+ Canadian indie Guru Studio and publishing partner Immedium have released a second book based on the toon house’s Emmy and Annie-nominated kids series Justin Time (52 x 11), now in its second season. Based on the show’s first episode, The Big Pet Story is a 32-page illustrated book for four- to six-year olds written by series creator Brandon James Scott. The story sees Justin’s wild imagination transporting him to India where he becomes the proud owner of a big pink elephant—he and friends Olive and Squidgy soon discover that having a pet may be fun, but it also involves exercise, hard work and a whole lot of peanuts. Immedium will distribute the book through Barnes & Noble (U.S.), Chapters Indigo (Canada), Amazon, local bookstores in North America and on its website. The first book, The Pancake Express, came out in October 2012.
+ Following a successful LA Screenings event, DHX Media has secured three key deals in Latin America for its animated and live-action kids’ properties. Global Movie PTE Ltd. has acquired LatAm SVOD rights to a raft of content, including Arthur, Madeline and Are You Afraid of the Dark. SBP Worldwide S.A. has nabbed home entertainment rights to season 5 of Caillou and Caillou’s Holiday Movie for South America. And Media International Enterprises has licensed the first three seasons (65 episodes) of live-action show Naturally Sadie for pay TV channel Yups TV, broadcast across LatAm. The deals will brokered by DHX’s Melanie Meurehg.
+ Spanish production/distribution house Imira Entertainment also struck some key LatAm deals during LA Screenings. In Brazil, TV Escola renewed its agreement for the first 26 episodes of Millimage’s Louie (39 x 26) and acquired 13 more; while TV Cultura nabbed The Wish Fish (1 x 74), The Elf Who Stole Christmas (1 x 65) and the Kinderfilm/ZDF co-pro Stella and the Star of the Orient (1 x 90). In Ecuador, RTV picked up season 1 of DQE/ZDF’s The Jungle Book (52 x 11) and seasons 1 and 2 of live-action series Wicked Science (52 x 26), while Ecuador Free TV renewed The Smurfs (163 x 26). Smurfs was also scooped up by KM Services in Panama, which also took on Lucky Fred (52 x 12), a co-pro of Imira, Televisio de Catalunya and RAI Fiction.
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