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Twentieth Century Fox Consumer Products (FCP) comes to Brand Licensing Europe 2011 with a host of new licensees to support the arrival of the fourth installment in Twentieth Century Fox and Blue Sky Studio’s animated blockbuster series, Ice Age 4: Continental Drift, and the franchise’s first-ever holiday television special, Ice Age: A Mammoth Christmas. The deals in such key categories as toys, apparel, publishing and health and beauty will bring a fresh new lineup of products to Europe. The Ice Age licensing programme has been successful across multiple key categories to date, including video games, publishing, toys and stationery. With the fourth film, FCP will be looking to extend existing categories and develop additional products to establish a wide and attractive offering for the broad consumer fan base. “With over $2 billion in box office revenue worldwide, the Ice Age franchise is a perennial hit that has proven itself as a long term licensing proposition across the EMEA region”, Carl Lumbard, Senior Vice President and Managing Director, EMEA for Fox Consumer Products. “The TV special, as well as the next film installment of the Ice Age franchise, not only promises to delight parents and children alike, but will also create new and exciting opportunities for fans to interact with the much-loved Ice Age characters.” In the toys and games category, The Promotions Factory, a previous toy partner on Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, is on board as the worldwide partner for figurines and playsets. Carta Mundi will create playing cards for Europe with Eurosales developing products for arts and crafts. FCP has lined up several local territory plush partners including Gipsy for France and Benelux, Kayford Holdings for Germany, Trudi Spa for Italy, Play By Play for Spain, Neco Dis Tic for Turkey, and AST for Russia. Leading European retailer C&A will create an apparel collection for children due to launch during the spring/summer seasons in 2012, while Panini, another previous Ice Age partner, is back on board as the worldwide partner for sticker albums. A new partner to Ice Age 4: Continental Drift is UK-based toiletries distributor SERT-MST, which is developing a range of products, including gift sets targeting boys and girls. The much-anticipated feature film Ice Age 4: Continental Drift is in theaters in 3D July 2012. Fans will follow Scrat’s nutty pursuit of the cursed acorn, which he’s been after since the dawn of time, with world-changing consequences – a continental cataclysm that triggers the greatest adventure of all for Manny, Diego and Sid. In the wake of these upheavals, Sid reunites with his cantankerous Granny and the herd encounters a ragtag menagerie of seafaring pirates determined to stop them from returning home. The film features a returning cast voiced by John Leguizamo, Ray Romano, Seann William Scott, Queen Latifah and Denis Leary, along with new characters voiced by Jennifer Lopez, Wanda Sykes, Keke Palmer, Aziz Ansari and Drake, among others. In the television special Ice Age: A Mammoth Christmas, scheduled to air on major broadcast channels across the region, including Channel 4 (UK), RTL (Germany), TF1 (France) and Channel 1 (Russia), the beloved arctic herd is busy decorating for the holiday season. In his rush to help, Sid destroys Manny’s favorite decorations. Manny is so upset he convinces Sid he is now on Santa’s naughty list. Sid, Crash, Eddie and Peaches take off for the North Pole to plead their case to Santa. Meanwhile, Manny, Ellie and Diego worry over Peaches’ safety and race to find her. Back at the North Pole, Sid and his crew accidentally destroy Santa’s Workshop on Christmas Eve, and it’s up to these newfound friends to orchestrate a Christmas miracle. |