Target Corporation is outlining its growth opportunities for the next five to 10 years. Target plans to continue growth within existing stores by investing approximately $1 billion in the renovation of about 340 existing stores, expanding grocery content in general merchandise stores, and enhancing layout, assortment, and “in-store experience” in areas including beauty, home, electronics, and video games.
Universal Partnerships & Licensing has signed on several new licensing partners for Universal Pictures’ and Illumination Entertainment’s inaugural 3-D CGI feature, Despicable Me. The movie is the studio’s first film from Chris Meledandri (Ice Age, Ice Age 2: The Meltdown, Horton Hears a Who!), who produces through his Universal-based family entertainment company, Illumination Entertainment.
LEGO will introduce its new Hero Factory line at Toy Fair, but the company is giving audiences a sneak peek now. At Hero Factory, heroes are designed, equipped and built according to the special missions they are sent out on. Check out the video after the jump.
Ludorum plc has appointed VTech as the global licensee for Chuggington electronic learning products. As part of the deal, in June VTech will launch a new Chuggington laptop, for kids ages 3 and older. The VTech Chuggington Laptop features the show’s characters––such as trainees Wilson, Brewster, and Koko––and their real voices. The laptop includes a Wilson-shaped selector, abc keyboard, and the numbers 1-10 to teach kids language, numbers, logic, and games.
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment has signed a multi-year exclusive agreement with Sesame Workshop for the rights to create and publish interactive video game titles based on Sesame Street. The worldwide agreement is in addition to Sesame Workshop’s partnership with Warner Home Video for a multi-year, exclusive home entertainment distribution deal for Sesame Street’s library, new content, EST, and transactional VOD. New DVD titles will be released this year.
Activision Publishing, Inc. and Fox Licensing will release Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief for the Nintendo DS, based on the first title of Rick Riordan’s book series. The role-playing video game allows players to navigate Percy Jackson and his fellow demigods as they battle for survival in a contemporary world ruled by Greek gods. The video game will hit store shelves February 9, while a movie of the same title, Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief, will release in theaters February 12.
The winners for the Kids at Play Interactive (KAPi) Awards were announced during the Kids@Play Summit, a part of the 2010 International CES. The first-ever awards show highlighted products, such as applications, video games, CD-ROMs, internet websites, and eBooks, that raised the bar for innovation and excellence.
Art Clokey, creator of the popular clay character Gumby (the first to star in clay animated television segments), died on Friday in Los Osos, Calif. Clokey was 88. Gumby debuted in the 1950s on The Howdy Doody Show after Clokey created a 3.5-minute film called Gumbasia, a parody of Disney’s Fantasia featuring clay objects changing shapes to jazz music. Gumby eventually moved on to his own show, The Adventures of Gumby.
Hasbro, Inc. has hired Jerry Perez as senior vice president and global brand leader for the company’s worldwide preschool business. In the role, Perez will lead global strategy, marketing, and merchandising for Hasbro’s preschool brand portfolio including Playskool, Mr. Potato Head, and Play-Doh. He will also lead global efforts around the recently announced Sesame Street toy and co-branded games license, in which the first products will be released in 2011.
