Space Enterprises is making its BLE debut at this year’s show and will be presenting a strong portfolio of properties.
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Leading the Space line-up is The Hive - a fantastic new CGI series from The Hive Enterprises Ltd that’s produced by Monumental Productions and Lupus Films and follows the fortunes of the happy, friendly and extremely cute Bee family, who live together in Honeybee Hive. Storylines explore the themes of family, working together to solve problems, being part of a diverse community, and caring for the environment.
The show is already set for global exposure after Walt Disney Company EMEA picked up the show in a multi-territory deal that will see The Hive shown from early 2011 on Playhouse Disney in France, Germany (GSA), Italy, Spain, South-east Asia, Korea, Japan, India, Latin America, Scandinavia, Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Playhouse Disney in the US and UK have also taken an option on the agreement, which could see them showing The Hive in the future.
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Terrestrial deals will see the series broadcast on GMTV in the UK, as well as Australia, Finland, Poland, Romania and Israel. A licensing programme is also in place - Aykroyds TDP and Blues Clothing are set to produce a range of nightwear/underwear and children’s apparel respectively, whilst ITV is on board for DVDs and EMI has a worldwide licence for music publishing. Space is also looking to extend the brand across other categories such as toys and publishing.
The Hive is from the creators of The Pinky and Perky Show, which will also be featuring at BLE. The show features the world’s most famous porcine duo in an action packed CGI romp that debuted on CBBC in November 2008, before transferring to BBC1. The first series is now available on DVD and the show has also been broadcast on ABC in Australia, is set to air on France 3 in October, and has recently been sold to India.
The licensing programme for the brand includes T-shirts from Famous Forever Clothing and a CD Rom game from Avanquest, whilst master toy is available after original licence holder Martin Yaffe ceased trading.
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Another red-hot property being presented at the Space stand is the evergreen Monty Python, one of the biggest comedy brands in the world. The original television programme broadcast from 1969 to 1974 and consisted of 45 episodes over 4 series. A string of hit films followed and the brand has since imprinted itself on the national consciousness to such an extent that ‘Pythonesque’ is now a byword for surreal humour. Python DVDs sell in huge volumes and the creation of an official Python channel on YouTube has led to a generation of new fans discovering the classic comedy.
Space has a strong licensing programme in place for the brand: the master toy licensee is re:creation and other partners include Famous Forever Clothing for branded T-shirts, Pyramid for posters, Danilo for sound cards and Underground Toys Ltd for voice key chains, whilst online greetings card specialist Moonpig.com offers twelve Python card designs, featuring iconic pictures and dialogue from classic Python sketches and movies. Also on board are mobile phone games specialist Zed, and Zattika, which is developing a Python-based virtual world – The Ministry of Silly Games. |
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Also on the Space slate is Spamalot – the smash-hit musical ‘lovingly ripped off’ from classic comedy film Monty Python and the Holy Grail. The original 2005 Broadway production won three Tony Awards, including Best Musical and Best Director, and the show has since transferred to theatres across the world. In the UK, after an incredibly successful run in the West End the show is currently on a 400-date nationwide tour. The ongoing success of Monty Python demonstrates the huge potential offered by Spamalot, however Space will be marketing the property as an entirely separate brand and are looking to extend Spamalot across a range of different categories.
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“We are really looking forward to presenting what is an incredibly strong selection of properties at BLE 2010,” says Space Director of Licensing Mark Hurry, “having three days to work with is fantastic from our point of view as we expect to be dealing with a great deal of interest from the licensing community.” |
