Oct 16, 2014

The Nut Job has currently grossed $110,318,071 USD Worldwide!

 For the most up-to-date totals, please visit Box Office Mojo: www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=nutjob.htm

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Oct 1, 2014

After becoming the biggest box office opener ever for an indie animated feature, The Nut Job has now accumulated
$108,406,719 USD worldwide.

For the most up-to-date totals please visit Box Office Mojo:
www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=main&id=nutjob.htm

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‘The Nut Job’ Uncovers Its $100M Worldwide Gross

by Anita Busch
Sept 24, 2014
deadline.com/2014/09/the-nut-job-uncovers-its-100m-worldwide-gross-840503/

Every once in a while a little film comes along and just continues slow and steady and before you know it, out of nowhere it amasses $100M at the box office. The Nut Job, the 3D animated film marketed and distributed by Open Road Films domestically (with The Weinstein Co. handling international sales) has done just that. First, The Nut Job became the biggest box office opener ever for an indie animated feature when it opened to $19.4M earlier this year. And now, a nice little discovery … it has inched past $107M worldwide with some international territories yet to open.

The picture was produced by Gulfstream Pictures with Redrover Co., Ltd. and ToonBox Entertainment Ltd. After grossing $64.3M domestically … thanks to a killer job by Open Road’s marketing and distribution departments, headed by Jason Cassidy and Elliot Slutzky (respectively),  it went onto gross another $42.8M in overseas markets. Some of the stronger markets for the animated family fare were the UK, France, Italy, Russia, South Korea and in the Hispanic markets of Spain, Mexico and Venezuela.

A sequel — The Nut Job 2 — is currently in production now from a script by Gulfstream Pictures’ Scott Bindley. Open Road is eyeing a January 2016 release date. The first one featured the voices of Liam Neeson, Katherine Heigl, Will Arnett, Maya Rudolph, Brendan Fraser, Gabriel Iglesias and Jeff Dunham.  

The Nut Job was directed by Peter Lepeniotis from a screenplay by Lorne Cameron and Lepeniotis. It was produced by Wookyung Jung and Graham Moloy and executive produced by Daniel Woo, Hong Kim, Jay Ahn, and Mike Karz and Bill Bindley. 

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For more information please contact:

Nahleena Tye
Marketing Manager
n.tye@toonboxent.com

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Vote for ToonBox in the Production category!  

hot50judging.kidscreen.com/vote/category?category=474&e=BPfb4PuIrnbJHb2N3Okh9baI4omyKlpw

Scroll down and select ToonBox:

  …. and VOTE!

For more information please contact:

Nahleena Tye
Marketing Manager
n.tye@toonboxent.com

ToonBox was a proud supporter of the OIAF (Ottawa International Animation Festival) that took place on Sept 17-21, 2014. This is the third consecutive year that ToonBox has supported this festival that is geared to foster the development and growth of the animation talent and industry within Canada. The Ottawa animation festival is an artistic, commercial and educational forum where information, meetings, and material can be shared and exchanged.

For more information please contact:
Nahleena Tye
Marketing Manager
n.tye@toonboxent.com

Maker’s Cartoonium Snaps Up The Beet Party

September 17, 2014 by Jeremy Dickson 
kidscreen.com/2014/09/17/makers-cartoonium-snaps-up-the-beet-party/ 

Canada’s ToonBox Entertainment and South Korea-based Redrover have secured a U.S. distribution deal with Disney’s Maker Studios to air musical interstitial series The Beet Party on Maker’s Cartoonium channel. The deal continues the cross-platform success of the animated comedy series which has aired around the world on nets including Disney Junior (Latin America), SVT (Sweden), YLE (Finland), ABC (Australia), BBC Kids and Yoopa! (Canada), as well as on Nintendo 3DS in Europe and across LG Smart TVs globally. Beet Party follows the out-of-the-fridge adventures of five beatboxing beets that find hilarious and inventive ways to explore the greater world that is the kitchen. The pick-up comes on the heels of Toronto-headquartered ToonBox’s expansion into the US with the opening of a new L.A.-based office in July. After partnering on 3D stereoscopic TV series Bolts & Blip, ToonBox and Redrover found recent success with their animated 3D film The Nut Job, which posted the biggest opening (more than $25 million) of all time in the U.S. for an independent animated film. It’s gone on to gross more than $105 million worldwide.

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Disney Exec Says Maker will be the Next Marvel


September 12, 2014 by Todd Longwell
kidscreen.com/2014/09/12/disney-exec-says-maker-could-be-the-next-marvel/#ixzz3DXB3DoUa

Until now, the Walt Disney Company hasn’t been too vocal about the strategy behind its purchase of Maker Studios in March, which could cost up to US$950 million. But during an appearance at Goldman Sachs Communacopia Conference in New York City on Wednesday, Disney senior EVP and CFO Jay Rasulo laid it all out.

In its initial stages, “we believe it’s mostly a distribution play,” Rasulo told moderator Drew Borst. “But over time, we believe that Maker will be a big studio just like the Marvel Studio and just like the Lucasfilm Studio (acquisitions) and just like Disney Animation. It will be a content creator for the company.”

Rasulo went on to point out that while Disney’s vast content library has been monetized extensively via SVOD, it hasn’t scratched the surface with short-form. He said the company believes that Maker will be the driving force in taking it to the next step, reformatting and reusing the company’s content, whether it comes from ESPN, Disney Channel, local ABC stations or the ABC network.

Borst asked Rasulo about the commonly held belief that when companies shift content to their own sites so they can keep all the ad revenue to themselves, traffic drops off so dramatically that they’re forced back into the arms of YouTube.

