ENTERTAINMENT MARKETPLACE
HIT ENTERTAINMENT
BY LAURIE LEAHEY
n 1943, when his son Christopher was Thomas the Tank Engine was the first engine to be illustrated with a confined to bed with the measles, the number (No. 1) in the original books. Rev. Wilbert Awdry kept his son entertained with stories about steam engines. Awdry had no intention of publishing his stories. He just wrote them down on scraps of paper for family use. But after much persistence from his wife, Awdry brought his stories to a publisher and in 1945 The Three Railway Engines was published by Edmund Ward. Thomas the Tank Engine was published the following year and Awdry wrote a new book every year until his 26th and final story Tramway Engines came out in 1972. Christopher Awdry took over the family business in 1983 and began writing new Thomas books, 14 in all. Thomas made the jump from books to TV when Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends debuted on Britain’s ITV television in 1984. In 1989, the series began airing in the U.S. on PBS. It wasn’t long before the show reached viewers in Canada, Japan, and Germany, with a total of 130 countries now airing the Thomas & Friends series. This year marks Thomas the Tank Engine’s 65th anniversary and HIT Entertainment is debuting new online and home entertainment content, licensing and marketing and retail partnerships, and live events. A new series of Thomas & Friends will premiere on PBS in the U.S. Now produced in CGI animation, Thomas & Friends is more vibrant, detailed, and engaging. For the first time, Thomas and his engine friends speak in their own voices (instead of in the narrator’s voice), allowing them to tell their own stories. New characters include Japanese engine Hiro, Victor and Kevin from Sodor Steamworks, and the mischievous steam engine Charlie. HIT will also release the new CG-animated Misty Island Rescue on DVD this fall. Licensed product from new licensees (including Fisher-Price and MEGA Brands), as well as long-time partners (such as Learning Curve and Random House) will incorporate the look and themes of the new show, as well as the classic Thomas look to commemorate everyHiro, introduced on DVD last year, is the first Japanese engine on one’s favorite blue engine.
I
the Island of Sodor.
18 TOYS & FAMILY ENTERTAINMENT FEBRUARY 2010
NEED
TO
KNOW
• Thomas the Tank Engine was not part of the Rev. Wilbert Awdry’s first book. Thomas was introduced in the second book.
• The railway that inspired Awdry’s first stories was the Great Western Line from Paddington to Bristol. • More than 80 million pieces of wooden track, or approximately 3,788 miles, have been sold globally. This is the equivalent of the distance from New York to Paris. • The Thomas replica engine that travels to Day Out With Thomas events weighs as much as three male elephants, about 18 tons.
• One Thomas Wooden Railway engine has been sold every eight seconds for the past 16 years. • More than 200 million Thomas books have been sold worldwide since 1945.