LIONSGATE AND AMERICAN GREETINGS PROPERTIES EXTEND RELATIONSHIP
WITH EXPANDED HOME ENTERTAINMENT DISTRIBUTION AGREEMENT FOR NEW
CARE BEARS SERIES
Extended Agreement Includes Multiple Existing Care Bears Series
and Films and Packaged Media and Digital Rights to Additional
Properties
SANTA MONICA, Calif.,
Jan. 9, 2013 /CNW/ - Lionsgate (NYSE:
LGF), a leading global diversified entertainment company, and
American Greetings Properties (AGP), the intellectual property and
outbound licensing division of American Greetings Corporation
(NYSE: AM), today announced a home entertainment distribution
agreement for the new CGI Animated TV series "Care Bears: Welcome
to Care-a-Lot." The agreement gives Lionsgate packaged and digital
rights in both the U.S. and UK to all 26 episodes of the series,
which debuted on The Hub in 2012. In addition, the two companies
are extending their existing contract, with Lionsgate retaining its
rights to the two previous Care Bears television series and five
Care Bears movies.
(Logo:
http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110919/LA70620LOGO)
Under the new agreement, Lionsgate will also distribute three
additional American Greetings properties in the U.S. through
packaged and digital media. The three series—the WETA produced show
"The WotWots," "The Twisted Whiskers Show" and "Maryoku Yummy."
Finally, Lionsgate will acquire U.S. digital rights to three
seasons of the classic Strawberry Shortcake series.
"We have enjoyed tremendous success over the years with the Care
Bears franchise and are pleased to extend our relationship with the
new 'Care Bears: Welcome to Care-A-Lot' series. We look forward to
helping the Brand grow to new heights with the combination of new
entertainment content and American Greeting's new Care Bears toy
launch in 2013," said Michael
Rathauser, Senior Vice President of Marketing for Lionsgate.
"Furthermore we are excited to have the opportunity to not only
expand the Care Bears digital home entertainment footprint, but to
also bring some of American Greetings' other quality children's
entertainment to digital retailers for the first time; creating
both new business opportunities and more awareness for these great
brands."
"We are extremely honored to continue our partnership with
Lionsgate," said Gia DeLaney, vice
president of program sales for American Greetings Properties. "The
Care Bears' highly-anticipated return to U.S. television in June
was a huge success and we are thrilled to continue bringing the
series to fans through innovative avenues."
About Lionsgate
Lionsgate is a leading global
entertainment company with a strong and diversified presence in
motion picture production and distribution, television programming
and syndication, home entertainment, family entertainment, digital
distribution, new channel platforms and international distribution
and sales. The Company has built a strong television presence in
production of primetime cable and broadcast network series,
distribution and syndication of programming and an array of channel
assets. Lionsgate currently has 25 shows on 18 networks spanning
its primetime production, distribution and syndication businesses,
including the multiple Emmy Award-winning Mad Men, the critically
acclaimed series Weeds, Nurse Jackie and Boss, the new comedy Anger
Management, which has been picked up for another 90 episodes by FX,
the network series Nashville,
picked up for a full season of 22 episodes by ABC, the syndication
successes Tyler Perry's House of
Payne, its spinoff Meet the Browns, The Wendy Williams Show, Are We
There Yet? and the upcoming Orange Is The New Black, an original
series for Netflix.
Its feature film business has been fueled by such recent
successes as the blockbuster first installment of The Hunger Games
franchise, the 13th highest-grossing domestic box office
release of all time, The Twilight Saga Breaking Dawn – Part 2,
which has grossed more than $800
million at the worldwide box office, Texas Chainsaw 3D, The
Possession, Sinister, The Expendables 2, Cabin in the Woods,
Tyler Perry's Madea's Witness
Protection and Arbitrage. With the January
2012 acquisition of Summit Entertainment, the Company has
now added the blockbuster Twilight Saga, which has grossed more
than $3.3 billion at the worldwide
box office, to its current slate, giving the Company the two
premier young adult franchises in the world. Recent Summit hits
include Red, Letters to Juliet, Knowing and the Academy
Award-winning Best Picture, The Hurt Locker.
Lionsgate's home entertainment business is an industry leader in
box office-to-DVD and box office-to-VOD revenue conversion rate.
Lionsgate handles a prestigious and prolific library of
approximately 15,000 motion picture and television titles that is
an important source of recurring revenue and serves as the
foundation for the growth of the Company's core businesses. The
Lionsgate and Summit brands remain synonymous with original,
daring, quality entertainment in markets around the world.
About American Greetings Corporation
For more than
100 years, American Greetings Corporation (NYSE: AM) has been a
creator and manufacturer of innovative social expression products
that assist consumers in enhancing their relationships to create
happiness, laughter and love. The Company's major greeting card
lines are American Greetings, Carlton Cards, Gibson, Recycled Paper Greetings and Papyrus,
and other paper product offerings include DesignWare party goods
and American Greetings and Plus Mark gift-wrap and boxed cards.
American Greetings also has one of the largest collections of
electronic greetings on the Web, including cards available at
AmericanGreetings.com through AG Interactive, Inc. (the Company's
online division). In addition to its product lines, American
Greetings also creates and licenses popular character brands
through the American Greetings Properties group. Headquartered in
Cleveland, Ohio, American
Greetings generates annual revenue of approximately $1.7 billion, and its products can be found in
retail outlets worldwide. For more information on the Company,
visit http://corporate.americangreetings.com.
About American Greetings Properties
American
Greetings Properties (AGP) is the intellectual property and
outbound licensing division of American Greetings Corporation.
Built upon the successful re-launches of Care Bears and Strawberry
Shortcake licensed products, which have garnered over $5 billion in retail sales worldwide combined
since 2002, AGP develops multi-platform campaigns for its
properties through digital media, entertainment, marketing and
merchandising. In addition to Care Bears and Strawberry Shortcake,
AGP's active classic brands include Holly
Hobbie and Madballs, as well as new properties Twisted
Whiskers, Maryoku Yummy and TinPo.
Children can experience AGP online at www.agkidzone.com. For more
information on AGP, visit www.agpbrands.com.
For further information, please contact:
Jennifer Sandler
Lionsgate
310.255.4072
jsandler@lionsgate.com
Patrice Sadd
American Greetings
216.252.7300
Patrice.Sadd@amgreetings.com
SOURCE Lionsgate