Golden Books Announces Publishing Program with Twentieth Century Fox

Posted on August 26, 1997

Golden Books Family Entertainment announced a major publishing program with Twentieth Century Fox Licensing and Merchandising for the development of a wide variety of new and classic Golden Books formats for the studio's 1997 event film, Anastasia, scheduled for theatrical release in November.

Anastasia will be featured in storybooks, sound books, coloring and activity books, easy-to-read movie storybooks, and educational workbooks, shipping to stores in the fall. Anastasia, the first animated feature film from Fox Animation Studios, is based on the story of the lost Russian princess rumored to be the last surviving member of the Romanov family.

New, formats are a large part of Golden Books' Anastasia collection:

-- Extra Smart Pages(TM) features revolutionary "in-the-pages" sound technology, which uses real movie sounds, including the voice of Meg Ryan as Anastasia.

-- Read & Wear(TM) offers the image of the movie characters on a clip kids can wear as well as a story they can read inside.

-- Golden Story Workbooks(TM) encourages kids to do various skill-building activities in reading, math, or spelling by tying every activity into a full, fast-paced story told in easy-to-read language.

"To support Anastasia, we sought a publisher who commands a lead in the children's book market, offers a variety of new formats as well as classic staples, and whose creativity and innovation set new standards in children's publishing," said Pat Wyatt, president, Twentieth Century Fox Licensing and Merchandising. "Golden Books offers all of this and more. We are honored to have Golden Books as a publishing partner."

Set against the backdrop of 1920s St. Petersburg and Paris, Anastasia is a magical mix of action, adventure, romance, humor and music. Boasting the rich vocal talents of Meg Ryan, John Cusack, Angela Lansbury, Kelsey Grammer, Christopher Lloyd, Hank Azaria, and Bernadette Peters, this full-length animated motion picture delivers superb animation and storytelling from the talented team of Don Bluth and Gary Goldman. One of the greatest mysteries of our time is brought to life in this unique twentieth-century fairy tale.