Meet The Stars Of Nickelodeon's Brand-New Show "Make It Pop"

To celebrate Nickelodeon USA starting to premiere and show the networks brand-new original musical comedy series "Make It Pop" weekdays at 7:00pm (ET/PT) from tonight, Monday 6th April 2015, in a special one-month event, the official "Make It Pop" and XO-IQ YouTube channels have unveiled a fantastic range of behind-the-scenes video clips for fans to get to know the stars of Nick's brand-new sitcom, which you can watch in the online streaming video clips below!

Pictured: (L-R) Jodi (Louriza Tronco), Sun Hi (Meghan Lee) and Corki (Erika Tham) in the new live-action series, Make It Pop, coming to Nickelodeon in the 2015-16 season. Photo Credit: Nickelodeon. ©2015 Viacom International, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

"Make It Pop" is a brand-new comedic, music-infused daily strip about three unique girls who come together to start their own K pop- inspired band. Randomly selected to room together at boarding school, three freshman girls – bookish Corki (Erika Tham), fashion forward Jodi (Louriza Tronco), and social media maven Sun Hi (Megan Lee) – meet and bond over music. With the help of fellow boarding school classmate and DJ hopeful, Caleb (Dale Whibley), the girls grow from roommates to bandmates as their band, "XO-IQ", becomes a school-wide sensation and they compete for a place in the upcoming school musical.

The series, which will feature original songs and performances in every episode, is co-created by Thomas W. Lynch and Nick Cannon and produced by DHX Media. "Make It Pop" is executive produced by Lynch and Cannon, together with Steven DeNure and Anne Loi for DHX Media. DHX Media will also handle global distribution and brand management for "Make It Pop", as well as merchandising and licensing through appointed agency, Copyright Promotions Licensing Group Ltd. (CPLG).

Make It Pop - What Was Your Favourite Childhood Toy?



Make It Pop - Meet The Cast!



Make It Pop - Do You Have Pets?



Make It Pop - What Is Your Favourite Colour In A Pack Of Crayons?



Make It Pop - Freedom Fun Time



The cast of Make It Pop shows off their favourite dance moves!

Make It Pop - Favourite Thing To Do In The Summer?



Make It Pop - Favourite Thing To Do In The Winter?



Make It Pop - Who Is Your Favourite Superhero?



Make It Pop - How Did You Get Into Acting?



XO-IQ's "Party Tonight" Dance Tutorial



Choreographer Addy Chan teaches you all of XO-IQ's moves from their new music video, “Party Tonight”! Make It Pop premieres this April on Nickelodeon.

XO-IQ - Now I Am Here (Superstar Mix) Lyric Video



Sing along to XO-IQ’s ‘Now I Am Here’! XO-IQ is featured in the new show Make It Pop, premiering this April on Nickelodeon

Full Lyrics:

So this is how it starts, from the high to the low,
future fans and it’s my show

So, this is how it feels, to get everyone talking
The Big reveal

woo,oo, ooo, oo, oo
woo,oo, ooo,oo, oo

it's a crazy situation,
It’s my destination

woo oo ooo, oo, oo,
woo oo, ooo, oo, oo
absolute fascination
All across the nation

Now I am here Where I’m meant to be I’m meant to be
Show of the year, The new Drama Queen
Boom Boom
on the scene
Now I am Here Where I'm meant to be, I’m meant to be
Show of the year, the New Drama Queen
Boom Boom
on the scene

So this is it my friends, the hottest ticket in town
Everyone will attend

oh, this is where it goes, in the auditorium
and everyone knows..

woo,oo, ooo, oo, oo
woo,oo, ooo,oo, oo

it's a crazy situation,
It’s my destination

woo oo ooo, oo, oo,
woo oo, ooo, oo, oo
absolute fascination
It’s a Sun Hi nation

Now I am here Where I’m meant to be I’m meant to be
Show of the year, The new Drama Queen
Boom Boom
on the scene
Now I am Here Where I'm meant to be, I’m meant to be
Show of the year, the New Drama Queen
Boom Boom
on the scene

Yeah, break it down
Uh, S-U-N Hi

Now I am here Where I’m meant to be I’m meant to be
Show of the year, The new Drama Queen
Boom Boom
on the scene
Now I am Here Where I'm meant to be, I’m meant to be (I’m meant to be yeah)
Show of the year (Show of the year yeah), the New Drama Queen
Boom Boom
on the scene

XO-IQ - Spotlightz Lyric Video

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NickToons USA Acquires Rights To "Little Battlers eXperience" Season Two; To Debut During Fall 2015

The Anime News Network (ANN) is reporting the exciting Nickelodeon news that Dentsu Entertainment USA, Inc. today announced that Nickelodeon USA has picked up the broadcast rights to the second season of the popular anime "Little Battlers eXperience"! Season two of "LBX", titled "Danbōru Senki W" in Japan, will premiere on Nick USA's animation and action channel, Nicktoons USA, during Fall 2015.

