Nickelodeon UK To Release The Brand New "Avatar: The Last Airbender - The Complete Collection" DVD Box Set, Featuring All 61 Episodes And More, On Monday 9th September 2013

Amazon UK is reporting the very exciting Nickelodeon UK News that Nickelodeon and Viacom Consumer Products UK (NVCP) and Paramount Home Entertainment will release the brand new "Avatar: The Last Airbender" (also known as "Avatar: The Legend of Aang") DVD box set, called "Avatar: The Last Airbender - The Complete Collection", which will feature all 61 episodes from all 3 seasons of the hit original animated series (Nicktoon) over 5 discs, in the UK and Ireland (Region 2/PAL format) on Monday 9th September 2013!!

You can currently pre-order Nick's new "Avatar - The Last Airbender: The Complete Collection" DVD on Amazon.co.uk for £15.50 and on Play.com for £15.99 (both online shops offer free delivery options in the UK).

Nickelodeon's "Avatar: The Last Airbender - The Complete Collection" DVD box set will also feature special bonus features (extras) - audio commentary on the episodes "Sokka's Master", "The Beach", "The Avatar and the Firelord", "The Day of Black Sun, Part 1: The Invasion", "The Day of Black Sun, Part 2: The Eclipse", "The Wetern Air Temple", "The Southern Raiders" and "The Ember Island Players" and the Avatar Super Deformed Shorts "Swamp Skin' Throw Down" and "School Time Shipping"!

The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) has granted a PG (Parental Guidance) age rating for Nickelodeon & Paramount's new "Avatar" DVD, "Avatar: The Last Airbender - The Complete Collection".

Below is a full list of "Avatar" episodes which will be on Nick's new "Avatar: The Last Airbender - The Complete Collection" DVD set:

Avatar: Book 1 - Water
Episode List:

The Boy in the Iceberg
The Avatar Returns
The Southern Air Temple
The Warriors of Kyoshi
The King of Omashu
Imprisoned
Winter Solstice (Part 1: The Spirit World)
Winter Solstice (Part 2: Avatar Roku)
The Waterbending Scroll
Jet
The Great Divide
The Storm
The Blue Spirit
The Fortuneteller
Bato of the Water Tribe
The Deserter
The Northern Air Temple
The Waterbending Master
The Siege of The North - Part 1
The Siege of the North - Part 2

Avatar: Book 2 - Earth
Episode List:

The Avatar State
The Cave of Two Lovers
Return to Omashu
The Swamp
Avatar Day
The Blind Bandit
Zuko Alone
The Chase
Bitter Work
The Library
The Desert
Journey to Ba Sing Se, Part 1 - The Serpent's Pass
Journey to Ba Sing Se, Part 2 - The Drill
City of Walls and Secrets
Tales of Ba Sing Se
Appa's Lost Days
Lake Laogai
The Earth King
The Guru
The Crossroads of Destiny

Avatar: Book 3 - Fire
Episode List:

Awakening
The Headband
The Painted Lady
Sokka's Master
The Beach
The Avatar and the Firelord
The Runaway
The Puppetmaster
Nightmares and Daydreams
The Day of Black Sun, Part 1: The Invasion
The Day of Black Sun, Part 2: The Eclipse
The Wetern Air Temple
The Firebending Masters
The Boiling Rock, Part 1
The Boiling Rock, Part 2
The Southern Raiders
The Ember Island Players
Sozin's Comet, Part 1: The Phoenix King
Sozin's Comet, Part 2: The Old Masters
Sozin's Comet, Part 3: Into The Inferno
Sozin's Comet, Part 4: Avatar Aang

Below are the product details for Nickelodeon's upcoming brand new "Avatar: The Last Airbender" DVD from the DVD's product page on the Amazon UK e-store:

Avatar: The Last Airbender - The Complete Collection [DVD]
Rated: Parental Guidance | Format: DVD
Price: £15.50 [...]

Product details
Format: Box set, Full Screen, PAL
Language: English
Subtitles: None
Dubbed: French, German, Dutch
Subtitles For The Hearing Impaired: None
Audio Description: None
Region: Region 2 (This DVD may not be viewable outside Europe. [...])
Number of discs: 5
Classification: PG
Studio: Paramount Home Entertainment
DVD Release Date: 9 Sep 2013
Run Time: 1468 minutes
[...]
ASIN: B00DPL32PG
[...]

