SANTA MONICA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life and Skylanders® Imaginators, the newest video game in the award-wining toys-to-life franchise, have one major thing in common: they’re giving kids the freedom to re-write the rules of play! To celebrate the launch of the film on Oct. 7 and videogame on Oct. 16 in North America, the two powerhouse entertainment brands are teaming up to give kids even more ways to unleash their creativity with an epic contest this fall.
Starting Sept. 19, Skylanders Imaginators and Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life are kicking off a “Drawing-to-Life Contest.” Based on the best-selling book series, Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life follows lead character and aspiring artist Rafe through tumultuous days as a student where he uses his wild creativity to draw new worlds. Now Skylanders Portal Masters and Middle School fans are invited to submit drawings of their ideal Skylander – the crazier the better -- for a chance to win a hometown viewing party of Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life for up to 100 of their friends and family! To participate, fans simply draw their imagined Skylander and submit it via Instagram using the dedicated hashtag #SkylandersMiddleSchoolContest. Winners will be chosen by a panel of judges that includes Toys For Bob and CBS Films. More information, including rules, can be found here.
“I was inspired by my eight-year-old son and his friends to start writing books that would help kids fall in love with imagination and reading,” said author James Patterson. “It’s great to see all the ways that kids will have to explore their creativity this fall.”
GameStop’s Skylanders® Adventure Club members in the US also will get a special treat. Fans who pre-order Skylanders Imaginators will receive two free movie tickets to Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life while supplies last between Sept. 24 – Oct. 16, 2016. Being a Skylanders® Adventure Club member gives fans exclusive toy offers and first looks at the newest Skylanders content.
Activision Publishing, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATVI) is bringing more content and characters to Skylanders Imaginators – the game lets fans unleash their imaginations like never before in a Skylanders® game. Skylanders Imaginators offers players immense possibilities -- including appearance, powers, abilities, names, catchphrases, musical themes and much more – to create the wildest Skylanders imaginable. Developed by Toys For Bob, Skylanders Imaginators supports all 300+ Skylanders from previous games and will launch on October 16, 2016 in North America. The Skylanders Imaginators Starter Pack will be available for the suggested retail price of $74.99.
Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life is based on the hilarious and poignant book series from best-selling author James Patterson. The upcoming live action comedy tells the tale of Rafe Khatchadorian. Rafe has an epic imagination...and a slight problem with authority. Both collide when he transfers to an oppressive, rule-crazy middle school. Drowning in do's and don'ts, Rafe and his scheming best friend Leo hatch a plan to break every rule in the school's Code of Conduct. It's Ferris Bueller meets Home Alone as their battle with Principal Dwight explodes into chaos both real and imagined. But Dwight displays his own fiendish creativity, striking back at the rulebreakers. Meanwhile, Rafe struggles to hide his misbehavior from Jeanne, the straight-A, overachieving girl of his dreams, and at home, his mother's boyfriend -- a moochy, jack-of-no-trades named Bear -- threatens to become his stepfather. Starring Griffin Gluck, Lauren Graham, Rob Riggle, Thomas Barbusca, Isabela Moner, Andy Daly and Adam Pally, Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life opens in theaters on Oct. 7!
About the Skylanders® Franchise
The award-winning, $3 billion Skylanders® franchise has sold through more than 250 million toys1 since pioneering the toys-to-life category in 2011 with the debut of Skylanders® Spyro’s Adventure. The game originated a play pattern that seamlessly bridged physical and virtual worlds across multiple platforms. In 2012, Skylanders® Giants further evolved the genre and added LightCore® characters to the collection of interaction figures. Skylanders® SWAP Force™, which launched in 2013, introduced an all new play pattern – swapability. In 2014, Skylanders® Trap Team reversed the magic of bringing toys to life by allowing players to pull characters out of the digital world into the physical world and became the number 1 kids’ console game globally1. Skylanders® SuperChargers launched on September 20, 2015 and expanded upon the franchise’s signature gameplay to introduce vehicles-to-life for the first time.
About Activision Publishing, Inc.
Headquartered in Santa Monica, California, Activision Publishing, Inc. is a leading global producer and publisher of interactive entertainment. Activision maintains operations throughout the world and is a division of Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ: ATVI), an S&P 500 company. More information about Activision and its products can be found on the company's website, www.activision.com or by following @Activision.
About CBS Films
CBS Films is a division of CBS Corporation. The division develops, finances, acquires, produces and releases theatrical feature films spanning all genres. For more information, log on to www.cbsfilms.com.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-looking Statements: Information in this press release that involves Activision Publishing's expectations, plans, intentions or strategies regarding the future, including statements with respect to the Drawing-to-Life Contest, GameStop’s Skylanders Adventure Club, or about the expected features, functionality and release dates of Skylanders Imaginators are forward-looking statements that are not facts and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Factors that could cause Activision Publishing's actual future results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements set forth in this release include unanticipated product delays and other factors identified in the risk factors sections of Activision Blizzard's most recent annual report on Form 10-K and any subsequent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. The forward-looking statements in this release are based upon information available to Activision Publishing and Activision Blizzard as of the date of this release, and neither Activision Publishing nor Activision Blizzard assumes any obligation to update any such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements believed to be true when made may ultimately prove to be incorrect. These statements are not guarantees of the future performance of Activision Publishing or Activision Blizzard and are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, some of which are beyond its control and may cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations.
© 2016 Activision Publishing, Inc. ACTIVISION, SKYLANDERS, SKYLANDERS IMAGINATORS, SKYLANDERS SUPERCHARGERS, SKYLANDERS TRAP TEAM, SKYLANDERS SWAP FORCE, SWAP FORCE, SKYLANDERS GIANTS, SKYLANDERS SPYRO’S ADVENTURE and LIGHTCORE are trademarks of Activision Publishing, Inc.
1The NPD Group, GfK Chart-track, Activision Blizzard internal estimates, including toys and accessories