The first season of "Little Battlers eXperience" is currently airing on Nicktoons and will repeat before the second premieres.

The "LBX" franchise follows the adventures of miniature customizable robots and the kids who interact with them. Van Yamano wanted an LBX robot more than anything else in the world, but his mother always refused. And then one day fate brought him his very own LBX named Achilles. A naturally gifted LBX player, Van soon finds himself battling to free his missing father from the clutches of an evil organization. But what Van doesn't know is that his LBX Achilles holds the key to the fate of the entire world. He will soon find himself caught in the midst of a vast conspiracy for global domination with the highest ranks of power. It's up to Van to defend the world from tyranny depending solely on his own unique abilities and his LBX robots.

In the second season, Van makes a new friend named Hiro and the two travel the world to "stop a far more sinister global threat."

The anime from the studio OLM ("Pokémon", "Deltora Quest") adapts a "near-future, plastic-model-building role-playing game" from Level 5 ("Dragon Quest VIII", "Professor Layton", "Inazuma Eleven", "Mobile Suit Gundam AGE"). The player customizes and controls miniature robots called LBX (Little Battler eXperience) as they battle it out in dioramas built from reinforced cardboard. The anime version premiered on TV Tokyo in 2011 and aired for 44 episodes. The sequel, "Danbōru Senki W" ran for 58-episodes in 2012, and the latest series "Danbōru Senki Wars" premiered in 2013 and ran for 37 episodes.

Viz Media licensed the manga adaptation by Hideaki Fujii.

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Paramount To Release "The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water" On Blu-ray 3D, Blu-ray, DVD And VOD In The USA On Tuesday 2nd June 2015

Original Paramount Home Media Distribution Press Release via Business Wire:

The World's Favorite Sponge Heads to Our World for the First Time Ever in the New Hit Movie SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS: SPONGE OUT OF WATER

Antonio Banderas Stars in the $285 Million Worldwide Hit, Coming Ashore on Blu-ray™ Combo Pack June 2, 2015

Dive into Digital HD Two Weeks Early on May 19

The World's Favorite Sponge Heads To Our World For The First Time Ever In The New Hit Movie SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS: SPONGE OUT OF WATER, Coming Ashore On Digital HD May 19 and Blu-ray™ Combo Pack June 2 (Photo: Business Wire)

April 06, 2015 02:55 PM Eastern Daylight Time

HOLLYWOOD, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SpongeBob and his friends are back—and like you've never seen them before—in the all-new blockbuster hit THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE: SPONGE OUT OF WATER arriving on Blu-ray Combo Pack, Blu-ray 3D™ Combo Pack, DVD and VOD June 2, 2015 from Paramount Home Media Distribution. Hailed as "laugh-out-loud funny" (Examiner) and "the best family film of the year" (Fanboy Nation), the wildly entertaining adventure arrives two weeks early on Digital HD May 19.

THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE: SPONGE OUT OF WATER Blu-ray 3D and Blu-ray Combo Packs with Digital HD boast over an hour of super-powered extras highlighted by three exclusive and delightfully fun sing-along music videos: "Thank Gosh It's Monday," "Teamwork" and "Theme Song/Rap Battle." The Combo Packs also include eight exciting featurettes that take you from Bikini Bottom to the surface, deleted scenes and more.

On a mission to save his world, SpongeBob SquarePants is headed to ours. When pirate Burger Beard (Antonio Banderas) steals the secret recipe for the beloved Krabby Patties, SpongeBob and friends come ashore to bring back the missing formula. To succeed, they must team up with former rival, Plankton, but soon realize that to defeat a super-villain, they must unleash their inner superheroes.

THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE: SPONGE OUT OF WATER Blu-ray Combo Pack

THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE: SPONGE OUT OF WATER Blu-ray is presented in 1080p high definition with English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, French 5.1 Dolby Digital, Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital, Portuguese 5.1 Dolby Digital and English Audio Description and English, English SDH, French, Spanish and Portuguese subtitles. The DVD in the combo pack is presented in widescreen enhanced for 16:9 TVs with English 5.1 Dolby Digital, French 5.1 Dolby Digital, Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital and English Audio Description and English, French, Spanish and Portuguese subtitles. The combo pack includes access to a Digital HD copy of the film as well as the following:

Blu-ray

* Feature film in high definition
* On the Surface
- SpongeBob SquarePants: Out of His World
- When I Grow Up, I Want to Make Funny Sounds
- Becoming Burger Beard
- Making the Burger Mobile Chase Sequence
- It's Hip to Be SquarePants
- A Day in the Life of a Sponge

* Underwater Awesomeness
- Plankton Rules the World!
- Bikini Bottom Confidential: Rock Stars of the Sea
- International Sponge of Mystery
-- Meet Bubbles
-- The Speech

* Bikini Bottom Boogie
- Thank Gosh It's Monday
- SpongeBob Sing-Alongs:
-- Thank Gosh It's Monday
-- Teamwork
-- Theme Song/Rap Battle
- "Squeeze Me" Music Video by N.E.R.D.

* Deleted/Extended/Alternate/Test Scenes

DVD

* Feature film in standard definition

THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE: SPONGE OUT OF WATER Blu-ray 3D Combo Pack

The Blu-ray 3D Combo Pack includes all of the above, as well as a Blu-ray 3D presented in 1080p high definition with English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, French 5.1 Dolby Digital, Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital, Portuguese 5.1 Dolby Digital and English Audio Description and English, English SDH, French, Spanish and Portuguese subtitles. The Blu-ray 3D disc includes the following:

Blu-ray 3D

* Feature film in high definition and 3D
* Thank Gosh It's Monday deleted scene in 3D

The Blu-ray 3D Combo Pack and Blu-ray Combo Pack available for purchase include a Digital Version of the film that can be accessed through UltraViolet™, a way to collect, access and enjoy movies. With UltraViolet, consumers can add movies to their digital collection in the cloud, and then stream or download them—reliably and securely—to a variety of devices.

THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE: SPONGE OUT OF WATER Single-Disc DVD

The single-disc DVD is presented in widescreen enhanced for 16:9 TVs with English 5.1 Dolby Digital, French 5.1 Dolby Digital, Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital and English Audio Description and English, French, Spanish and Portuguese subtitles. The disc includes the feature film in standard definition.

http://www.spongebobmovie.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/spongebobmovie
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SpongeBobMovie
iTunes: http://j.mp/GetSpongeOutOfWater
Amazon: http://j.mp/BuySpongeOutOfWater

Paramount Animation and Nickelodeon Movies present a United Plankton Pictures production "THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE: SPONGE OUT OF WATER". Music by John Debney. Executive Producers Stephen Hillenburg and Cale Boyter. Produced by Paul Tibbitt and Mary Parent. Live Action Direction Mike Mitchell. Based on the series "SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS" created by Stephen Hillenburg. Story by Stephen Hillenburg & Paul Tibbitt. Screenplay by Jonathan Aibel & Glenn Berger. Directed by Paul Tibbitt.

About Paramount Home Media Distribution

Paramount Home Media Distribution (PHMD) is part of Paramount Pictures Corporation (PPC), a global producer and distributor of filmed entertainment. PPC is a unit of Viacom (NASDAQ: VIAB, VIA), a leading content company with prominent and respected film, television and digital entertainment brands. The PHMD division oversees PPC's home entertainment, digital and television distribution activities worldwide. The division is responsible for the sales, marketing and distribution of home entertainment content on behalf of Paramount Pictures, Paramount Animation, Paramount Vantage, Paramount Classics, Insurge Pictures, MTV, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central and CBS and applicable licensing and servicing of certain DreamWorks Animation titles. PHMD additionally manages global licensing of studio content and distribution across worldwide digital and television distribution platforms including online, mobile and portable devices and emerging technologies.

THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE: SPONGE OUT OF WATER

Street Date:
June 2, 2015 (Blu-ray 3D, Blu-ray, DVD and VOD)
May 19, 2015 (Digital)

SRP:
$52.99 U.S. (Blu-ray 3D Combo Pack)
$39.99 U.S. (Blu-ray Combo Pack)
$29.99 U.S. (DVD)

U.S. Rating: PG for mild action and rude humor
Canadian Rating: G

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Interview With The Stars Of Nickelodeon's Brand-New Show "Make It Pop"

To celebrate Nickelodeon USA starting to premiere and show the networks brand-new original musical comedy series "Make It Pop" weekdays at 7:00pm (ET/PT) from tonight, Monday 6th April 2015, in a special one-month event, Teen.com has unveiled a fantastic interview with Megan Lee, Erika Tam, Louriza Tronco and Dale Whibley, who portray social media maven Sun Hi, bookish Corki, fashion forward Jodi and DJ hopeful Caleb, respectively, in Nick's brand-new show, which you can read below!:

This New Show is a Combination of All Your Favorite Nickelodeon Classics

Nick.com

Zoey 101...Victorious...Big Time Rush...what do they all have in common? Nickelodeon, of course! And, as of tomorrow at 7pm ET, Nick's newest show will connect them all together more than ever. Let us explain.