Rasulo said that Disney’s own off-YouTube portal, Maker.tv, is doing “pretty well.”

“We’re selling ads pretty well into that space,” he added, “But, of course, the behemoth right now in the digital advertising that goes into short-form is clearly on YouTube [which splits the ad revenue], but we don’t see that as either a short-term or a long-term obstruction to profitability for Maker. The split still allows you to have a lot of revenue, and that revenue is growing incredibly rapidly, and the pie is gigantic.”

Rasulo said the size of Maker’s pie has grown since Disney’s purchase, going from four billion to nine billion monthly views.

For more information about ToonBox Entertainment please contact:
Nahleena Tye
Marketing Manager
n.tye@toonboxent.com

Atlantyca Entertainment Picks Up Distribution for Bolts and Blip 

www.worldscreen.com/articles/display/2014-9-27-kids-atlantycaentertainment-boltsandblip
Pub. September 29, 2014

MILAN: Atlantyca Entertainment has acquired the distribution rights for the children’s animated series Bolts and Blip from the Korea-based animation outfit Redrover Co. Atlantyca will be distributing the show in Italy, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Czech Republic, Hungary and Romania. The series targets children 7 to 11. It is a comic-action adventure set on the moon in the year 2080. The show follows two misfits, Bolts and Blip, who accidentally find themselves as members of the Luna League’s last-placed team The Thunderbolts and are now out to show the fans what they can do. Bolts and Blip has already been sold to CANAL+ in France, Clan TVE in Spain, Nickelodeon in Benelux, ABC in Australia, KBS in Korea, TELETOON in Canada and Cartoon Network in Latin America, among others.

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For more information please contact:
Nahleena Tye
Marketing Manager
n.tye@toonboxent.com

The Beet Party – Uprooted Game is Now Available!

The gaming students at George Brown College had a chance to further develop their skills as they created a medley of games for The Beet Party.

Visit itunes and download Beet Party: Uprooted: The Game for free: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/beet-party-uprooted-the-game/id899687992?mt=8

For more information please contact:
Nahleena Tye
Marketing Manager
n.tye@toonboxent.com

Sept 2, 2014
The CNE’s Exploring Animation was a hit! Thank you to all who had a chance to visit it!

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Aug, 15, 2014
ToonBox Entertainment is part of the CNE’s  Exploring Animation Exhibit.

When you visit the CNE this year, visit The Arts, Crafts and Hobbies Pavilion in the Queen Elizabeth Building. You’ll get to see exclusive and limited material from The Nut Job, Bolts & Blip, and The Beet Party.

For any inquiries, please contact:
Nahleena Tye
Marketing Manager
n.tye@toonboxent.com

July 22, 2014 by Daniela Fisher

Following the success of its animated film The Nut Job, Toronto, Canada-based studio ToonBox Entertainment is expanding its operations south of the border.

The studio’s new US office is situated in downtown Los Angeles. ToonBox has also set up a working division in the same building as development and production partner Gulfstream Pictures, based out of the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank, California.

This expansion comes on the heels of ToonBox’s success with its animated 3D film The Nut Job. Launched in January of this year, the Surly Squirrel film has grossed over US$77 million worldwide. Revenue for the film is expected to grow, with global release dates scheduled through to the end of the year.

The new US locations will also help ToonBox as the studio continues to develop new features. Its second animated film Spark is due to wrap up at the end of this year, hitting theatres in 2015. The studio is also collaborating closely with writers and directors as it works on a sequel and TV series for The Nut Job. 

Also in the works, ToonBox has teamed up with Gulfstream and Warner Bros. for the animated feature Pecking Order. The new film is currently in development, and is being incubated in ToonBox’s Animation Lab.

2014 DIRECTORS GUILD OF CANADA AWARDS NOMINEES ANNOUNCED

TORONTO – June 19, 2014 - The DGC is delighted to announce the 2014 DGC Awards nominees.  Selected from over 250 submissions, the nominees in 19 categories represent a cross section of the industry’s outstanding talent working in the screen-based industry.

The Awards will be presented at the annual Gala on Saturday, October 25, 2014 at The Carlu in Toronto. Hosted by Arisa Cox with special guests soon to be announced, the 13^th edition of the DGC Awards promises to be a big one.  The evening will feature a special Nominees’ reception prior to the Gala.

 “I am proud of the nominees and what their collective body of work brings to this country’s industry as well as to the Guild as a whole,” stated Tim Southam, National President, DGC. “It is a privilege for the Guild to have an opportunity to celebrate such outstanding talent every year through the DGC Awards, and this year looks more exciting than ever.”

THE NUT JOB IS UP FOR:

BEST SOUND EDITING – FEATURE FILM

A Fighting Man – Paul Germann, Barry Gilmore, Krystin Hunter, Dave Rose and Jane Tattersall

The Art of the Steal – Tom Bjelic, Mark Gingras, Katie Halliday, Dale Lennon, John Liang, Jimmy Robb and Adam Stein

The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones – Kevin Banks, Stephen Barden, Alex Bullick, Nelson Ferreira, J. R. Fountain, Rose Gregoris, Jill Purdy, Nathan Robitaille and Tyler Whitham

The Nut Job – Claire Dobson, David Evans, Paul Germann, David McCallum and Mark Shnuriwsky

Click here to find out more: www.dgc.ca/en/news_detail.cfm?news_id=338

For more information about ToonBox, please contact:
Nahleena Tye
Marketing Manager
n.tye@toonboxent.com