Reviews
Product Description
All 61 episodes from the American animated series made in the style of original Japanese anime. The series takes place in a fantasy world, home to humans, fantastic animals, and supernatural spirits. Human civilisation is divided into four nations, the Water Tribes, the Earth Kingdom, the Air Nomads, and the Fire Nation. Within each nation, an order of men and women called 'Benders' have the ability to manipulate their native element. These bending arts combine a certain style of martial arts and elemental mysticism. The series follows the adventures of the successor to a long line of Avatars, Aang (voice of Zach Tyler), and his friends in their quest to save the world from the ruthless Fire Nation.

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Nickelodeon Global And Nick Jr. UK's "Pocoyo" Social Media Stats For Thursday 22nd August 2013

Kidscreen's children's digital entertainment and media news column iKids is reporting the fantastic Nickelodeon News in the following article that Nickelodeon and the popular Nick Jr. UK and Ireland animated preschool series "Pocoyo" were two of today's (Thursday 22nd August 2013) top 10 brands that have been keeping kids busy on the internet! The research was carried out by Starcount, which counts the activity on the public profiles of the biggest global social networks and tracks the kids brands that are rising up the charts in the social media world daily.

According to Starcount, Nickelodeon channels around the world (Nickelodeon International / Nickelodeon Global) gained 5,342 new Facebook fans and 11,690 new Twitter followers. Meanwhile, "Pocoyo" has a total of 13,417 Twitter followers, 1,490,913 Facebook likes and 599,990,141 YouTube views, with today alone bring in 805,391 fresh YouTube views!:

The top 10 kids brands in social media right now

With kids’ online video views updating as quickly as a Facebook status, keeping track of what’s actually driving children's social media behavior can be daunting. Starcount, which as its name suggests counts activity on the public profiles of the biggest global social networks, tracks the kids brands that are rising up the charts in the social media world daily. We've got today’s top 10 brands that are keeping kids busy online:

1. Luntik
With a total of 1,487,196,043 YouTube views, today alone has brought 1,597,771 views to the Russian preschool character

2. Mother Goose Club
The nursery rhymes gained 1,422,889 YouTube views and added 18 Facebook fans to its 13,675 fans already on the social network

3. KidsTV123
Today KidsTV123 gained 1,276,558 YouTube views, making for a total of 1,058,583,467 eyeballs

4. Pocoyo
The Spanish-bred character has a total of 13,417 Twitter followers, 1,490,913 Facebook fans and 599,990,141 YouTube views – today alone has brought in 805,391 YouTube views

5. Nickelodeon Global
Today Nickelodeon on a global basis has gained 5,342 Facebook fans and 11,690 Twitter followers

6. Super Simple Learning
The educational videos gained 748,381 YouTube views today

7. Disney Junior
Today Disney Junior gained 705,931 YouTube views, making for a total of 414,133,142

8. Sesame Street
With its landmakrk 1,113,521,875 YouTube views, today Sesame Street gained 597,187 views

9. Google Science Fair
With a total of 4,178,081 YouTube views, Google Science Fair has brought in another 1,209

10. Cartoon Network Global
Cartoon Network added 10,490 Facebook fans and gained 155,897 YouTube views, making for a total of, 21,455,439 Facebook fans and 88,294,568 views

Tags: Facebook, social media, Twitter, video, videos, YouTube

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The NPD Group Names Nickelodeon's "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" Merchandise As One Of The Most Popular Toy Lines In The USA During Summer 2013

The children's entertainment and media news website Kidscreen is reporting the fantastic Nickelodeon News in the following article that the research company The NPD Group has named Nickelodeon Consumer Products' (NCP) licensed "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" toy line as one of the top performing toy brands in the USA during Summer 2013! In a separate article from The Hollywood Reporter, also below, Nickelodeon Executive Pamela Kaufman, who is Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) and President, Consumer Products at Nickelodeon, talks about Nickelodeon's successful "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" marketing campaign.

