SHOUT! FACTORY AND FREMANTLEMEDIA ENTERPRISES JOIN FORCES TO DELIVER TWO CURRENT HIT SERIES FOR HOME ENTERTAINMENT
MULTI-YEAR ALLIANCE GRANTS SHOUT! FACTORY
EXCLUSIVE DISTRIBUTION RIGHTS TO
THE AQUABATS SUPER SHOW! AND MONSUNO™
Los Angeles, California – August 6, 2012 – Shout! Factory and FremantleMedia Enterprises (FME) announced today a strategic home entertainment alliance to bring widely popular hit series THE AQUABATS SUPER SHOW! and MONSUNO to the home entertainment marketplace in the U.S. and Canada. This multi-year alliance provides Shout! Factory with exclusive home entertainment rights to these two pop culture television properties from FremantleMedia Enterprises. The announcement was made by Shout! Factory founders Richard Foos, Bob Emmer and Garson Foos; and Jeff Siegel, FME VP of Home Entertainment, The Americas.
“We are excited about this new opportunity with FremantleMedia Enterprises. MONSUNO and THE AQUABATS SUPER SHOW! are uniquely celebrated brands with a huge fan following among youth. These highly entertaining series are perfect additions to our expansive pop culture library. We look forward to present these two new product lines on family home entertainment shelves everywhere,” state Shout! Factory founders.
Jeff Siegel, FremantleMedia Enterprises’ Vice President, Home Entertainment, The Americas, added: “MONSUNO and THE AQUABATS SUPER SHOW! are fun, fresh, unique and dynamic series that have already proved to be big hits with audiences. As FremantleMedia Enterprises further grows its family entertainment catalogue, it’s great to be working with top-notch partners such as Shout! Factory who really love our kids brands as much as we do.”
From the co-creator of YO GABBA GABBA comes the quirky comedy/adventure series THE AQUABATS SUPER SHOW!, featuring the alternative rock/ska band The Aquabats. A hybrid of concert footage, live-action skits and animation, the Aquabats battle evil with music and superhero powers unlike any seen before. In a ridiculously fun experience for kids of all ages (including the legions of fans of this popular alternative rock band), the Aquabats embark on a never-ending quest to right wrongs, destroy boredom and seek justice for all. They’re the greatest crime-fighting, kids rock band ever assembled! Boasting an outrageous blend of live-action crime-fighting spoofs with a sprinkling of animation segments, THE AQUABATS SUPER SHOW! is produced by FremantleMedia Enterprises and The Magic Store.
The MONSUNO series is an epic boys action adventure series where kids discover, command and battle creatures with tremendous destructive potential. When a race to harness the power of Monsuno ensues between a group of everyday kids and the evil forces focused on destroying the Earth, our heroes spring into action to defend our planet. Built around powerful, action-driven animation, dynamic characters and a deeply woven original story mythology, MONSUNO provides a completely original entertainment experience. The series is co-produced by Pacific Animation Partners LLC, a joint venture between JAKKS Pacific, Inc. & Dentsu Entertainment USA, Inc., with FremantleMedia Enterprises and The Topps Company, Inc. and is supported by a JAKKS Pacific toy line featuring innovative, kid-controlled action figures, accessories, playsets, collectables, electronics and integrated role play.
Shout! Factory plans an aggressive rollout of THE AQUABATS SUPERSHOW! and MONSUNO on family home entertainment shelves. As excitement builds for these new home entertainment product lines, Shout! Factory and FME will announce additional news and activities later this year.
About FremantleMedia Enterprises’ Kids & Family Entertainment
FME Kids & Family Entertainment division was founded in 2009 and has quickly become a worldwide leader in the family entertainment business. With 15 titles in production in collaboration with top producers on four continents, FME Kids & Family Entertainment is already one of the most prolific independent producers and distributors of content in the sector today. Its growing portfolio of content spans across four key genres: preschool, kids comedy, action/adventure and tween/teen fare. FME Kids & Family Entertainment is bringing to networks around the world innovative and exciting shows for television and new media platforms in live-action, 2D animation, CGI, stop-motion, puppetry and real-time animation with programming targeting demographics ranging in scope from preschool through high school.
ABOUT FREMANTLEMEDIA ENTERPRISES & FREMANTLEMEDIA
FremantleMedia is one of the leading creators and producers of entertainment brands in the world. FremantleMedia is part of the RTL Group, Europe’s largest television and radio broadcast company, which is in turn 90 percent owned by Bertelsmann AG, one of the world’s major media and entertainment companies. FremantleMedia’s worldwide production arm is responsible for many of the world’s highest rated prime time entertainment, drama, serial drama and factual entertainment programmes. FremantleMedia Enterprises is the brand extension arm of FremantleMedia, offering a one-stop-shop for all Licensing, Distribution and Home Entertainment around the world. The FremantleMedia Group (which includes FremantleMedia North America, UFA, FremantleMedia UK, FremantleMedia Australia and Original Productions amongst others) has operations in 22 countries, one of the most comprehensive global networks, creating nearly 10,000 hours of programming a year, rolling out more than 60 formats and managing over 300 individual titles. FremantleMedia has some of the world’s most sought after and long running formats in its catalogue, and globally, produces such programmes as: Idols (co-produced with 19 Productions in the US), Hole In The Wall, Got Talent (co-produced with Syco in the UK and the US), The X Factor (co-produced with Syco in the UK), Take Me Out, Family Feud, The Price is Right, Farmer Wants A Wife, Gute Zeiten Schlechte Zeiten, and Neighbours.
ABOUT SHOUT! FACTORY
Shout! Factory, LLC is a diversified multi-platform entertainment company devoted to producing, uncovering, preserving and revitalizing the very best of pop culture. Founders Richard Foos, Bob Emmer and Garson Foos have spent their entire careers sharing their music, television and film favorites with discerning consumers the world over. Shout! Factory’s DVD and Blu-Ray™ offerings serve up feature films, classic and contemporary TV series, animation, live music and comedy specials in lavish packages crammed with extras. Shout’s audio division boasts GRAMMY®-nominated box sets, new releases from storied artists, lovingly assembled album reissues and indispensable “best of” compilations. In addition, Shout! Factory maintains a vast digital distribution network which delivers video and audio content to all the leading digital service providers in North America. Shout! Factory also owns and operates Timeless Media Group, Biograph Records, Majordomo Records, HighTone Records and Video Time Machine. These riches are the result of a creative acquisition mandate that has established the company as a hotbed of cultural preservation and commercial reinvention. Shout! Factory is based in Santa Monica, California. For more on Shout! Factory, visit shoutfactory.com