Moscow, Russia – August 24, 2016 — Masha and the Bear, the world-famous family show that gathers parents and children all together around the screens, has become a new brand chosen by Winning Moves, a sole licensee of Hasbro for over 18 years, to produce a special line of Monopoly Junior collection that will be available on Russian market from October, 2016. Moreover, along with the Monopoly Junior, Winning Moves will offer Top Trumps Match, The Crazy Cube game designed with the heroes of Masha and the Bear show, planning start of sales in early 2017.
According to the agreed distribution channel, the licensed Monopoly Junior as well as Top Trumps Match will be sold in the special game stores with a respected chain across the country by Interhit, the appointed distributor who works with retailers such as ELC Russia, Mosigra, Igroved, iqtoy, Ga Ga Games, Mimo, Scola and etc., both online and in traditional retail shops. It’s a first time when a Russian brand has been picked up to represent an exclusive collaboration of Monopoly with a popular kids’ license, showing another time how a little mischievous girl as Masha is making history again.
Monopoly Junior line first occurred in the begging of 90’s targeted at kids age of five to eight. Throughout its market presence, the game has issued special editions with such popular kids’ brands as Marvel, SpongeBob SquarePants, Disney and more. The first official deal with a Russian brand, Masha and the Bear, has been based on the global and soaring popularity of both the show and the license. It’s expected that a new Masha and the Bear Monopoly Junior collection will make a tremendous success among the families.
Lazar Vukovic, Head of Balkans & Russia for Winning Moves UK Ltd, says:
“We are so pleased to be working with Animaccord on developing a range of Russian retail games for Masha and the Bear. I could not believe how popular Masha and the Bear really are; a huge success in Russia and also countries in the Balkans such as Serbia.”
“We’re expecting Monopoly Junior to be a big hit for Christmas and throughout the year. Top Trumps Match is ‘The Crazy Cube Game’ where you have to Match 5 Masha Characters to win, but wait your opponent has a Top Trump Card which could steal the game!”
“It’s our first year of launching retail product in Russia, we specialise in bringing special edition games of Monopoly, Top Trumps, Cluedo, Guess Who and more. It’s a really exciting time for Winning Moves and I’m looking forward to the future.”
Masha and the Bear today
Animaccord started a production of the third season of Masha and the Bear show at the end of 2015 and since then has been intensively working on the 26 new episodes to finish by the middle of 2018. Moreover, this fall Masha and the Bear brand will expand into the North America with licensed products – toys produced by its Master Toy partner in the region, Spin Master, with the planned instore launch at Toys “R” Us shops.
To conclude, below are listed the major project achievements:

• Oleg Kuzovkov, a creator of Masha and the Bear show, was named as Innovator in Creative aspect of Animation by Animation Magazine in May, 2016.
• As for today, Masha and the Bear content has been watched more than 16,5 billion times on YouTube with just two available seasons.
• One of the cartoon’s episodes, “Recipe For Disaster”, has received over 1 billion views on YouTube, making it the thirteenth most viewed video of all time.
• Kidscreen Magazine named Animaccord Animation Studio as one of the top 50 leaders in the world of animation (Kidscreen Hot50) and the top 10 production companies of the year in October, 2015.
• Masha and the Bear won a 2015 Kidscreen Award for Best Animation in the Creative Talent in February, 2015.
• The cartoon has been included in a list of “TV Shows Destined to be Classics,” which was compiled by the cartoon industry’s periodical Animation Magazine to mark its 250 issue.

For further information please contact:
Daria Katiba & Valentina Esayan
katiba@animaccord.com / esayan@animaccord.com
Lazar Vukovic – Winning Moves
Lazar.vukovic@winningmoves.co.uk
Interhit–http://sunduchok.info
Info@sunduchok.info