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COMPANY TOWN - The Biz / Sallie Hofmeister
August 30, 1996
The $40-Million Quest(ion) - Can Turner resurrect a cartoon classic?
The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest has all the earmarks of an ambitious feature film project: Two years of marketing fanfare, what some characterize as serious budget overruns, a promotional push valued at more than $40 million, and a thick skein of cross-promotional tie-ins with fast-food, cereal, snack and toy makers aimed at piquing the curiosities of kids throughout the world.
But Jonny and his sidekicks, Bandit and Hadji—well-remembered by the middle-aged boomers who watched the 1960s adventure cartoon—are not movie stars yet. They first are returning to the small screen, having debuted on three cable networks owned by Turner Broadcasting System Inc. this week as part of the Atlanta-based company's effort to reinvigorate properties idling in its library.
The remake of the classic "Jonny Quest" not only boasts one of the most elaborate and expensive marketing campaigns in cable history, but may be the most ambitious project undertaken by Hanna-Barbera Cartoons Inc. since it was purchased in 1991 by Turner.
It could well be the last blast from Turner before it is reconstituted in a merger with Time Warner Inc. later this year. Hollywood sources have speculated that Hanna-Barbera will lose its independence and be absorbed by Warner Bros.' animation group.
Viewed as mostly an in-house supplier to Turner's Cartoon Network, some analysts believe Hanna-Barbera hasn't done enough with its legacy as the creator of "The Flintstones", "The Jetsons" and "Jonny Quest". Turner has pulled out all the stops to make this library classic a hit. And its campaign demonstrates anew how today's entertainment conglomerates can pool the powers of their various divisions to promote a common cause, in this case breaking conventional formulas that restrict the marketing of TV shows, particularly on cable.
"This is as big a push for one television show as I've ever seen," said Michael Schau, executive editor of the Entertainment Marketing Letter, a newsletter based in New York. "NBC will spend a lot for a fall season and maybe on a miniseries, but this is more in line with a feature film release, and could be the start of marketing wars in television that have made theatricals so expensive."
NBC says it backs new prime-time series with promotions valued at between $700,000 and $1.2 million; it showered its highly rated "Gulliver's Travels" extravaganza in February with roughly $12 million worth of promotions.
Children's shows typically attract legions of marketing partners once they become hits because of the value of toys, lunch boxes and videos featuring characters loved by kids. Disney in particular has massed elaborate campaigns around the launch of its children's TV series: It has pulled together a promotional package worth an estimated $150 million for the syndicated two-hour segment known as "The Disney Afternoon" that includes the new "The Mighty Ducks", which will also debut next week on ABC's Saturday morning lineup.
But ratings on cable generally are too tiny to draw initial promotional firepower to single programs, making the Quest launch a curiosity. Whereas most children's television shows lack extensive promotional tie-ins at their launch, Turner lined up about 30 partners with cereal box offers, toys, T-shirts and the like even before the first episode aired Monday.
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