Nickelodeon's Stars Light Up the 84th Annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade® With Miranda Cosgrove, Big Time Rush, Victoria Justice, Dora and SpongeBob

NEW YORK, Nov. 8, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Some of Nickelodeon's most popular stars will participate in the 84th Annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade® on Thursday, Nov. 25.  iCarly star and teen sensation Miranda Cosgrove, one of the voices featured in the animated blockbuster hit film, Despicable Me, will make a special appearance on the Statue of Liberty Float with her co-stars the Minions.  Big Time Rush, whose debut album entered the Billboard 200 at #3, will perform live at the Parade on Hess's Bridge to the Future float.  Victoria Justice, star of Victorious, will perform on the Build-A-Bear Workshop®'s International Cele-bear-ation Clock Tower float. An all-new Dora the Explorer float inspired by the Dora's Christmas Carol Adventure television special, will be unveiled at the Parade and will feature a performance by India.Arie.  SpongeBob SquarePants will make his sixth appearance as the only "square" balloon.  The Samurai Power Rangers, whose new series is scheduled to air on Nickelodeon early next year, will make their first public appearance when they walk with the Planet Earth balloon. Additionally, Po the Panda, star of DreamWorks Animation SKG, Inc.'s (Nasdaq: DWA) hit feature film Kung Fu Panda, will make his balloon debut at the Parade.

"Nickelodeon has a long history of successful collaborations with Macy's and we're very excited to bring so many of our incredible characters and talent to the Parade this year," said Pam Kaufman, Chief Marketing Officer, Nickelodeon/MTVN Kids and Family Group.  "Watching the Parade is a Thanksgiving Day tradition for millions of families across the country and it's the perfect event for our iconic characters and young stars who appeal to the entire family – from preschoolers, to tweens and teens, to their parents who enjoy the Nickelodeon shows with them."

Nickelodeon's participation in the 84th Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade includes:

• Star of Nickelodeon's iCarly and teen sensation Miranda Cosgrove will be riding aboard the Statue of Liberty float accompanied by the endearingly mischievous Minions, in support of Despicable Me's Blu-ray/DVD release on Dec. 14.  The mega-hit series, iCarly, follows Carly Shay (Cosgrove) and her two best friends as they create a webcast for and about kids their age while grappling with everyday tween problems and adventures.  iCarly ranks as Nickelodeon's number-one show with K6-11 and T9-14 and is the number-one live-action series with kids 2-11 in 2010.  Cosgrove is signed to Columbia Records, as part of the partnership between Nickelodeon and Sony Music, and her first solo CD, Sparks Fly, debuted at #8 on the Billboard chart in April 2010.  In Universal's animated feature Despicable Me, Cosgrove voiced the character of Margo, opposite Steve Carell and Kristen Wiig.  

• Nickelodeon/Columbia Records group Big Time Rush — Kendall Schmidt, James Maslow, Carlos Pena, Logan Henderson — will perform their current hit "Til I Forget About You" on the Bridge to the Future float.  The song is off their newly released debut album, BTR, which entered the Billboard Top 200 chart at #3 with over 66,000 units sold and features original songs from the hit Nickelodeon comedy series, Big Time Rush.  Produced in partnership with Sony Music, the series follows four best friends from Minnesota as they trade in their hockey sticks and parkas for a chance at music superstardom in Los Angeles.  Big Time Rush had the highest-rated and most-watched live-action series premiere with kids, tweens and total viewers (6.8 million) in the history of the network.  

• Nickelodeon's newest rising teen star, Victoria Justice, will perform "Freak the Freak Out," an original song from her hit comedy Victorious, on the Build-A-Bear Workshop®'s float.  On the series, Justice plays the musically-talented "Tori Vega" who unexpectedly finds herself navigating life as a student at an elite performing arts high school.  Currently in production on its second season, Victorious—a co-production with Nickelodeon and Sony Music—is created and exec-produced by TV hitmaker Dan Schneider (iCarly, Drake & Josh, Zoey 101).  Justice first joined Nickelodeon in 2005 when she was cast as a series regular on the network's Emmy-nominated hit Zoey 101.  A triple threat, Justice acted, sang and danced in the 2009 Nickelodeon movie-musical Spectacular! and most recently, headlined her first-ever television movie, The Boy Who Cried Werewolf.  

• Dora the Explorer is returning to the parade on a brand new float themed to the holiday special, Dora's Christmas Carol Adventure. Joining Dora will be three-time Grammy Award-winning artist India.Arie, who will perform the Emmy-nominated song, "Nochebuena." The float will feature Dora and a 12-foot tall Christmas tree decorated with dazzling ornaments and very special gifts.  Dora and her friends will showcase their most recent adventure, where they teach their friend Swiper the true spirit of the holidays.

• Pop-culture icon and eternal optimist SpongeBob SquarePants will make his sixth appearance when he takes a special holiday trip to soak up the sights and sounds of the New York City. Based on the number-one animated kids' show on TV, the SpongeBob balloon will absorb more than 16,200 cubic feet of helium to fly down the route.  Although it may appear square, the SpongeBob balloon isn't square at all; it is actually a single chamber sphere, made intricately square-shaped by more than 600 internal tie-lines. Looking dapper as always, SpongeBob stands at 62-feet high, 38-feet wide and 28-feet long.

• The most successful kids' action series returns with a bang when the Samurai Power Rangers descend upon the streets of New York. Utilizing their Samurai powers, which give them control over the elements of Fire, Water, Sky, Forest, and Earth, the Rangers will embark on their first journey together as they escort the Planet Earth balloon through the streets of Manhattan. The parade marks the first-ever U.S. appearance of the five Samurai Power Rangers as they get ready for the premiere of their new series, Power Rangers Samurai, which will air on Nickelodeon and Nicktoons in North America, premiering in early 2011.  After the Parade, fans can tune in to Nickelodeon for a special first look at the new series.

• In the fall of 2011, Nickelodeon will premiere Kung Fu Panda: The Series, based on DreamWorks Animation's hit feature film, Kung Fu Panda, which has grossed more than $630 million at the worldwide box office. The new TV series will chronicle the further adventures of Po, who is aided by his mentor Shifu and the Furious Five: Tigress, Mantis, Crane, Monkey and Viper. At more than 16,000 cubic feet of helium, Po the Panda is truly a larger-than-life master of the ancient Chinese art of Kung Fu. Designed by the magicians at Macy's Parade Studio, Po was created with the help of more than half a mile of fabric and is covered in 17 gallons of paint. For his Parade debut, Po the Panda measures 42-feet tall, 46-feet long, and 34-feet wide, giving him the scale to take giant leaps down the route, poised to deliver his signature martial arts moves along the way. DreamWorks Animation plans to release Kung Fu Panda 2 in theaters on May 27, 2011.

About the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

With more than 50 million viewers across the country and more than 3.5 million spectators that line up along the streets of New York City each year, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is a national icon that has grown into a world-famous holiday event. For more than 80 years, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade has marked the official start of the holiday season. Growing in size and scale, the Parade proudly marches down a more than 2-mile route in New York City with more than 8,000 participants in tow including Macy's employees, their families, celebrities, athletes, clowns and dance groups spreading holiday cheer. The Parade also features America's best marching bands, fabulous floats and Macy's signature giant helium character balloons. For more information on the Macy's Parade please visit  www.macys.com/parade or call the Parade hotline at (212) 494-4495.

About Nickelodeon:

Nickelodeon, now in its 31st 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 www.nickpress.com. Nickelodeon and all related titles, characters and logos are trademarks of Viacom Inc. (NYSE: VIA - News, VIA.B - News).

SOURCE Nickelodeon