From Kidscreen:

With 4% sales rise in the US, licensed toys find summer love

The US toy industry is reaping the benefits of a fruitful summer box office season, with sales of licensed toys up 4% for the months of May and June, according to research firm The NPD Group.

Retail sales of licensed sport toys increased 12%, while licensed action figure toys saw a 20% jump. All other licensed categories, which include racing, comic book-based and video game-based toys, have increased by 2%. These jumps are in relation to a decline in all other toys of close to 2%.

The top five licenses that saw the largest percentage increase in dollars during the first half of the summer by alphabetical order were Doc McStuffins (Disney Consumer Products), Iron Man (Marvel/DCP), Monsters Inc. (DCP), Superman (Warner Bros.) and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Nickelodeon Consumer Products).

Fittingly, Iron Man 3, Monsters University and Man of Steel hold three out of four positions in the top summer box office rankings. The summer box office is up 11% over the same period last year, which is helping to drive mass market appeal of licensed toys.

According to NPD’s recent Evolution of Play report, 56% of parents said that a license was an important factor when it came to shopping for toys, and more than 60% of kids ages nine and under have at least one favorite license.

Tags: Doc McStuffins, Iron Man, Licensing, Monsters Inc., Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The NPD Group, toys

Also, from THR:

Why the Fart Blaster Is Hollywood's Hottest Toy of the Summer

"Despicable Me 2," "Sofia the First" and Nickelodeon's "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" also score with kids as a $22 billion business crowns the season's winners.

A version of this story first appeared in the Sept. 6 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine.

In July, two weeks before Universal Pictures' Despicable Me 2 opened in U.K. theaters, retailers and Thinkway Toys, the master license holder for the animated movie, pulled their TV and print advertising. The entire line of DM2 toys already had sold out.

"Customers were coming in and getting very upset they couldn't get the Minions," says Stephanie Sperber, president of Universal Partnerships & Licensing. "And this is after three reorders and air-freighting in products, which in the toy business is unheard of. People don't air-freight. It makes things exponentially more expensive."

What happened in the U.K. wasn't isolated. Sales for DM2 toys in the U.S., other parts of Europe, Mexico and Latin America were equally robust. In a summer heavy with animated family movies, surprisingly few exploded at the box office and at retail. Despicable Me 2, which scored the biggest opening to date for an animated movie at $293 million worldwide in five days, was a star in both.

"Despicable Me was an absolute blowout," says Jim Silver, editor-in-chief of Playmag.com, a website that reviews toys. "The retailers underbought it in a big way, and they are playing catch-up. Literally everything sold out. It was severely underestimated."

In 2013, U.S. toy sales will hit about $22 billion, according to data from the NPD Group, with a quarter coming from toys based on licenses from movies and TV shows ­-- the category that in recent years has grown most quickly.

"Kids love to bring their favorite book, movie and television characters to life in the form of toys, games and accessories," says Lisa Harnisch, senior vp and general merchandise manager at Toys R Us, "so our licensed business is very important."

To feature the Talking Dave Minion and other items from DM2, Toys R Us created a dedicated shop in each store and offered exclusive items such as a banana-scented Fart Blaster. "We anticipate sales will remain strong throughout the remainder of the year," says Harnisch.

Along with DM2, the top toys of the summer at Toys R Us, she says, were products from Disney's TV series Sofia the First and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, which was reincarnated last fall by Viacom's Nickelodeon, spinning off boy-oriented merchandise that has been popular with kids, teens and adult collectors.

"Our marketing team made sure we connected with existing fans of this 25-year-old franchise and let them know Nickelodeon was taking care of their baby," says Pam Kaufman, the channel's chief marketing officer. "For the first time ever, we thought we could launch a show and a consumer product line at the same time."

The Turtles benefited from cross promotions and special Turtle programming across many of the other Viacom networks, including Spike and MTV. Target stores report that the Turtle products were among their best-sellers this summer, especially the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles RC Shellraiser (about $35 at retail).

DreamWorks Animation had success with Turbo because of the popularity of car toys with boys. “Even if a classic movie property does not perform well at the box office,” says Toys R Us’s Harnisch, “we often find that the combination of classic play patterns, like cars and trucks, as well as lovable characters translate well at retail.”

