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It’s full steam ahead for the world’s most famous blue engine, Thomas the Tank Engine™, as it held its official launch in Beijing, China today. HIT Entertainment, one of the world’s leading children’s entertainment producers and rights owner held a press conference with the Chinese national press to announce a strategic licensing agreement with PPW, one of the leading licensing companies in China. The first range of consumer products to launch in the market will be RC2 and TOMY. In addition to these, Children’s Fun Publishing, which is part of the Egmont group, will launch Thomas & Friends publishing in China in early 2009 with twelve TV tie-in story book titles followed by colouring and activity titles and Thomas story library books. Frank Foley, General Manager Asia HIT Entertainment commented, “Thomas & Friends is one of the world’s most popular and unique properties in the pre-school market today and we are delighted to be bringing the show to a Chinese audience. We’re thrilled to be working with PPW in what we see as a long-term strategic partnership. We will also identify opportunities in other areas, such as ELT and Theme Parks China is an important growth market for HIT and we look forward to making Thomas & Friends a success in this territory.” Ivan Chan, President of PPW added: “We’re delighted to be working with HIT Entertainment to bring Thomas and Friends’ world of education, joy, warmth and humour to children across China. This is an extremely exciting time for us. We are confident parents and children in China will embrace the positive values in which the Thomas and Friends brand represents. We have established first year, three year and five year plan. We aims to have 1,500 retail outlets in year one.” Thomas & Friends was created in 1945 by the Reverend W Awdry and today is broadcast in over 185 countries and in 45 languages worldwide. The television show and series of classic books has propelled Thomas & Friends into a global success story with Thomas currently ranked as the number one pre-school property in the UK, Germany and Australia and is the #1 pre-school toy property in the US (source: NPD June 2008). Over 200 million books and 80 million DVDs have been sold to date and the series has inspired the creation of Thomas Land, a themed attraction inspired by the popular character and stories. Thomas Land was first launched in Japan in 1998 and in the UK at Drayton Manor Theme Park earlier this year. The Thomas & Friends website attracts over 30 million visitors each month highlighting its global appeal and resonance with young Thomas fans around the world. For more information, visit www.thomasandfriends.com. |
