NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--This Thanksgiving, a pop culture phenomenon returns to take flight as a new character helium balloon in the 90th Anniversary Macy’s (NYSE:M) Thanksgiving Day Parade®! Greg Heffley, the “journal” keeping star of the No. 1 bestselling Diary of A Wimpy Kid® book series that now has 180 million copies in print globally, as well as the 20th Century Fox film series, is set to delight legions of fans worldwide during the holiday procession. On Thursday, Nov. 24, more than 3.5 million spectators and more than 50 million television viewers will marvel as the newly colorful Greg Heffley takes a tumble down the route for his first chilly flight down the streets of New York City. Accompanying his famed protagonist will be award-winning author Jeff Kinney, who is expected to help guide the new balloon down the streets of Manhattan during a stop on his global tour in support of the new book.
“The new Diary of A Wimpy Kid balloon is an extraordinarily colorful and animated take on everyone’s favorite “journal” writer,” said Amy Kule, executive producer of Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. “In keeping with his trademark clumsy nature, Greg Heffley will clutch his most prized possession as he slips on the wintery ice down the entire Macy’s Parade route, and tumbles once again into the hearts of millions of spectators in New York and across the country.”
Transformed to more closely resemble Greg’s colorful new look as illustrated in the latest Diary of A Wimpy Kid books, Greg is ready for the winter decked out in red snow boots, blue puffer coat, red ear muffs and a green/yellow striped scarf. While he may be bundled up for the Thanksgiving Day weather, the new balloon will see Greg clumsily taking a tumble down the route with his arm outstretched to break his fall, surely having slipped on an icy surface because he had his nose buried in his “Diary”…oops, journal! Commenting on the colorful and energetic new balloon design Jeff Kinney, author and illustrator said, “As a creator, this will be a huge day because I started with a pencil sketch and we tried lots of different ideas. For the new balloon, we wanted to do something really different and dramatic.” The vibrant new take on this classic Parade balloon star measures, 62-feet long, 32-feet wide and is 62-feet tall, a balloon behemoth sure to delight millions of fans. Kinney added, “It’s extremely exhilarating to see it come to life.” The original balloon, modeled after the black and white version of Greg, debuted in the Macy’s Parade in 2010 and flew until last year.
Celebrating the upcoming release of Double Down, the multiple-award winning Diary of A Wimpy Kid series continues to conquer the publishing world. In addition to the books, Greg stars in his own live action film series with the fourth 20th Century Fox movie “Diary of A Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul” currently in production and set for a May 2017 theatrical release. Diary of A Wimpy Kid: Double Down, the eleventh book in the series, is set for domestic release by Amulet Books, an imprint of ABRAMS The Art of Books, as well as worldwide publication on Nov. 1, and will see author Jeff Kinney embark on a global tour to meet tens of thousands of fans at 20 stops in three continents.
The 90th Anniversary Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade airs nationwide on NBC-TV, on Thursday, Nov. 24, 2016 from 9 a.m. – noon in all time zones.
About the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade:
With more than 50 million viewers across the country and more than 3.5 million spectators that line up along the streets of New York City each year, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is a national icon that has grown into a world-famous holiday event. For 90 years, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade has marked the official start of the holiday season. Growing in size and scale, the Parade proudly marches down a more than 2-mile route in New York City with more than 8,000 participants in tow including Macy’s employees, their families, celebrities, athletes, clowns and dance groups spreading holiday cheer. The Parade also features America’s best marching bands, fabulous floats and Macy’s signature giant helium character balloons. For more information on the Macy’s Parade please visit www.macys.com/parade or call the Parade hotline at (212) 494-4495.
About Diary of A Wimpy Kid/Amulet Books, an imprint of ABRAMS The Art of Books:
The first-ever theatrical adaptation of Diary of a Wimpy Kid was staged by the prestigious Children’s Theatre Company in Minneapolis from April to June 2016. It earned rave critical reviews and had sold-out shows. Three movies based on the book series have grossed more than $250 million. Production of a fourth movie, based on The Long Haul, was recently announced, and it is scheduled to hit theaters in May 2017. Jeff Kinney has won six Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards and two Children’s Choice Book Awards. Books in the series have won numerous awards that were voted on by students and teachers around the globe.
Kinney’s work has been widely praised for its ability to turn reluctant readers on to books. Published in 2007, the first Diary of a Wimpy Kid book was an instant bestseller, and just a year later, more than 100,000 copies were in print in the United States alone. The Diary of a Wimpy Kid series is a fixture on the USA TODAY, Wall Street Journal, Publishers Weekly, and IndieBound bestseller lists. It has remained on the New York Times bestseller list since the publication of the first book and through the release of Book 10 for more than 497 weeks total, and for more than 393 weeks on the series list. Wimpy Kid books have been sold in more than 61 editions in 52 languages and appear on bestseller lists around the world. There are now more than 180 million books in the series in print around the globe.