“It was tough this summer and [Turbo] was also a new [line of products],” says DreamWorks Animation's head of global consumer products Michael Connolly. “It’s always hard to get in front of people, but Turbo has done a lot better than the box office indicates because it's such a fantastic play pattern.”

Lego had a strong summer with Iron Man 3 and Man of Steel action figures. “We have seen great success and continued consumer demand for products related to superhero properties,” says Harnisch, who credits demand from kids who like to role play and collectors who “will stand in line before the doors open to find the exact item they are looking for.”

Lego's Mike McNally says even The Lone Ranger scored among nostalgic adult collectors with its Western theme, despite the movie's weak box-office performance. “Like Star Wars and Indiana Jones, you have a generation of people who grew up understanding that storyline from when they were young, and they fondly remember playing with Lego,” says McNally. “Now they see that familiar storyline put together with their favorite toy and it’s very appealing to adult collectors and people who want to share it with their kids.”

While Sofia the First went on the air in January, Disney didn’t rush out merchandise for the unknown brand -- waiting six months before rolling out toys, costumes and books to retailers other than its own Disney stores. “It was a smart strategy by Disney to build up demand for the show, let the show have lots of fans and then ship the products,” says Silver.

With Nickelodeon's Sponge Bob and Dora the Explorer running out of gas, Sofia hit the fast lane with record ratings for Disney Junior followed by fast sales at retail, where it joined other hot-selling Disney toys Doc McStuffins and Jake and the Neverland Pirates. “We are owning the preschool aisle in a really robust way,” says Josh Silverman, executive vp global licensing for Disney Consumer Products.

“Sophia is the baby princess,” says Silver. “The animation is just captivating young kids. She’s the first baby princess, and that hasn’t been done before. It just grabs kids. They love the show, and that’s always the first thing you need for a successful line of toys.”

Some of the Sofia products are part of the new high-tech trend in toys. Along with the 10-inch Sophia dolls there is the Talking Magical Amulet made for Disney by Jakks Pacific that glows when it gets close to Sofia. “It enables a child to read a lesson card,” adds John Blaney, Jakks' executive vp marketing. “They stick a card in the amulet and a princess-in-training reads to them.“

The high-tech sensation of the season are the DM2 toys made for Universal and producer Illumination Entertainment by Thinkway, a company based in Hong Kong that made its mark during the '90s with Toy Story toys, and more recently produced products for Man of Steel and Disney's Planes (whose toys flew off shelves even before the movie took off).

The first Despicable Me in 2010 was a box-office hit, but the only licensed toys were plush animals. About 18 months before DM2, Universal and Illumination made strategic decisions that paid off: They passed on larger toy companies for Thinkway because they felt it could create "cool, innovative products," says Sperber.

They also limited the line to the handful of Minions and a few other characters and related toys. Sperber calls it a “jewel box approach,” meaning they wanted fewer items but each had to be of high quality. They also limited the licensees in each category, so rather than have five T-shirt sellers they had one. In all they signed about 180 licensees (up from about 30 for the first movie) who produced several thousand toys.

Thinkway CEO Albert Chang, whom Sperber jokingly calls ‘the mad genius” behind the toy company, says before they began his team looked at hundreds of other toys “to explore all possibilities. … Products filled the conference room and spilled over into other areas.”

One unique feature was facial technology. It's an interactive application that allows the facial expression and eyes of the Minion action figures to change as the child moves the head or body. "Add voice and sound effects," says Chang, the CEO of Thinkway, "and the toys become irresistible."

“They never stop developing,” says Gail Harrison, Illumination’s senior vp creative marketing. “They come up with an idea and then make it better and better, whereas other companies cough out a toy and then start diminishing features. Albert and his team kept surprising us and delighting us with more features true to our movie.”

The Fart Blaster had caught kids attention in the first movie and Thinkway was able to bring an improved version of it to market. "It's so rare," says Harrison, "that you can take an artifact like that from now two movies and make a great toy."

Despicable Me 2 wasn't just an American hit, but a worldwide phenomena. "Because the Minions don't speak English or Spanish or a true language," says Harrison, "it transcends countries and culture. That helped make this movie a global sensation."

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES DESPICABLE ME 2

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