Care Bears out of hibernation

Toronto – Still marketable after all these years, and still sweet enough to cause type 1 diabetes, the Care Bears have been given a new lease on life by Nelvana and the franchise rights-holders at American Greetings. Episodes of the original series – which aired from 1985 to 1988, spun off from AG’s line of greeting cards – have enjoyed a recent sales blitz overseas while animators in Toronto have begun to turn out the first in an expected series of new home titles.

Nelvana recently sold 49 of the old, 30-minute eps in Sweden, Denmark, Greece and, er, Kazakhstan.

That last one came as a bit of a surprise, says Nelvana EVP of production Scott Dyer, but adds, ‘It just goes to show the strength of the brand.

‘What we’re finding generally is that those ’80s icons are able to come back in strong, refreshing ways,’ he says, noting that the nostalgia factor in older viewers, now parents, helps bring in the children. ‘What we have to do is find a way to relate to the kids while winking at the parents.’

Dyer’s team turned out a new CG title last year, Care Bears: Journey to Joke-a-lot, which sold some 500,000 units in the U.S. through Lions Gate, and a second, still untitled, release is due by summer from director Larry Jacobs (Cyberchase). Each runs from $3 million to $5 million, funded in-house.

Nelvana also recently signed a deal to make 26 half-hours of Ruby Gloom, about an upbeat young girl in a comically dreary world, for the six-to-12-year-old set, and has sold 26 eps of its new Jane and the Dragon series to France 3, TVNZ, and ABC in Australia. The CG series is produced with New Zealand effects shop Weta Workshop and is already set to air on YTV this fall. Ruby Gloom, meanwhile, is adapted from the graphic brand owned by Mighty Fine in L.A. Sean Davidson