of something bigger than yourself, not because you are looking for a payday.

While we do not take ownership of any of the material you submit, we would ask that you not use these materials in future official publications. Blogs, social netowrking sites, etc are fine.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:

Q: Am I getting paid for this?
A: No. No compensation will be given. As mentioned before, you are doing this out of love your our fandom, and to make your mark in the turtle universe.

Q: Are YOU getting paid for this?
A: Yes and No. Publishing this book is most likely going to be very, very expensive. Currently, GoGreenMachine plans to publish the book ourselves. Out of our own pocket (somewhat fitting given the origin of the Turtles). So we can promise you that any money we make off these books will go to repaying our investment, funding the site (which is also paid for out of pocket by us), and investing into further TMNT fan projects. The bottom line is that this is a labor of love. You don’t walk away rich from something like this.

Q: When is the book going to be released?
A: We are shooting for a release in the neighborhood of the 2011 Turtles movie. That is of course, subject to change.

Q: If I submit material, am I guaranteed to be in the book?
A: Unfortunately No. The book will undoubtedly have a page limit, and if we get as large of a response as we are hoping, we are going to have to be selective.

Q: What is the deadline for submission?
A: Currently there isn’t one. So just send us stuff till we tell you to stop.

Q: Is there a limit to the number of submissions I can make?
A: Not officially, just use your best judgement.

Q: I would like to help fund, distribute, produce, edit, or design this book.
A: If you would like to help with the project in some other way than content submission, you may contact our administrator at Stephan@GoGreenMachine.Org. Relevent work experience in graphic arts, design, consumer products, etc. will most likely be required.

Any other inquires can be made to our administrator at Stephan@GoGreenMachine.Org

This Project is offically public knowledge, so please, spread the word!

GO GREEN MACHINE!