Nicktoons Announces First-Ever Deal with Xilam Animation for New Series, Shuriken School

Nicktoons Announces First-Ever Deal with Xilam Animation for New Series, Shuriken School

NEW YORK, March 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Nicktoons, Nickelodeon's digital channel for kids' favorite animated hits, will partner with Paris-based studio, Xilam Animation, for Shuriken School, a quirky playground comedy with a martial arts twist about a boy's adventures at Ninja school, it was announced today by Keith Dawkins, Vice President and General Manager, Nicktoons. Produced by Xilam and based on an original idea by Zinkia Entertainment, the series is made up of 26 half-hour shows and will air on Nicktoons in 2006.

"We're thrilled about our first-ever partnership with Xilam Animation and having such a fun and humorous show like Shuriken School on our air," commented Dawkins. "We've already got a roster of hits and now we're serving our fans even more fresh, new and cutting-edge animation."

Shuriken School's unique blend of Japanese and European design creates a unique, stand-out animation style with intensive use of digital 2-D animation, combining all the detail of high-quality illustration with exciting action sequences. Targeted to 6-11 year-olds, the series tells the story of 10 year- old Eizan Kaburagi's rite of passage in his first year at Ninja school, Shuriken.

The action takes place in the fictional town of Tokirohama, a melting pot of eastern and western cultures. In many ways Eizan is a normal kid with big dreams, hopes and ambitions. He hangs out with his best friends Jimmy B. and Okuni; they pick conflicts with kids from the rival school, Katana, and have fun and drum up mischief. However, Shuriken School is not a normal type of school. It is a crazy place where the implausible and improbable happen: Children learn how to melt into the walls, fly over rooftops, disappear in a cloud of smoke and move as stealthily as an invisible cat. Teaching methods at the school are unorthodox and absurd things can and do happen.

"We are very glad to be back in U.S. television, especially with such an influential broadcast partner like Nicktoons putting its full support behind our series," said Marc du Pontavice, Chairman, Xilam Animation.

About Xilam Animation

Xilam Animation is a Paris-based, independent audiovisual and multimedia production company that creates, produces and distributes worldwide, top- quality animated content both 2D and 3D CGI for TV, film and video game formats. Xilam has produced internationally successful animated series for TV including Oggy and the Cockroaches, Ratz, The New Adventures of Lucky Luke and Space Goofs (aka Home to Rent) and has confirmed its commitment to cutting- edge animation technologies with the completion of Kaena -- The Prophecy, the first European feature-length computer-animated 3D film.

About Nicktoons

Nicktoons' 24-hour schedule features a roster of hits that have defined kids' and animation lovers' TV for more than 10 years, including The Angry Beavers, Rugrats, Ahhh! Real Monsters, SpongeBob SquarePants, The Fairly OddParents and As Told By Ginger. Nicktoons is part of the MTV Networks expanded suite of channels available for digital distribution. The channels include MTV Hits, MTV Jams, Nicktoons and VH1 Mega Hits, expanding and strengthening MTV Networks' digital offerings to thirteen services.

Source: Nickelodeon

CONTACT: Nancy Muldoon, +1-212-846-7491, or Nicole Mazer, +1-818-736-3613, both for Nickelodeon

Web site: http://www.nick.com/

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