Nickelodeon Announces JAKKS Pacific As Master Toy Licensee for Innovative Girls Brand: Winx Club

LAS VEGAS, June 14, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Nickelodeon and JAKKS Pacific, Inc. (Nasdaq: JAKK) today announced from the Licensing International Expo in Las Vegas, NV a multi-territory master toy license agreement for JAKKS Pacific to manufacture, distribute and market a line of toys and other products based on the animated action and fantasy series, Winx Club.  The JAKKS Pacific Winx Club product line is scheduled to launch in Fall 2012 to coincide with the premiere of the brand new CGI episodes of Winx Club on Nickelodeon and will span multiple categories, including dolls and playsets, role play, dress-up and Halloween costumes.

"The Winx Club is a great opportunity for us to bring engaging entertainment to our young girl audience," said Leigh Anne Brodsky, President, Nickelodeon Consumer Products.  "The JAKKS Pacific product line will reflect the guiding principles of the Winx Club that appeal to girls: self-expression, friendship, adventure, magic and fashion."

Stephen Berman, President and CEO of JAKKS Pacific states, "We are thrilled to be the master toy partner for Nickelodeon on their innovative new brand, Winx Club.  We are looking forward to bringing a comprehensive line of products to market, full of the positive messages and girl empowerment that Winx Club epitomizes.  Winx Club is an exciting new initiative for JAKKS for 2012."

Winx Club is an international billion-dollar franchise, and this new agreement makes JAKKS Pacific the master toy licensee for Winx Club in the U.S., Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Panama, Peru and Venezuela.

JAKKS Pacific has a long, successful history and strong partnership with Nickelodeon, producing toys and other products based on top Nickelodeon properties such as SpongeBob SquarePants, Dora the Explorer, Diego, Blue's Clues, SLIME, and more. Winx Club is an animated action and fantasy series set in the mystical dimension of Magix, where three schools educate modern fairies, witches and supernatural warriors from all over the universe.  Bloom, a young fairy in training from Earth, and five of her schoolmates form the Winx Club to combat their arch enemies.  Winx Club first debuted in Italy six years ago and quickly became an international hit and even gave rise to a CG feature film.

Winx Club features positive role models for girls featuring strong heroines that girls can aspire and relate to. The Winx Club characters embody themes of girl empowerment by using their strengths, smarts and magical powers to defeat evil while focusing on the importance of friendship and teamwork.

Nickelodeon is scheduled to begin airing Winx Club in the U.S. in June 2011.  Winx Club is a co-production with Rainbow S.p.A. and Nickelodeon, and it is produced in Italy.

About Nickelodeon Consumer Products

Nickelodeon Consumer Products manages the world's number-one TV-based licensing business, representing leading properties such as SpongeBob SquarePants and Dora the Explorer, and managing merchandising for Nick Jr., Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, MTVN International, and Spike TV.

Nickelodeon, now in its 32nd year, is the number-one entertainment brand for kids. It has built a diverse, global business by putting kids first in everything it does.  The company includes television programming and production in the United States and around the world, plus consumer products, online, recreation, books, and feature films. Nickelodeon's U.S. television network is seen in more than 100 million households and has been the number-one-rated basic cable network for 16 consecutive years. For more information or artwork, visit http://www.nickpress.com.  Nickelodeon and all related titles, characters and logos are trademarks of Viacom Inc. (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B).

About JAKKS Pacific, Inc.

JAKKS Pacific, Inc. (NASDAQ: JAKK) is a leading designer and marketer of toys and consumer products, with a wide range of products that feature some of the most popular brands and children's toy licenses in the world.  JAKKS' diverse portfolio includes Action Figures, Electronics, Dolls, Dress-Up, Role Play, Halloween Costumes, Kids Furniture, Vehicles, Plush, Art Activity Kits, Seasonal Products, Infant/Pre-School, Construction Toys and Pet Toys sold under various proprietary brands including JAKKS Pacific®, Creative Designs International™, Road Champs®, Funnoodle®, JAKKS Pets™, Plug It In & Play TV Games™, Kids Only!™, Tollytots® and Disguise™. JAKKS is an award-winning licensee of several hundred nationally and internationally known trademarks including Disney®, Nickelodeon®, Warner Bros.®, Ultimate Fighting Championship®, Hello Kitty®, Graco®, Cabbage Patch Kids® and Pokemon®. www.jakks.com

© 2011 JAKKS Pacific, Inc. All rights reserved.

This press release may contain forward-looking statements (within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995) that are based on current expectations, estimates and projections about JAKKS Pacific's business based partly on assumptions made by its management. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Therefore, actual outcomes and results may differ materially from what is expressed or forecasted in such statements due to numerous factors, including, but not limited to, those described above, changes in demand for JAKKS' products, product mix, the timing of customer orders and deliveries, the impact of competitive products and pricing, and difficulties with integrating acquired businesses. The forward-looking statements contained herein speak only as of the date on which they are made, and JAKKS undertakes no obligation to update any of them to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this release.

SOURCE Nickelodeon