Virtual Goods Get a Hollywood Makeover
Habbo, the Leading Virtual World for Teens, to Create Virtual Goods Inspired By Three Paramount
Pictures Titles
LOS ANGELES, January 29, 2008 - Habbo, the largest online virtual world for teens,
today with Paramount Pictures Digital Entertainment, announced a licensing agreement to create
virtual goods based on titles including “The Spiderwick Chronicles,” “Beowulf”* and “Mean Girls.”
The deal will provide Habbo merchandising rights throughout the U.S. and Canada for all three
properties. The partnership marks one of the first of its kind between a major motion picture
studio and a virtual world commodity.
Starting in February with the upcoming fantasy-adventure title, “The Spiderwick Chronicles,”
Habbo will introduce into their North American community of more than 1.8 million teens items that
include themed apparel to accessorize avatars, virtual furniture and accessories, as well as other
virtual goods based on the movie. Habbo will follow up by producing themed virtual
merchandise for the popular, previously released titles, “Beowulf”* and “Mean Girls” in the
upcoming months.
“The Habbo audience demands that their community reflect today’s real world pop culture
entertainment landscape,” said Teemu Huuhtanen, EVP, Habbo business and President, North
America. “By establishing a licensing deal with a leading studio like Paramount Pictures
Digital Entertainment, we are able to produce themed virtual goods relevant to the movies our teen
audience is watching, while simultaneously implementing impactful promotional campaigns for the
studio.”
“Many of our movie properties naturally lend themselves to unique and innovative
opportunities in the traditional, digital and virtual worlds,” said Alex Carloss, Executive Vice
President & GM of Worldwide Digital Distribution for Paramount Pictures Digital
Entertainment. “This agreement allows us to access Habbo’s exceptional virtual community and
built-in audience base where users can extend and enhance the film experience with a suite of
themed-virtual goods.”
There are currently Habbo communities in 31 countries on five continents. To date, over
86 million Habbo characters have been created and more than 8 million unique users worldwide visit
Habbo each month. (source: Google Analytics)
For more information email: press@sulake.com.
About Paramount Pictures Digital Entertainment:
Paramount Pictures Corporation (PPC), a global producer and distributor of filmed
entertainment, is a unit of Viacom (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), a leading content company with prominent and
respected film, television and digital entertainment brands. The company's labels include
Paramount Pictures, Paramount Vantage, Paramount Classics, MTV Films, Nickelodeon Movies and
DreamWorks Studios. PPC operations also include Paramount Pictures Digital Entertainment,
Paramount Home Entertainment, Paramount Pictures International, Paramount Licensing Inc., Paramount
Studios, and Worldwide Television Distribution.
* Produced by Paramount Pictures and Shangri-La Entertainment
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