Los Angeles, CA – MarVista Entertainment (MarVista) has signed multiple licensing agreements across a slate of its all-star family and kids movies, underscoring the demand from media partners across all platforms for this programming genre.
Netflix has acquired seven titles targeted to teens, including Dance-Off, starring Good Luck Charlie’s Shane Harper and So You Think You Can Dance finalist and Step-Up star Cathryn McCormick, for Latin America, Australia and New Zealand; Pop Star, starring Twilight’s Christian Serratos, for Latin America; and the teen gymnast movie, A Second Chance, for the U.S., Canada, Latin America, Australia and New Zealand.
U.S. Spanish Language television network Mundo Fox has acquired Spanish Language rights to 1 Chance 2 Dance and the soccer themed Monkey in the Middle; Asia Television Programming has acquired the same titles for Malaysia and Singapore. In Europe, Club RTL has also acquired 1 Chance 2 Dance.
In Latin America, Peru’s America Television has acquired the romantic comedy All She Wishes, featuring Disney star Calum Worthy and the comedy Zapped, starring Zendaya.
Recent licensing agreements for MarVista’s popular holiday-themed titles include a number of new partners for 12 Dog Days Till Christmas, starring Family Matters’ Reginald VelJohnson, including Disney Channel Latin America; Bell Media, Canada; Zylo for France and French Speaking Africa; Jigsaw for Australia and New Zealand, V Tele for French Speaking Canada, and D Smart for Turkey and Cyprus.
“Movies that appeal to families for co-viewing and those targeted to kids and teens continue to resonate with global buyers across all platforms,” commented MarVista Entertainment’s Executive Vice President of Distribution Vanessa Shapiro. “Holiday titles remain a staple with traditional broadcast partners around the world, and the thriving SVOD market provides new opportunities to supply themed programming to engaged audiences.”
MarVista recently acquired three new family-friendly titles that will join the company’s MIPTV premieres. New titles for kids and teens include My New Best Friend, a Foxfield Entertainment and Mystique Films Production and UP Premiere Movie (January 2015) starring James Denton (Grace Unplugged, Desperate Housewives), Lilah Fitzgerald (The Pastor’s Wife) and Laura Mennell (Watchmen). Penelope, “Polka-dot,” finds a friend in both Officer Cooper and his K-9 partner Luey, the bloodhound. They’re a mismatched trio perfect for each other! Kids vs Monsters, a creature feature movie starring Malcolm McDowell, Armand Assante, Lance Henriksen, Richard Moll and Francesca Eastwood about six teenagers tricked by their parents into going to a “reform school” run by monsters who are charged with dispatching of its students! A Dark Dunes production featuring practical creature special effects by Amalgamated Dynamics Inc. (The Thing, X-Men: First Class, AVP).
The two new acquisitions round out the new kid and teen titles at MIP that also includes Pants on Fire, a Two 4 The Money Media Production and Disney Channel movie premiere starring Bradley Steven Perry (Good Luck Charlie, Mighty Med), Joshua Ballard (Haunting Hour, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days) and Tyrel Jackson Williams (Lab Rats). Fifteen-year-old Jack Parker uses white lies to get out of trouble until his lies start coming true and throwing his life into chaos.
Holiday themed titles debuting at MIP include the newly acquired Merry Ex-Mas, an Odyssey Media/Network Pictures production and an ION Television movie premiere (December 2014), starring Kristy Swanson, Lochlyn Munro and Dean Cain. During a blizzard at Christmas, a security company chief becomes snowbound with his ex-wife, her fiancé, his girlfriend, his former mother-in-law and his daughter forcing him and his ex-wife to address past grievances and reconnect to a love they never lost.
An En Vogue Christmas, an Original Pictures Production and a Lifetime movie premiere (November 2014) starring Genelle Williams (The Latest Buzz, Bitten, Remedy), the three-time Tony and Grammy Award nominee David Alan Grier (Bad Teacher, Bones, In Living Color), and Terry Ellis, Cindy Herron and Rhona Bennett from multi-platinum, multi-award winning R&B sensation En Vogue.
When her late father and uncle Marty’s club, The Opera House, is about to be foreclosed, Kendall must convince her old friends, Terry, Cindy and Rhona to put on a Christmas concert to keep the beloved club in business.
Rounding out the company’s holiday offerings is the MarVista produced Back to Christmas, an ION Television movie premiere (December 2014) starring Kelly Overton, Michael Muhney, and Jonathan Patrick Moore. Ali wakes up Christmas morning, realising she’s reliving a past Christmas allowing her to change the path of her love life with her ex or with someone entirely unexpected!
