New York, NY — 2022 may be the Year of the Tiger but it is also shaping up to be a big year for the rabbits of the upcoming and highly anticipated Netflix animated kids series Samurai Rabbit: The Usagi Chronicles™ and long-running and award-winning Stan Sakai comic book series Usagi Yojimbo™ that inspired it.

• Spotlight Licensing has been appointed by Gaumont to launch and manage the global merchandise licensing program for Samurai Rabbit: The Usagi Chronicles (which debuted on Netflix April 28th).

“We are incredibly proud of Samurai Rabbit! It’s a fun, funny, action packed, gorgeous, animated kids series that younger viewers will love. Creator Stan Sakai was involved every step of the way so we hope his comic fans will love it as well,” says Terry Kalagian, Executive Vice President of Creative Content at Gaumont US.

• Spotlight has simultaneously been tapped to handle global merchandise licensing for Sakai’s creator-owned Usagi Yojimbo

“Usagi Yojimbo’s Miyamoto Usagi is an ancestor of Samurai Rabbit’s teenage star Yuichi Usagi  and – because Miyamoto is such an integral figure in Yuichi’s life and story – it made sense to consolidate and coordinate licensing efforts for both the series and comics with one agency,” said Sakai, who is an executive producer of the Samurai Rabbit series and has remained involved throughout development to ensure the show would be action packed, well-crafted and respectful of Japanese culture.

“We are thrilled to be working with Gaumont and Stan Sakai to find the right licensing partners in the U.S. and around the world for each property, Samurai Rabbit: The Usagi Chronicles and Usagi Yojimbo, either separately or together if appropriate,” says Spotlight Licensing President Carole Postal.

Spotlight is actively seeking licensing partners across a broad range of product categories including not only toys and games but also clothing, costumes, accessories, figurines, collectibles, and other items. As global agent, Spotlight will also be looking for evaluating potential licensing partners and sub-agents around the world.

About Samurai Rabbit: The Usagi Chronicles

Samurai Rabbit: The Usagi Chronicles0 is a Netflix Original, kids & family animated action-comedy series. It follows the teenage Rabbit Samurai Yuichi, descendent of the great warrior Miyamoto Usagi on his epic quest to become a true samurai in the futuristic city of Neo Edo. But he isn’t alone! He leads a ragtag team of misfit heroes who help along the way.

Produced by Gaumont in partnership with Stan Sakai (executive producer), Daniel Fuji (executive producer), along with Dark Horse Entertainment (executive producers Mike Richardson, Keith Goldberg and Chris Tongue) and Atomic Monster (executive producers James Wan, Michael Clear and Rob Hackett), Samurai Rabbit: The Usagi Chronicles will premiere April 28th, on Netflix worldwide.

About Stan Sakai’s Usagi Yojimbo

First published in 1984, Usagi Yojimbo is one of the longest-running, independent, serialized comic book series in existence. Featuring the award-winning work of Stan Sakai as the sole creator, author, and artist of the comics series, Usagi Yojimbo tells the epic saga of a rabbit ronin named Miyamoto Usagi, a samurai rabbit living in feudal Japan. Miyamoto Usagi and other Usagi Yojimbo characters have appeared in comics, in trade paperback collections, as toys, in video games, on apparel, on television (as a guest of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) and are now available for even broader licensing.

About Gaumont

With offices in Paris, Los Angeles, London, Köln, Berlin and Rome, Gaumont is an industry leader, producing and distributing high-quality TV programming and films. Specializing in producing local stories with global appeal, Gaumont’s current slate includes talent-driven, diverse, and distinctive titles across multiple languages for the world’s leading global streaming platforms and channels.

For Netflix, the breakout sensation watched by 70 million households during its first month, and the service’s most-watched non-English series, and 2nd most-watched series over-all to date, globally, Lupin, directed by Louis Leterrier and starring Omar Sy in France – 2 seasons available with a 3rd in production. The flagship series, Narcos, which in its 6th season debuted at the top of the Netflix’s global top 10 list where it remains, and F is for Family in its 5th season. In production, High in the Clouds, the animated feature developed together with Paul McCartney, Samurai Rabbit: The Usagi Chronicles based on the comic books by Stan Sakai and, season 2 of the epic German historical drama, Barbarians, which in its first season, debuted globally in the top 10 most-watched series on Netflix with over 37 million households worldwide watching in the first four weeks, a new record for the first season of a non-English-speaking Netflix series.

For Amazon Prime Video U.S., Do Re & Mi with Kristen Bell, the International Emmy® award nominated El Presidente co-created by Armando Bó and Pablo Larraín in Latin America, 2nd season and, the action thriller Totems in France.

For Disney+, Kaiser Karl based on the life of the iconic designer.

For Apple TV+, Stillwater, based on the Zen book series of Jon J Muth and winner of the prestigious Peabody and Daytime Emmy® Awards. Gaumont also produces several TV series for BBC, Sky, ZDF, TF1, France 2, Arte and Canal+. 

Gaumont co-produces and distributes around ten films a year in theaters. The film library encompasses over 1400 titles from prestigious directors such as Louis Malle, Jean-Luc Godard and Olivier Nakache & Éric Toledano for The Intouchables, the highest-grossing French-language movie  with over $450 million in revenue to date.

Recent award-winning titles include, Aline by Valérie Lemercier and the multiple award winner, including the César Award for best film, Lost Illusions by Xavier Giannoli. 

About Spotlight Licensing

Spotlight Licensing and Brand Management, Inc. (spotlightlicensing.com) is a New York City based boutique licensing agency specializing in representation of Entertainment, Art/Design, Digital properties, and Character Brands. In addition to Samurai Rabbit: The Usagi Chronicles and Stan Sakai’s Usagi Yojimbo, Spotlight represents All Creatures Great & Small, BOO The World’s Cutest Dog, Downton Abbey, The Last Kingdom, Little House on the Prairie, and Precious Moments, among other properties.