Category: Kids

“Virtual worlds like Nicktropolis are part of our strategy to bring immersive, relevant entertainment experiences to our audiences wherever they are, and to build communities around our content across every kind of platform,” said MTVN chairman and CEO Judy McGrath. “The virtual worlds we‘ve been building across our networks give the fans of our brands the high level of interaction they want with one another, and with the content itself.”

Kids enter Nicktropolis by assuming an “avatar” that they design and personalize, choosing from an array of hairstyles, skin tones and clothing styles. Once a user selects a destination, the avatar appears in the particular environment and can move around simply by clicking where he/she wants to go.

“Nickelodeon has a deep connection with kids, and Nicktropolis is built from our knowledge that kids‘ interest in social networking is all about gaming,” said Nickelodeon and MTVN Kids and Family Group president Cyma Zarghami. “Nicktropolis serves as a one-of-a-kind multimedia virtual entertainment playground for kids that allows them to watch video from our immense library of programming, play games, interact with our characters and safely communicate with each other through controlled chat.”

The site offers a 3D environment consisting of four main areas containing multimedia experiences, gaming, and opportunities to personalize their space, create video play lists of their favourite Nickelodeon content, and interact in a safe, community environment. Additionally, the company states that Nicktropolis incorporates numerous safety features to ensure kids‘ virtual playground experience is as safe as possible. Participation in Nicktropolis relies entirely on the anonymous registration system, which does not allow kids to divulge personal, identifiable information, adds the release.

Nickelodeon‘s Nicktropolis is MTV Networks‘ latest move in serving its audiences through original online and wireless content across all of its brands. This follows from Nickelodeon‘s latest research study, Living in a Digital World (2006), which found that 86 per cent of kids 8-14 are gaming online; more than half (51 per cent) are watching TV shows and videos online; 37 per cent are instant messaging and 12 per cent are participating in chat rooms.

14 scholars will be picked from auditions taking place across the UK. The successful applicants are then whisked away to magic school where they will have 18 days of intense training by top professional magicians.While the apprentices make the transformation from novice to magician, the children watching will also get to brush up on their own sorcery skills. In an accompanying series the magic mentors will give away some of their hottest secrets in step-by-step guides so children can learn how to perform magic tricks to amaze their family and friends at home.The apprentices will be schooled in the history of magic and folklore, the latin for casting spells, chemistry, card tricks and also look after resident magic animals. As their knowledge and skills progress they will be taught the art of illusion.At the end of each week, the children will compete, performing their magic in front of a live audience and the Sorcerer himself. The Sorcerer‘s Apprentice, being made for CBBC by independent production company Twenty Twenty, will be shown later this year.CBBC creative director Anne Gilchrist said, “The Sorcerer‘s Apprentice is going to be a great event for CBBC. Children of all ages are fascinated by magic and this show will inspire and amaze in equal measures.”

The Turtles are also returning to the big screen with an all-new CGI-animated feature film TMNT premiering on 23 March. The movie, produced by Imagi Entertainment, will be distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures domestically and The Weinstein Company internationally.

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (130 x 30’) animated series has been a top-performing program around the world. The global broadcast lineup already includes TF1 (France), Alter TV (Greece), Teletoon (Canada), Cartoon Network (U.S.), RTL 2 and Jetix (Germany), TV3 (Russia), RTL Klub (Hungary), Minimax (Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania) and Nova TV (Bulgaria), RTE (Ireland), MTV3 (Finland), RTL-TVI and VMM (Belgium), Cartoon Network (Scandinavia), TV3 (New Zealand), SABC2 (South Africa), Televisa (Mexico), TV3 (Malaysia), Children’s Channel (Israel), Icelandic Broadcasting Corp. (Iceland), ABS-CBN (Philippines) and Cartoon Network (Philippines) among others.

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were created in 1984 when Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman published a 40-page, black-and-white comic book. From the late 1980’s through the early 1990’s, the original animated adventures of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles dominated kids’ entertainment.

iToys, which will introduce Khufu The Mummy at the upcoming New York International Toy Fair, has set Fall 2007 for the retail roll-out of the board game.

Fully interactive, Khufu The Mummy allows players to interact directly with the on-screen host (the freaky Pharoah) and play interactive games using the DVD remote control. Random DVD programming ensures infinite possibilities and a new game experience every time.

The plot follows the visit of the Thangarians and the visit to Earth forcing Hawk Girl is to choose between loyalty to her people or love for her friends on her adopted planet Earth. It promises to be story of a battle that could rip the world‘s greatest superheroes apart forever.

The channel has strategically positioned this themed line up titled ‘Bean Republic: Saat Se Saat Bean Ke Saath‘ as holiday programming on Republic Day, an important move to garner maximum eyeballs.