4Kids Entertainment (NYSE: KDE), a producer of children's content that engages distribution and licensing opportunities, has not been a great stock idea. Although shares of the company have perked up as of late, the longer-term trend hasn't been so encouraging. Let's see if the first-quarter numbers might change your mind.

Well, I don't know about your mind, but my mind so far hasn't been changed. Revenues declined by 32%. There was a net loss of 15 cents per diluted share. Now, granted, that was far better than the net loss last year, which calculated out to 48 cents per diluted share. I give the company credit for narrowing the loss, but something tells me that I don't necessarily want to invest hard-earned money in a business that is based on the fickle nature of a very young target audience.

Continue reading 4Kids Entertainment remains risky after Q1 loss

4Kids Entertainment remains risky after Q1 loss originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 12 May 2009 10:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

So, Disney (NYSE: DIS) shareholders are bracing themselves for another big weekend at the box office. Remember when we were bracing ourselves for the release of the Jonas Brothers concert film? Yeah, that failure. I certainly hope Miley Cyrus does a lot better with her project.

But I have my doubts. Hannah Montana: The Movie opened Friday at over 3,100 domestic theaters. I just don't feel the kind of buzz I had hoped to be feeling at this point surrounding the movie. I don't have the sensation that I've been inundated by the feature's brand equity.

Then again, I'm not the target demographic. Perhaps Disney is reaching all tweens as we speak via the platforms that they frequent and I'm just not aware of it. Tough to tell. Nevertheless, I've seen some of the commercials, and they don't seem overwhelmingly exciting.

Continue reading Is Disney's Hannah Montana movie going to fail this weekend?

Is Disney's Hannah Montana movie going to fail this weekend? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 10 Apr 2009 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The police in Boston probably should have consulted with a college student, or any male between the ages of 18 to 24 before freaking out over a publicity stunt for the upcoming move featuring the Aqua Teen Hunger Force.

Granted the marketing campaign wasn't well executed and was in questionable taste. Then again, so is the show that airs on Turner Broadcasting's Cartoon Network (Turner is a division of Time Warner Inc.(NYSE:TWX)).

The Aqua Teens are a fun-loving trio featuring talking fast food. There's the blowhard disposable cup Master Shake, the child-like wad of meat named Meatwad, and the leader Frylock , who is an order of French fries. At first, they were supposed to be detectives but they bagged that and now basically hang out all day in their run-down house. They regularly torment Carl, their gross, hairy next-door neighbor. Aliens also drop by from time to time, including the Moonites, obnoxious aliens who live on the moon and like to party. These were the characters who were featured in the ill-advised marketing campaign.

Cartoon Network is hugely popular for Turner, thanks to the Aqua Teens and the other shows featured on the late-night "Adult Swim" lineup. In particular, they are popular with the elusive young male demographic that is hard for advertisers to target. Most episodes of the Aqua Teens attract big-named advertisers.

Adult Swim has revived Family Guy and Futurama after Fox gave up on the programs, which is a remarkable. The channel obviously feels bad about the trouble it caused. There's an apology posted on the Web site. I'm sure Time Warner will make amends to Boston and other cities caught up in the hysteria. Then, the controversy will blow over and the movie will come out and will be a big hit.

Furor over Aqua Teen publicity stunt will soon blow over for Time Warner originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 01 Feb 2007 11:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.