Toronto-based animation giant Nelvana has secured television distribution rights for the red-hot Japanese animated kids series Beyblade for North America, South America, Europe and Oceania (excluding Turkey, Italy, Greece and Arabic-speaking countries).

The deal gives Nelvana home video and broadcast distribution rights to all 51 Beyblade episodes (produced in Japan by Mitsubishi’s wholly owned subsidiary d-rights). The series will air in Canada on YTV as early as summer 2002.

The agreement also allows Nelvana to act as agent for the importation and distribution of all Beyblade metal and plastic spinning tops from toy licensees Hasbro and Takara.

So what’s all the hype about? Well, Beyblade, the series, is about a group of kids from different corners of the world who come together to compete their way to the Beyblade world championships. In the game, Beybladers spin their tops in a ‘stadium’ (a round area not much larger than a dinner plate) and attempt to knock the competition out of commission. The last spinning top wins.

Nelvana’s VP of production Jocelyn Hamilton says there is a bigger picture here. Nelvana believes life will imitate art, with children battling it out for Beyblade supremacy in organized competitions.

‘We hope to have live events where people can go and Beyblade one another,’ says Hamilton. ‘We want to mirror something like the WWF where kids can get in the ring and work their way up the pyramid to become the Beyblade master. We want these kinds of events to circulate into a phenomenon. It is already a phenomenon in Japan.’

Nelvana is currently reversioning the existing episodes, adding new music, new effects, new dialogue and voices – basically re-posting the series for the North American market.

Hamilton says she expects Beyblade to be ‘pretty big’ in North America based on toy sales in Japan, a country that unleashed many other hot brands such as Pokemon and Sailor Moon on the world.

Nelvana will make Beyblade one of its spotlighted properties at NATPE at the end of the month.

In other Nelvana news, the company has acquired the rights from Berenstain Enterprises to develop, produce and distribute a new animated kids show based on a more evergreen property, The Berenstain Bears, a popular series of children’s books by Stan and Jan Berenstain. The TV series coincides with the Bears’ 40th anniversary.

According to Hamilton, Nelvana is already in the midst of producing 40 half-hours (each consisting of two 15-minute episodes) for broadcast on PBS and YTV beginning in the fall. The series will kick off PBS Kids’ weekday programming block.

Targeted at four- to seven-year-olds, The Berenstain Bears is budgeted in the $300,000 to $350,000 per episode range.

Nelvana will also produce interstitial and educational materials featuring the Bears characters to promote literacy and the joys of reading. These materials will be distributed to PBS affiliates and daycare centres.

Nelvana has also acquired the rights to produce Berenstain Bears TV specials, MOWs, video releases and feature films. Columbia TriStar will distribute Berenstain video titles in the U.S., the first of which is expected in 2003.

The Berenstain Bears books have sold more than 260 million copies worldwide since making their debut in 1961.

Hiltz prepares for Blizzard

Toronto-based Hiltz Squared Entertainment is teaming with Sammat Entertainment to produce Blizzard, a new feature film to be directed by Bradley H. Luft (Travelling Alone in America).

Blizzard, written by Myles Shane (Famous Dead People) and Luft, is about seven friends trapped in a building during – you guessed it – a blizzard. The story is loosely based on an episode in Shane’s life circa two winters ago when a blinding snowstorm brought Toronto to a virtual standstill.

The film is being produced by Shane and Hiltz Squared’s Naomi Hiltz (Natural Magic) and Jonathan Hiltz, with Sammat’s Jon Slan (Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels) signed on as executive producer. Cast is still to be announced.

According to the Hiltz siblings, the budget for the project is approximately $2.7 million, with funding from private investment and a presale to The Movie Network. Jonathan says the producers are seeking a final financier and hope to have all the funding in place soon.

Production is expected to begin in Toronto in the spring and will likely wrap in early summer, although no dates have been set. The Hiltzs are currently weighing their distribution options, and admit that with more than 130 titles in their own library, the company’s distribution division is a possibility.

Another Hiltz Squared production, Harmoney, is in development. Jonathan penned the screenplay about a boy-band member who loses his soul to his celebrity status and looks to recapture it. Jonathan will costar in the film, to be directed by sister Naomi.

In the meantime, Hiltz and Hiltz will certainly have their televisions set to TMN at the end of the month when two Hiltz productions air on consecutive nights. On Jan. 30, the Hiltz-produced International Teen Movie Festival Award Show will air in primetime. The show was taped Nov. 4, 2001 at the conclusion of the festival, a production of Hiltz Squared. On Jan. 31, Jack’s House, a feature film directed by Naomi that was shot in less than 24 hours on a budget of approximately $500,000, airs on the movie net.

Hiltz Squared is currently looking into new corporate sponsorships for the 2002 International Teen Movie Festival.

very small films working on very big slate

Toronto’s very small films is hard at work these days, with one series currently on air, a documentary set to air in March and a whack of productions in development.

The three very small partners, Michael Lamport (Bob & Margaret), Greg Sheppard (Paris Crew) and Sally Blake (Hitman Hart: Wrestling with Shadows), are currently in production on the series Suite & Simple, a 13-part, half-hour travel show for diginet CTV Travel. The three share producer credit, with Sheppard also directing and Lamport cohosting with Krista Sutton (Vagina Monologues).

The series shows viewers how to travel to exotic locales both on the cheap and in a truly excessive fashion. Lamport gets to demonstrate the opulent side of doing a town, while Sutton has to pinch her pennies.

Suite & Simple is running on a budget of under $35,000 per episode, with funding from CTV. The producers are hoping to sell the show in the U.S., U.K. and Australia and are looking into corporate sponsorships.

The first six episodes, documenting visits to Morocco, Spain, Portugal and elsewhere, have begun airing on CTV Travel as the production crew of six prepares to shoot the final seven.

Meanwhile, the documentary The Disciples, coproduced by very small and Sudden Film, with Blake and Sudden’s Marc de Guerre codirecting, is slated to debut on CBC’s Witness March 13.

The Disciples looks at a Christian rock band of brothers and how music corporations are taking notice of the popular Christian music genre and developing a star system.

The project has a budget of $387,000, with funding from Telefilm Canada, CBC and Red Apple Entertainment, which will act as the film’s distributor.

The doc is currently in post and Blake says a second, longer version will be edited for international audiences.

The company is also in development on a gaggle of new shows, including Salon Talk for CHUM’s new FashionTelevision diginet, Complaintv for Life Network, and Off Stage, also for Life.