Inside Out

A new Speed Racer cartoon is in the works from Art Asylum, New York. In celebration of the 40th anniversary of the original Japanese animated series, Art Asylum is releasing a line of action figures and die-cast models. Each toy comes with a DVD of the modernized animated adventure…New York-based global brand management company DIC Entertainment (DIC) and Thomopoulos Productions will launch Promise Media Productions, a new venture focused on developing original live-action and animated content for children and families for both the faith-based and secular markets that can be distributed across film, television, home entertainment and consumer products…Interactive publisher Encore Software, Los Angeles, has signed a multi-year agreement with Hasbro to publish all-new PC software versions of some of their popular board games. Monopoly and Scrabble are planned for this year while Yahtzee, Clue and the Game of Life will be available in 2007…Tokyo-based toymaker Tomy Co. is developing a line of baby products, including monitors and carriers that have sold well in Europe, for release in the U.S. in April 2007…Kidz Toyz, Mount Kisco, N.Y., has partnered with FremantleMedia, co-producer and licensor of American Idol, to introduce a line of Idol-branded toy musical instruments and youth electronics, including a line of amplifiers and microphones this September…Dark Horse Comics, Milwaukie, Ore., will release a five-part Star Wars mini-series in October. It will fill in the time period immediately following the film franchise's third episode, Revenge of the Sith...Lights, camera, dragons: Renton, Wash.-based Wizards of the Coast, the company behind Dungeons & Dragons and Magic: The Gathering, is calling on fans to make their own five-minute film. Winners will be chosen by fellow fans and announced at the Worldwide Dungeons & Dragons Game Day in Los Angeles this fall.

San Diego-based FitDeck has developed Superman Exercise Flash Cards for Kids in partnership with Warner Bros. Consumer Products. Each deck includes cards based on Superman, Lex Luthor, Lois Lane, and iconic elements like X-Ray Vision and Kryptonite, and depict kids performing different exercises. An accompanying booklet lists more than 70 different games to play using the cards…The Man of Steel will have to wait until spring 2007 as Upper Deck, Carlsbad, Calif., has bumped the release date of its Superman Starter Deck addition to the Vs. Trading Card Game (TCG). The next Vs. releases will be Heralds of Galactus, a 220-card addition to the Marvel TCG due in September, followed in December by a 220-card The Legion of Superheroes Expansion for the DC TCG…Toys “R” Us, Wayne, N.J. has partnered with the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation to increase toy and monetary donations this holiday season. From October through December, TRU and Babies “R” Us stores nationwide will serve as “Giving Headquarters” for toy and cash donations. Online shoppers will also be able to make a cash donation via www.Toysrus.com/ToysforTots. TRU kicked off the fund drive with a $1 million donation.