``Walking With Dinosaurs'' Set for Theme Park Experience.Business & Entertainment Editors BURBANK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 18, 2001 BBC BBC in full British Broadcasting Corp. Publicly financed broadcasting system in Britain. A private company at its founding in 1922, it was replaced by a public corporation under royal charter in 1927. Worldwide Ltd. and Hyper Entertainment Inc. have entered into a major new partnership to develop a "Walking with Dinosaurs Walking with Dinosaurs was a six-part television series produced by the BBC, narrated by Kenneth Branagh, and first aired in the UK in 1999. The series was subsequently aired in North America on the Discovery Channel, with Branagh's voice replaced with that of Avery Brooks. " theme park attraction. Currently in development, the proposed attraction (scalable from 27,000 square feet) will be licensed to theme park operators around the globe, ready for proposed openings in autumn 2002. BBC Worldwide and Hyper Entertainment are also actively seeking sponsorship partners around the world. The BBC/"Walking with Dinosaurs"-branded attraction will be designed to give customers a "real-life" experience of dinosaurs with an interactive post-ride show. The theme of the ride is based on the BBC's award-winning, international hit TV series "Walking with Dinosaurs," which attracted a global audience of more than 360 million to date. Kevin Harrington Kevin Harrington (born 4 September 1959 in Melbourne, Australia) is an Australian actor who is perhaps best known for his role as David Bishop on the Australian soap opera Neighbours. , director of global marketing, and Alix Tidmarsh, factual marketing and development director for BBC Worldwide, with Wendy Huberman, senior vice president, business development, and Mike Swinney, president and CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. for Hyper Entertainment, brokered the five-year deal. Harrington said: "This deal represents the first of its kind for the BBC, and we are tremendously excited to be working with Hyper Entertainment. Their investment in the project and experience in the market, combined with our brand equity, will ensure the success of the new venture. The new deal takes us a step further towards establishing BBC Worldwide as a major player in the live entertainment business." Swinney added: "We are thrilled to be working with BBC Worldwide on taking an incredible show and creating an exciting attraction that will be fun for all ages. We believe that the success of the `Walking with Dinosaurs' series and the compelling nature of the subject matter will make for an incredibly fun and exciting attraction at premier locations around the world." BBC Worldwide Ltd. is the main commercial arm, and a wholly owned subsidiary Wholly Owned Subsidiary A subsidiary whose parent company owns 100% of its common stock. Notes: In other words, the parent company owns the company outright and there are no minority owners. , of the British Broadcasting Corp. (BBC). The company was formed in 1994 to develop a coordinated approach to the BBC's commercial activities: television, publishing, product licensing, internet and interactive. BBC Worldwide exists to maximize the value of the BBC's program and publishing assets for the benefit of the license payer, and re-invest in public service programming. Hyper Entertainment(TM) Inc., formerly Sony Development Corp., creates, manages and markets intellectual properties through multiple distribution channels including location-based entertainment, licensed product and interactive multimedia. Hyper Entertainment is dedicated to "bringing great stories to life through totally immersive, socially enabling, interactive entertainment experiences." As Sony Development, Hyper's talented team created pioneering urban entertainment centers, including Metreon(R) in San Francisco San Francisco (săn frănsĭs`kō), city (1990 pop. 723,959), coextensive with San Francisco co., W Calif., on the tip of a peninsula between the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay, which are connected by the strait known as the Golden , Mediage in Tokyo and the Music Box in Berlin. Hyper Entertainment holds rights to highly successful intellectual properties, including Jean "Moebius" Giraud's "Airtight Garage The Airtight Garage Of Jerry Cornelius (Le Garage Hermétique de Jerry Cornelius) is a lengthy comic strip work by the artist and writer Moebius (real name Jean Giraud). (R)," which includes "HyperBowl(R)," "Badlands badlands, area of severe erosion, usually found in semiarid climates and characterized by countless gullies, steep ridges, and sparse vegetation. Badland topography is formed on poorly cemented sediments that have few deep-rooted plants because short, heavy showers (R)" and "Quaternia(TM)"; the Beatles' "Yellow Submarine(TM)"; Maurice Sendak's "Where the Wild Things Are(R)" and "In The Night Kitchen(TM)"; and Bag One Arts - The Art of John Lennon Noun 1. John Lennon - English rock star and guitarist and songwriter who with Paul McCartney wrote most of the music for the Beatles (1940-1980) Lennon . "Walking with Dinosaurs," the world's first natural history of dinosaurs, is the most successful documentary series ever shown on the BBC. The TV series was funded through a BBC/Discovery/TV Asahi/ ProSieben/France 3 co-production agreement brokered by BBC Worldwide. The landmark series has become a global hit with an estimated viewing audience of more than 360 million in more than 45 countries around the world and has generated more than 35m GBP GBP In currencies, this is the abbreviation for the British Pound. Notes: The currency market, also known as the Foreign Exchange market, is the largest financial market in the world, with a daily average volume of over US $1 trillion. at retail to date. BBC Worldwide holds all rights to the series and has produced a variety of products including books for both adults and children, home videos, a CD of the soundtrack, an internet site, continuity publishing and a range of merchandise. Tim Haines Tim Haines is a screenwriter and director who is best known for his work on the BBC popular science shows Walking with Dinosaurs, Walking with Beasts, and Walking with Monsters. , series producer of "Walking with Dinosaurs," will be creatively involved in the new project. |
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