Winx Club (franchise)
Winx Club | |
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File:Winx Club Logo.png | |
Created by | Iginio Straffi |
Original work | Winx Club |
Owner | |
Print publications | |
Comics | |
Films and television | |
Film(s) | |
Television series | |
Theatrical presentations | |
Play(s) | |
Miscellaneous | |
Theme park attraction(s) | Rainbow MagicLand |
Winx Club is a fantasy franchise centered on the long-running television series of the same name created by Iginio Straffi. It began development in 1999 and premiered as a television show in 2004. Since its creation, the franchise has expanded to include three theatrically-released films, four TV movies, two spin-off series, a comic book serial, lines of fashion dolls and clothing[1], books[2], multiple platform video games[3] and other merchandise[4].
Television series
Winx Club is an animated television series[5] created, directed and produced by Iginio Straffi[6][5] and his company Rainbow S.p.A.[2][3]. The series is the first Italian animated cartoon to be sold in the U.S.[2] It is aimed toward children between the ages of 5 and 10[7].
Publications
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/dc/Winx.jpg/220px-Winx.jpg)
In Italy, there is an ongoing monthly comic book in publication, Winx Club, whose storyline is connected to that of the television series, but not canon or directly involved with the seasons. The first twelve issues are adaptations of the first season's episodes, while the further stories focus on other adventures. Over 150 issues have been published since 2004.
In July 2012, the Winx Club comic books were published across several 96-page volumes in America. Random House and Titan Magazines published magazines, junior novels and other books based on the show in America[8].
Films
A CGI feature film, Winx Club: The Secret of the Lost Kingdom, was announced in 2006 and released in Italy on 30 November 2007. The plot of the film revolves around Bloom's origins and takes place after the events of the first three season[9]. The official website for the film covers several markets, with release dates and other information.
At the Licensing Expo 2008 in New York, Rainbow announced the production of a second film, slated to premiere in 2010. It was later announced in spring 2010 that it is titled Winx Club 3D: Magical Adventure and it is Italy's first 3D movie, with a release date of October 29[10]. A 10-minute promo reel had been shown at the Giffoni Film Festival in July[11].
Rainbow announced the production of a third film in 2012 and it had been confirmed in 2014, when the official Italian Winx Club website allowed the fans to vote for its title in an online poll, with the title "The Mystery of the Abyss" being chosen. The film was released theatrically in Italy on 4 September 2014.
It was announced in 11 February 2016 that Warner Bros. has teamed up with Rainbow to produce a live action movie of Winx Club[12].
Theater
In September 2005, the "Winx Power Show" began in Italy[13][14]. After a successful tour in Italy, it also expanded to Belgium and the Netherlands. November 2008 also saw the launch of "Winx on Ice", an ice show starring Carolina Kostner[15]. In December 2014, the "Winx Club Musical Show" began in Italy to celebrate the series' tenth anniversary. A Christmas version of it, was proposed in December 2015, with the title "Winx Club Musical Show: Chistmas Tour".
Video games
Winx Club games have been released for the PlayStation 2, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, Nintendo 3DS, Wii and Windows. Most of the Winx Club games are published by Konami; Winx Club: Believix in You was published by Namco Bandai Games as well as Winx Club: Magical Fairy Party was published by D3Publisher.
There are currently 21 retail video games based on Winx Club.
- Winx Club (Windows, PlayStation 2, Game Boy Advance)
- Winx Club: Join the Club (PlayStation Portable)
- Winx Club: The Quest for the Codex (Nintendo DS, Game Boy Advance)
- Winx Club: Mission Enchantix (Nintendo DS)
- Winx Club: Secret Diary 2009 (Nintendo DS)
- Dance Dance Revolution Winx Club (Wii)
- Winx Club: Your Magical Universe (Nintendo DS)
- Winx Club: Believix in You (Nintendo DS)
- Winx Club: RockStars (Nintendo DS)
- Winx Club: Magical Fairy Party (Nintendo DS)
- Winx Club: Saving Alfea (Nintendo DS, Nintendo 3DS)
- Winx Club: Love & Pet (iOS)
- Winx Club: Puzzle Pet (iOS)
- Winx Card Game (iOS)
- Winx Party (iOS, Android)
- Winx Sirenix Power (iOS, Android)
- Winx Sirenix Magic Oceans (iOS, Android)
- Winx Club: Rock the World (iOS, Android)
- Winx Fairy School (iOS, Android)
- Winx Fairy Artist (iOS, Android)
- Winx Bloomix Quest (iOS, Android)
- Winx Club: The Mystery of the Abyss (iOS, Android, Kindle Fire)
- Winx Regal Fairy (iOS, Android)
- Winx Club: Mythix Fashion Wings (iOS, Android)
- Winx Club: Alfea Butterflix Adventures (iOS, Android, Xbox ONE)
- Winx Read & Play (iOS, Android)
- World of Winx: Selfie Me (iOS, Android)
- World of Winx: Dress Up (iOS, Android)
Merchandise
The Winx Club dolls were the "third most popular dolls in the world" and merchandise sales were over 1 billion euros per year as of 2007[16], as of 2010, the media franchise has generated a total of $2.5 billion in retail sales[17]. In Summer 2012, Winx Club dolls produced by Jakks Pacific starting hitting shelves ahead of its Fall 2012 release date. The presell of the Winx Club dolls were at Toys "R" Us and sold out in 4 days[18].