Make It Pop is the latest addition to the Nickelodeon family, and it seems that the network combined all the great elements of our past Nick faves — Zoey 101′s awesome residential HS, Victorious' performances and BTR's camaraderie as a band — and made one AMAZE show! Here's the summary:

What do an aspiring pop diva, a fashionista and a book worm have in common? Music! After being randomly selected to room together at Mackendrick Prep, Sun Hi, Jodi and Corki must learn to live together in harmony... literally. Can they achieve pop stardom in a school where academics come first and the arts come last? How will these rising stars balance music, grades, relationships and crushes? There's only one way to find out! Get ready for fun, drama, and musical comedy with a K-pop twist and an EDM beat!

Sounds pretty cool, huh? Well, it's about to get even cooler, 'cause we actually WENT TO THE SET of MIP and got to witness everything first hand! Not only did we get a behind-the-scenes look at the performances and amazing sets, but we also chatted with the show's stars Megan Lee, Erika Tam, Louriza Tronco and Dale Whibley! Write their names down, guys, because they're gonna be huge!

Louriza on finding out she booked the role: "Things don't hit me until I'm actually doing them. First of all, I didn't think I booked it. There were so many girls and it was such a long audition process — they did a worldwide search for this. So, it was such a long process. So I was like, it was fun, [but] maybe, maybe not. When I got the call I was literally screaming and jumping up and down. I had just finished another audition and I found out I booked it. I was like, okay, guess there's really no point in doing the other audition because I had to move down here. But, yeah it's been amazing."

Erika on embarrassing on-set moments: "I think the worst for me was when we were doing a scene where the camera were in out dorm room. So I was behind the door preparing to walk into the room. And I was trying to hype myself up for the scene. So, I ran for the door handle and missed and my face just went right into the door. No one saw. It would have been the best blooper ever but no one saw. It wasn't painful. I was laughing so hard and everyone was on the opposite side of the wall wondering what was going on."

And Megan's? "We were rehearsing for a scene and our producer was like, 'Megan, give us more!' And I was unaware that there was a huge desk in front of me and I bent down and banged my tooth on the desk. I was really lucky, though. There were two pens sticking out and I missed those and got the edge of [the desk]. You could see two tiny teeth marks! But I didn't chip my teeth at all. I was in shock on the floor laughing off the pain, and I felt something in my mouth. At first I thought it was my tooth, but then I realized it was a piece of wood! And I was like, 'oh my god!' Everyone was silent. I'm completely okay, though, so no worries."

Louriza on the Nick star's career she wants to emulate: "Ariana Grande is doing great with the music aspect, but I think I like being more on the acting side. I do love being on stage and all that stuff, but I do want to gear more towards the acting and features. I think right after Amanda Bynes' All That series, she did really well with She's the Man and What a Girl Wants, and I think those types of features I would really like to get into."

Erika on which past Nickelodeon show she used as reference: "Megan and I watched Zoey 101 together to see the whole filming style...because it's drama and a continuous story line. So we watched a few episodes together [to get a sense of the vibes]."

Nickelodeon

Dale on who he thinks should open for the cast if they go on tour: "I think Justin Timberlake would be a cool one. Nick Jonas would be cool. There are some cool up and coming bands — 5 Seconds of Summer is a really happening band right now. I think it would be cool if we went on tour with them."

The cast on their fave past Nick shows: "Drake and Josh! Spongebob! — They're classic!"

Catch Nickelodeon's brand-new original musical comedy series "Make It Pop" week nights at 7:00pm (ET/PT) during April 2015, only on Nickelodeon USA!

