Entertainment Rights, one of the U.K.’s fastest growing children’s and family intellectual and property libraries announced the $20 million acquisition of the Filmation toon library from Hallmark Entertainment.
The Filmation library features an extensive catalog of classic content with over 500 hours of programming. He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, She-Ra, Ghostbusters, My Favorite Martian, The Lone Ranger, The Archies, Fat Albert, Sabrina and Bravestar are among some of the its well-known titles.
The acquisition gives ER ownership of these titles worldwide in perpetuity, across TV, video and DVD, licensing and merchandising, computer games, recorded music, music publishing and certain feature-film and remake rights. As a result of this acquisition, ER’s library grows to more than 1,700 hours of family-friendly content. In the U.S., ER will have a particular focus on the DVD marketplace.
“We have tracked this library for a number of years, believing it to be one of the few remaining global libraries available and a unique opportunity for the group to become a truly one-stop shop for children and family programming, characters and brands,” says Entertainment Rights CEO Mike Heap.
Entertainment Rights is one the U.K.’s leading specialist media groups. The company owns the rights to many classic characters including Basil Brush, Postman Pat, Little Red Tractor, Mattel’s Barbie, Scholastic’s Clifford, Hasbro’s Transformers, Casper the Friendly Ghost and Felix the Cat.
