BBC Worldwide has acquired global TV and merchandise distribution rights to 3rd & Bird, a new animated preschool series from Little Airplane Prods., creators of the hit animated series The Wonder Pets. Preschool programming block CBeebies will begin airing 52 episodes of 3rd & Bird this fall.

Like Wonder Pets, 3rd & Bird employs a photo puppetry style of animation created by Little Airplane. The show revolves around a community of birds that live, learn and play in the branches of a beautiful tree. To ensure international appeal, the show has been written and researched on both sides of the pond with expertise from both Britain and America.

With its investment in the series, BBC Worldwide is hoping to replicate the success it has had with Ragdoll Prods.’ In the Night Garden, which has shattered sales records across toy, DVD, publishing and music categories, BBC Worldwide. To date, the property has generated approximately $21.4 million, selling more than 450,000 DVDs and 13,000 copies of a music album. In the Night Garden Little Library topped children’s book charts and sold in 20 countries.

Britt Allcroft, who adapted Rev. W. Awdry’s The Railway Series for television as Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends and Shining Time Station, has reacquired the underlying rights to the animated Mumfie property. She wrote and produced Britt Allcroft’s Magic Adventures of Mumfie for worldwide broadcast in the 1990s, introducing kids to a ‘special little elephant with a great big heart’ and pals Scarecrow, Whale, Napoleon Jones and Pinkey the Flying Pig.

Through her Santa Monica-based Britt Allcroft Prods., Allcroft purchased the rights from Bridgefilms Ltd., a joint venture company in the HIT Ent. Group, which has owned the property since 1999. Terms were not disclosed, but the deal gives Allcroft rights to the 110-minute Mumfie the Movie, the half-hour Mumfie’s White Christmas special, 33 half-hour episodes that can be divided into 79 10-minute blocks, and 26 original songs penned by acclaimed lyricist John Kane, Emmy-winning composer Larry Grossman and Emmy-nominated producer/arranger Steve Horelick. She also has the right to produce new Mumfie productions and profit from merchandising and artwork.

‘Getting Mumfie back fulfils a dream I have had for years of getting a second chance to provide Mumfie the nurturing he needs,’ says Allcroft. ‘With the explosion in cable, satellite and digital technologies, there are exciting new opportunities to revitalize Mumfie to help satisfy the growing hunger for entertainment that families can grow up with.’

Allcroft was inspired to produce Mumfie by a book she owned as a child featuring the artistry of Katherine Tozer. The critically acclaimed ratings hit aired between 1994 and 1999 on the FOX in the U.S, ITV in Great Britain and on numerous other television markets worldwide. The reruns have widely fallen out of rotation, but have begun to develop a new following online. The original trailer for Britt Allcroft s Magic Adventures of Mumfie and other information on the series can be found at www.brittallcroftproductions.com.

SCI FI Channel has unveiled a new slate of scripted series in development, two of which originate from the world of comic books. A two-hour backdoor pilot titled True Believer comes from an original idea by actress Rosario Dawson, David Atchinson (her co-author on the Image Comics series Occult Crimes Task Force), Matthew Spradlin and Tom Feister. Also getting a two-hour pilot is The Stranded, based on the new SCI FI/Virgin Comics title by Mike Carey.

True Believer is described as a contemporary dramedy about a 20-something comic-book nerd who hires a washed-up, real-life superhero to be his crime-fighting sidekick and to teach him the ropes. Dawson will serve as exec producer on the project, which Atchinson and Spradlin will write. Feister will be a consultant.

The Stranded is an online comic that debuted on SciFi.com in January. The story involves five seemingly normal people who come to learn that all of their memories are lies. They are really from another world called Standfire, and their mysterious pasts are catching up to kill them.

SCI FI has also given the green light to Caprica, a spin-off of its hit series Battlestar Galactica. Originally scheduled to debut in 2006, the two-hour pilot from Battlestar creators Ronald D. Moore and David Eick will go into production this spring in Vancouver. Caprica is a prequel that goes back 50 years to focus on two rival families at the genesis of the 12 colonies.