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Louriza Tronco, Megan Lee And Russell Hicks Talk About Nickelodeon's Brand-New Show "Make It Pop"

To celebrate Nickelodeon USA starting to premiere and show the networks brand-new original musical comedy series "Make It Pop" weekdays at 7:00pm (ET/PT) from tonight, Monday 6th April 2015, in a special one-month event, Bloomberg Business has unveiled a special article about Nick's all-new K-pop-inspired series, which also features short interviews with Louriza Tronco and Megan Lee, two of Nickelodeon's newest stars, and Russell Hicks, Nickelodeon's president for content development!:

Nickelodeon Bets on K-pop to Revive Ratings

The kids' network is creating a Korean music-inspired series

Tronco, Lee, and Tham play roommates who form a musical group.
Photographer: Stephen Scott/Nickelodeon

Louriza Tronco, Megan Lee, and Erika Tham bound onstage at a warmup party before the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards wearing shiny black and gold outfits and splashes of pink or red in their hair. They strut and wave and belt out two songs, Light It Up and Party Tonight, from their upcoming show Make It Pop. "This is a dream come true for us," Tronco says from the stage.

If the Viacom kids' channel has its way, the three will be Nickelodeon's newest stars—in what could be one of its most ethnically diverse hits. Make It Pop, which premieres on April 6, is the first mainstream U.S. series inspired by K-pop, the fast-growing South Korean pop music genre. The actresses, chosen in a global casting call, are of Chinese-Dutch, Filipino, and Korean descent.

The show is part of the industry's attempt to lift ratings by making programs that mirror viewer diversity. "Our thinking is to reflect the world kids are living in," says Russell Hicks, Nickelodeon's president for content development. Networks, though, risk offending the very people they want to please. ABC saw that this season with Fresh Off the Boat, a comedy about Taiwanese immigrants. Eddie Huang, the chef on whose memoir it's based, said he felt they watered down his story.

Some K-pop fans have gone online to demand Make It Pop be canceled before it's even aired—they feel the show trivializes the art form. "People are just very protective of their artists and the genre in general," says Annie Lim, a senior editor at Allkpop.com, a U.S. K-pop site with 7 million monthly visitors.

K-pop began in the 1990s with a handful of Seoul-based record companies, including S.M. Entertainment and YG Entertainment, that groom and manage acts that typically feature attractive young men and women, often in groups, wearing brightly colored clothing. Their music, infectious dance pop, is promoted in online videos with carefully choreographed routines that fans often re-create at home. Songs in Chinese, English, and Japanese, as well as Korean, appeal to a global audience.

The genre went mainstream, thanks to the Korean rapper Psy, whose 2012 hit Gangnam Style was the first YouTube video to crack a billion views. Last year two K-pop bands, EXO and 2NE1, were among the 10 best-selling world-music acts, according to Billboard. K-pop YouTube views topped 7.6 billion last year, up from 700 million in 2010.

Nickelodeon's ratings have fallen as kids move to social media and online videos. Its ad revenue fell 7 percent, to $968 million last year, according to data from SNL Kagan. Viacom, whose stock has fallen 19 percent in the past year, has cut staff to boost profits.

The Glee-like Make It Pop follows three prep school roommates who form a musical group as they try out for a school production of The Wizard of Oz. They share wardrobe advice, practice dance moves, and deal with parental concerns that they go to a good college.

In November an audition script for the show popped up online. Sample dialogue: "My father will not accept me in a K-pop band. He'd take me back to Korea before he thought there was even a chance I was wasting my potential here." K-pop purists lit into the network on social media, accusing it of promoting stereotypes, not reflecting K-pop artists' hard work, and not being funny. Ananya Nair, a fan in Coventry, England, urged Nickelodeon to cancel the show in a Change.org petition that gathered more than 9,100 signatures. "There are already enough people who are ignorant about Korean culture, we don't need more," she wrote.

Nickelodeon leapt into damage control mode, flying K-pop bloggers and writers from teen publications such as Tiger Beat and J-14 to the Toronto set to meet the stars, who assured them that Make It Pop wants to pay homage to the genre, not exploit it. "K-pop has many elements. We come from different worlds, but with the love of music we come together," says Lee, 19, who grew up in Los Angeles. She trained as a singer, actor, and dancer for three years in South Korea, where she released a single, 8dayz, last year.

Rather than one episode per week, Nickelodeon will air a new Make It Pop every day for 20 days. Fans can watch the daily broadcast on TV or see episodes on the network's app or website.

Darcy Bowe, a media buyer at Starcom USA in Chicago, says advertisers will support Make It Pop, even with the controversy. "School, music, fashion, friendships," she says. "This really is the sweet spot of where younger girls' interests are."

The bottom line: Nickelodeon's advertising revenue fell 7 percent last year. It's hoping to get a boost from a show featuring K-pop.

Catch Nickelodeon's brand-new original musical comedy series "Make It Pop" week nights at 7:00pm (ET/PT) during April 2015, only on Nickelodeon USA!