DVD releases
In Italy, Mondo Home Entertainment released the first two seasons with both Italian and English audio tracks, the English audio being Cinélume's dub. In 2007, 01 Distribution released the third season on DVD, but these discs contained the Italian audio only. Later, 01 Distribution re-released the first two season on DVD without the English audio. Tridimensional also released the first three seasons of the show on Italian newsstands along with the Winx Club magazine. These releases contained the original Italian, English, French and Dutch audio. The fourth season contained only Italian audio. Box sets of all four seasons were released by Tridimensional with the same amount of volumes and content that were released separately on newsstands.
In America, 4Kids Entertainment held the licensing rights to the series. The entire first season of the Winx Club, first released on 12 July 2005, was available as a five-disc collection until 2008. The first DVD of the second season, Layla and the Pixies, was released in 2007, and the last volume, Battle for the Codex, came out in September 2007 and both are still available. The first DVD of the third season, The Princess Ball, was released on 27 January 2009[19]; however, the release of the other half, Fire & Flame, has been indefinitely suspended due to the fact that 4Kids' licence expired in 2009[20].
Other ventures
In June 2014, it was announced an agreement with China Central Television for the construction of a theme park dedicated to Winx Club in Beijing[21].
References
- ^ Ltd., Toys "R" Us (Canada). "A magical morning to celebrate Winx fairy launch at Toys"R"Us, Canada". www.prnewswire.com.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ a b c "Iginio Straffi". www.iginiostraffi.com.
- ^ a b "Konami, 4kids Entertainment and Rainbow S.p.A. Announce Winx Club License Agreement - GameZone". 4 May 2012.
- ^ "DVD Review: Winx Club: The Secret of the Lost Kingdom Movie - Inside Pulse". insidepulse.com.
- ^ a b "chacha.com". www.chacha.com.
- ^ http://www.iginiostraffi.com/
- ^ Rainbow S.p.A. "Winx Club". Retrieved 2006-11-15.
- ^ "Titan Comics launches Winx Club Magazine".
- ^ Rainbow S.p.A. "Feature film". Retrieved 2006-11-12.
- ^ Vivarelli, Nick (2010-03-15). "Medusa to release 3D 'Adventure'". Variety.
- ^ Vivarelli, Nick (2010-03-18). "Valley forges ahead". Variety.
- ^ Busch, Anita (10 February 2016). ""Winx Club" To Get Big Screen & Live-Action Treatment Via Hollywood Gang". deadline.com. Retrieved 29 November 2016.
- ^ Rainbow S.p.A. "Winx Power Show". Retrieved 2006-11-15.
- ^ Winx Club On Tour. "Winx Club on Tour". Retrieved 2006-11-15.
- ^ Winx On Ice. "Winx On Ice". Retrieved 2008-05-20.
- ^ "WINX FAIRIES HEAD TO CANNES". Web.archive.org. 2007-09-30. Archived from the original on 2007-09-30. Retrieved 2012-05-09.
- ^ "TV Kids Rainbow Anniversary MIPCOM 2010". issuu.com. September 21, 2010. p. 4. Retrieved January 10, 2017.
- ^ "Michael's Winx Club! - The NEWS Page! Press Releases and More!". www.michaelsfavorites2.com.
- ^ "Winx Club". Amazon.com. Retrieved 2012-05-09.
- ^ "Winx Club:Fire & Flame: Movies and TV". Amazon.com. Retrieved 2012-05-09.
- ^ "Le Winx in Cina con Renzi: a Shanghai sorgerà un parco divertimenti". Il Resto del Carlino. 11 June 2014. Retrieved 1 July 2015.