Santa Monica, CA (February 7, 2022)  Award-winning independent animation studio ZAG has signed Megalicense, the leading licensing agency across Russia and CIS, to represent its ZAG Heroez™ brand portfolio, headlined by the pop culture hit Miraculous – Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir.  The announcement was made today by Julian Zag, EVP, Global Operations and Head of Consumer Products.

Under the terms of the agreement, Megalicense will develop the licensing and merchandising plans for Miraculous, together with Power Players™ and the ZAG’s newest series, Ghostforce™, across Russia and CIS.  The agency will work together with ZAG’s Helena Perheentupa, Vice President, Licensing, for Central, Eastern, Northern Europe and Russia & ZAG’s European Department.

“Megalicense is the premiere licensing agency across Russia and CIS, and we are delighted that they will be spearheading the consumer products activities for ZAG,” commented Julian Zag. “This is an exciting time for Miraculous, with over 200 global licensees and retail sales achieving over $1 billion last year. Coming up this year is our US$100M+ animated feature supported by a global QSR program, the season five series premiere, and new mobile and console games amongst many other initiatives. Our newest series, Ghostforce, which had its world premiere last August on TF1 in France, is already resonating with kids as we are seeing an increase in tons of activity across our social media channels. And, we have Power Players, which is gaining traction in Russia where it currently airs on Karusel! We look forward to working with Megalicense to develop a robust licensing program for these original IPs throughout the region.”

“We are so proud to start our long-term collaboration with the ZAG portfolio of brands,” says Friderico Gatti, CEO of Megalicense. “Our initial focus will be Miraculous, one of the most successful brands for the 6-12 target audience globally.  Over 220 million products have been sold to date around the world and we see huge opportunity to further grow the brand across Russia with a focus on apparel—following successful collaborations with giants such as GUESS and ZARA—alongside back-to-school, footwear, outdoor, accessories, homeware, textiles and many others. We have no doubt that Miraculous will continue its success in Russia, and we look forward to introducing Ghostforce and Power Players to potential licensing partners across the region.”

The 3D-CGI-animated superhero aspirational action-comedy series Miraculous™ – Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir, created by ZAG and co-produced with ON kids & family, continues to be everyone’s favorite superhero story. The series is ranked by IMDB amongst the Top 10 Best Animated Shows in the last 20 years[1].  Season four of Miraculous is currently available across Russia and CIS on Disney Channel, with season five set to premiere in Q3. alongside two animated TV Events, Miraculous™ World – Shanghai – The Legend of Lady Dragon andMiraculous™ World: New York: United Heroez. Toys from ZAG Lab and Playmates are performing well in the U.S. with the new line rolling out internationally. With a massive fan base of young adult “Miraculers,” (ages 15-25), Miraculous has become a digital planetary craze with over 29 billion views on YouTube (authorized and user-generated content); with 200 million downloads of the official app.

Ghostforce is currently available across Russia and CIS on Disney Channel, and a toy line for the series from ZAG Lab and Playmates will be available in 2023. Ghostforce was acquired by Disney Channel in the US and is currently available on Disney XD. The series is available across Europe, and the Middle East on Disney Channel and on Discovery Kids in Latin America, with launches planned in Japan and India this year.  The series had its world premiere in France on TF1 in August 2021 with an audience share of over 35%.

Power Players is currently available in Russia on Karusel and in Ukraine on PLUSPLUS.

About Miraculous™: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir
The 3D-CGI-animated superhero aspirational action-comedy series Miraculous™: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir, created by ZAG and co-produced with ON kids & family (Mediawan Group), follows the adventures of two seemingly typical teens with secret identities, Marinette and Adrien, who magically transform into superheroes, Ladybug and Cat Noir. As secret superheroes, Ladybug and Cat Noir are partners in the action. But in the daytime, Marinette is just a normal girl, living a normal life. Cat Noir will do anything to support and impress Ladybug, but does not know this is Marinette from his class. Marinette, the regular girl, in turn dreams of Adrien and simply gets little response. When evil threatens Paris, their beloved City of Lights, can they beat the unexpected villains?  Miraculous is the winner of 25 awards, including the 2018 Teen Choice Award for Choice Animated Series.

About Power Players
Based on an original idea by Jeremy Zag, and developed by Man of Action (Ben 10, Big Hero 6) Power Playersfollows the adventures of Axel, a boy who transforms into a living action figure, and his unlikely team of toy heroes as they embark on the biggest “small” adventures a kid could ever imagine.  Shifting between the full-scale world of Axel and his friends and family, the mind-blowing visuals take hold when Axel crosses over into the world of his toy teammates.  Comedy springs from the wild characters.  Axel – responsible for the outbreak of smart toys in the first place, must save the world and his friends while keeping his role in the rescues a complete secret. And, he still has to get his chores done!  The Power Players don’t hide from people, but they do fly under the radar of humans who perceive them as they would any other toys.

 About Ghostforce
In Ghostforce, the stakes are high but always incredibly fun!  LIV, ANDY and MIKE are three junior-high school students who secretly form a team of superheroes—the Ghostforce—to fight the ghosts of New York.  Ms. Jones, a brilliant scientist, is the founder and commander of the Ghostforce and does everything she can to better identify the ghosts and has even created a fourth member, GLOWBOO, an Artificial Intelligence running on phantom energy.  With each mission, Liv, Andy, and Mike transform into Myst, Fury and Krush, superheroes armed with the powers of the ghosts they capture and high-tech gadgets invented by Ms. Jones.  They are the only ones who have the ability to hunt down the ghosts and fight them… before they hurry back to school so they don’t miss the next science class!

About ZAG
ZAG America, LLC is a global independent entertainment studio specializing in world-class storytelling across TV, film, and digital platforms. ZAG’s foundation is rooted in compelling characters, limitless imagination, and masterful storytelling infused with original musical scores. The company is home to world-class entertainment properties under the ZAG HEROEZ label, including Miraculous™: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir as well as new titles Power Players (2019) and Ghost Force (2021). Visionary director and composer Jeremy Zag founded the Zag Kids and Family Entertainment Group in France in 2009, further expanding the company to the USA in 2012 with the Global Brand Franchise office in Santa Monica, California. Based in Paris, the creative headquarters, known as the “ZAG Lab,” focuses on developing engaging stories beyond the screen into brands that inspire the new generation to discover their true character.  https://www.zag.com

About MEGALICENSE
Megalicense is the leading licensing agency in Russia and the CIS countries, one of the first to appear in our country. The company provides licensing and marketing services for physical and digital products. At different times, the Megalicense team brought to the market such brands as Angry Birds, Peppa Pig and Robocar Poly, and was also involved in the licensing and retail program of the 2018 World Cup, being the FIFA master licensee. Today Megalicense represents the world’s largest copyright holders. Such as Warner Media (Warner Bros., Cartoon Network, HBO), Sanrio, Sony Pictures, Alpha Toys, Carte Blanche, Wargaming, TV Tokyo Corporation, Crunchyroll SAS and many others.