Nickelodeon’s Nicktoons Network inked a deal with Marvel Ent. for the exclusive television debut of the animated series Wolverine and the X-Men and Iron Man: The Animated Series. Wolverine is being co-produced with Toonz Ent. Pte Ltd., Singapore and First Serve International Ltd., and Iron Man is a co-production with Method Films in France. Both of the 26-episode, half-hour series are slated to premiere in the first quarter of 2009.

Wolverine and the X-Men begins as an explosive event shatters the lives of the X-Men and takes away their mentor, Professor X. The beaten heroes, including Beast, Storm, Cyclops and Nightcrawler, walk away from it all but are given a rare glimpse into the future, seeing a world in utter ruin and ruled by giant destructive robots. They discover the world has spiraled out of control because the X-Men have given up. Now Wolverine must take the lead on the ultimate mission’to prevent the world’s destruction while fending off enemies Magneto and The Brotherhood.

Iron Man: The Animated Series will follow the adventures of Tony Stark, a mechanical and scientific whiz who is also the heir to a billion-dollar corporation. His life of luxury is interrupted when a tragic accident robs him of his father and nearly costs him his own life. Now dependent on his own impressive technology for survival and dedicated to battling corruption, Stark must reconcile the pressure of teenage life with the duties of an iron-clad super hero.

The animated shows will benefit from two new major motion pictures making their way to the big screen. Paramount will release Marvel’s Iron Man on May 2, while Warner Bros. preps X-Men Origins: Wolverine for release on May 1, 2009. Directed by Jon Favreau (Zathura, Elf) Iron man stars Oscar nominee Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark, with Oscar winner Gwyneth Paltrow, Terrence Howard and Jeff Bridges rounding out the main cast. X-Men Origins: Wolverine will see Hugh Jackman return to the title role in a story that examines the roots of Logan’s transformation into a blade-wielding superhero.

Method Films has produced CG-animated series for a number of international broadcasters including Nicktoons, BBC, ITV, France 2, France 3 and ABC Australia. The studio has also created, produced, and financed a significant number of in-house TV series such as Skyland and Mikido, and has also worked on recreating other properties including Cosmic Quantum Ray in co-production with Taffy Ent., and the upcoming series Wakfu, a co-production with Ankama Animations.

Toonz Ent. Pte Ltd., Singapore has produced animation for major studios and television networks around the globe through its production facility, Toonz Animation India Pvt Ltd. The company’s clientele includes The Walt Disney Co., Warner Bros, MGM, Lions Gate, Sony Pictures, Hyde Park Ent., Marvel and Cartoon Network.

DECODE Enterprises, the distribution subsidiary of DHX Media Ltd., has sold both seasons of the animated preschool series Bo on the GO! to France 5, where it will join the DECODE series The Save-Ums and Franny’s Feet. Produced by Halifax Film, DECODE’s sister company at DHX, Bo will be showcased at the MIPTV market, taking place April 7-11 in Cannes, France.

Employing motion capture technology and keyframe CG, Bo on the GO! is a series of 40 22-minute episodes that promote a physically and mentally active lifestyle for preschoolers. The show revolves around Bo, a positive, energetic and inquisitive young heroine who, along with her young dragon friend Dezadore, encourages children at home to join her in a variety of movements that assist her on her adventures. Cheerful and determined to solve all problems she encounters, Bo will lead the way for kids at home to get ‘on the go’.

DECODE Enterprises represents all television and home video rights to Bo on the GO!, as well as other Halifax Film preschool properties including POKO. The company also distributes the preschool-targeted Super Why from Blue’s Clues producers Out of the Blue Ent. and the DECODE Ent.-produced Franny’s Feet, which has sold in more than 150 countries. With DHX’s recent purchase of Studio B, DECODE will also be representing programming from the acclaimed Vancouver animation studio.