LeapFrog And Lionsgate Sign New Global Agreement To Develop, Produce And Distribute Four 'Letter Factory' Movies

EMERYVILLE and SANTA MONICA, Calif. and VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Nov. 5, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- LeapFrog Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE:LF), the leader in educational entertainment, and Lionsgate (NYSE: LGF), a leading global diversified entertainment company, today announced a new partnership to develop, produce and distribute four all-new animated movies to be released in DVD and digital beginning in early 2014. Building on the success of the top-rated LeapFrog library of animated DVDs, the new adventures will feature beloved characters Leap, Lily and Tad as they take children on new learning journeys.  

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"We are thrilled to be growing our DVD entertainment portfolio with Lionsgate as a core strategy to build the LeapFrog brand as the leader in educational entertainment," said John Barbour, chief executive officer at LeapFrog. "Our current video library has been extremely successful and popular with educators, parents and kids, and has received more reviews and higher ratings than the three most popular kids' movies of all time on top e-commerce websites. Plus, our highly-experienced team of learning experts is involved from beginning to end to ensure each video is filled with top-quality educational and engaging experiences consumers expect from LeapFrog."

The new deal will include the creation and production of all-new content by LeapFrog featuring updated characters, new adventures and learning curricula in new subject areas, and extends Lionsgate's distribution rights on the popular LeapFrog catalog.  It will provide Lionsgate with worldwide distribution rights to both physical and digital content from the new productions. In addition LeapFrog has retained the rights to distribute the new content across its own proprietary digital platforms.

"We are excited to extend the successful partnership we have developed with LeapFrog," said Anne Parducci, Executive Vice President of Marketing and Family Entertainment for Lionsgate. "LeapFrog is synonymous with quality education and entertainment that children love and parents support.  With the production of new educational DVDs and the continued distribution of the LeapFrog library, we have the opportunity to further our mission of delivering trusted product to families everywhere." 

The agreement comes on the heels of the recent announcement of two all-new LeapFrog programs, Magnificent Museum of Opposite Words and Adventures in Shapeville Park set to arrive this January. LeapFrog's valuable home entertainment catalog has sold nearly nine million units to date and has consistently been a top-10 children's pre-school franchise.  Since 2008, LeapFrog and Lionsgate have released twelve animated DVDs that feature popular LeapFrog characters including Scout & Friends, Leap, Lily and Tad as they learn about phonics, vocabulary, social skills and science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). The new LeapFrog and Lionsgate deal continues this commitment to provide fun and age-appropriate educational entertainment content for children.

About LeapFrog
LeapFrog Enterprises, Inc. is the leader in educational entertainment for children. LeapFrog's award-winning product portfolio helps millions of children achieve their potential by delivering best-in-class curriculum through engaging content, fun multimedia learning platforms and toys.  The Learning Path, LeapFrog's proprietary online destination for parents and extended family, provides personalized feedback on a child's learning progress and offers product recommendations to enhance each child's learning experience. Through the power of play, LeapFrog's products and curriculum help children of all ages prepare for school and life success.  LeapFrog's products are available in more than 45 countries and have been used by teachers in more than 100,000 U.S. classrooms.  LeapFrog is based in Emeryville, California, and was founded in 1995 by a father who revolutionized technology-based learning solutions to help his child learn how to read. Come see the learning at www.leapfrog.com.  

TM & © 2012 LeapFrog Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved.

About Lionsgate Home Entertainment
Lionsgate is a leading global entertainment company with a strong and diversified presence in motion picture production and distribution, television programming and syndication, home entertainment, family entertainment, digital distribution, new channel platforms and international distribution and sales.

The Company has built a strong television presence in production of primetime cable and broadcast network series, distribution and syndication of programming and an array of channel assets.  Lionsgate currently has 23 shows on 16 networks spanning its primetime production, distribution and syndication businesses, including the multiple Emmy Award-winning Mad Men, the critically acclaimed series Weeds, Nurse Jackie and Boss, the new comedy Anger Management, which has been picked up for another 90 episodes by FX, the upcoming network series Nashville and Next Caller, the syndication successes Tyler Perry's House of Payne, its spinoff Meet the Browns, For Better Or Worse, The Wendy Williams Show, Are We There Yet? and the upcoming Orange Is The New Black, an original series for Netflix.

Its feature film business has been fueled by such recent successes as the blockbuster first installment of The Hunger Games franchise, which has already grossed nearly $700 million at the worldwide box office, The Possession, The Expendables 2, The Cabin in the Woods, Tyler Perry's Madea's Witness Protection and Margin Call.  With the January 2012 acquisition of Summit Entertainment, the Company has now added the blockbuster Twilight Saga, which has grossed more than $2.5 billion at the worldwide box office, to its current slate, giving the Company the two premier young adult franchises in the world.  Recent Summit hits include Red, Letters to Juliet, Knowing and the Academy Award-winning Best Picture, The Hurt Locker.

Lionsgate's home entertainment business is an industry leader in box office-to-DVD and box office-to-VOD revenue conversion rate.  Lionsgate handles a prestigious and prolific library of approximately 15,000 motion picture and television titles that is an important source of recurring revenue and serves as the foundation for the growth of the Company's core businesses.  The Lionsgate and Summit brands remain synonymous with original, daring, quality entertainment in markets around the world.

SOURCE LeapFrog Enterprises, Inc.