Having spun good numbers for Nickelodeon in March with the CG-animated special Miss Spider’s Sunny Patch Kids, Callaway Arts & Entertainment is expanding its eight-legged property, created by David Kirk, to series TV and seizing various licensing opportunities.
Canadian CG house Nelvana, which animated the Nick special, will co-produce a half-hour daily television series titled Miss Spider’s Sunny Patch Friends. The show will debut in the U.S. on Nick, Jr. in fall 2004 and in France on TF1 in fall 2005.
Fisher-Price has signed an international master toy license deal and will produce a range of infant and preschool products based on the television series. The line will include playsets, plush toys and software for learning platforms.
In addition, Callaway has formed a major new publishing partnership with the Penguin Group worldwide, which will distribute a line of books based on the series beginning in the fall of 2005. It has been ten years since the first publication of Miss Spider’s Tea Party. Scholastic in the U.S. published 12 titles, which have sold more than four million copies. The new books will be published in the U.K by Puffin.
