MIPTV: Mattel Creations Unveils New Series, SalesMIPTV: Mattel Creations Unveils New Series, Sales

Mattel unveils “Fireman Sam” feature-length special and multiple “Bob the Builder” sales.

Mattel Creations, Mattel’s new content division arm, has unveiled a new 60-minute, feature-length special for “Fireman Sam,” as well as new international deals for “Bob the Builder.”

First, the new feature-length “Fireman Sam” special, titled “Fireman Sam: Alien Alert,” will introduce a new location and characters, and include David Tennant as a guest voice.

“Fireman Sam: Alien Hunt” will see the town of Pontypandy over-excited at the arrival of Tennant’s character, an alien-hunter/TV-presenter, and the chance of being featured on his show. With UFO sightings and mild peril on the rise, Fireman Sam is determined to figure out what is causing the mysterious events.

The special will be distributed worldwide by DHX Media, who earlier this year struck an exclusive deal with Mattel to distribute “Fireman Sam” content worldwide.

The series has recently struck deals with European broadcasters Cartoonito (U.K.), RTE Ireland, RTL Telekids (Netherlands) and VTM Kazoom Medialaan (Belgium).

“Fireman Sam: Alien Alert” is currently being produced by HIT Entertainment, a subsidiary of Mattel, and has been animated by Beijing-based Xing Xing Digital Corporation.

Next, Mattel Creations has also signed several international deals for its re-booted “Bob the Builder” series.

“Bob the Builder” will now broadcast on Australia FTA 10/11, Dreamia-Panda in Portugal, NRK–Super in Norway, Karusel in Russia and ATV-Minika in Turkey.

The new deals follow Europe’s first season, which recently launched on France 5, Z@pplin in the Netherlands, Turner in the U.K., Super RTL in Germany and MiniMini in Poland.

The new “Bob the Builder” special is being also being produced by HIT Entertainment and is distributed by DHX Media.

MIPTV will host a keynote session featuring Richard Dickson, president and chief operating officer of Mattel today at 5:15p.m. local time in the Grand Auditorium.

The toy company also just announced that it is launching a new centralized content division focused on leveraging its portfolio of brands across TV and film.