DIC Movie Toons facts for kids
DIC Movie Toons (also known as the Nickelodeon Sunday Movie Toons in the United States) were a series of animated TV movies. They were made by a company called DIC Entertainment. These movies aired for just one season in 2002 on Nickelodeon in the United States. The series began on October 6, 2002. It ended on December 29, 2002.
Today, a company called WildBrain owns all these films. They hold the rights to most of DIC's collection of shows and movies.
Awesome Animated Movies
Nickelodeon first planned to air 39 animated films. Some ideas included stories like Black Beauty and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. However, only 13 of these movies actually made it to air.
Most of these TV movies were based on popular DIC cartoons. These included shows like Inspector Gadget, Sabrina: The Animated Series, and Dennis the Menace. Other movies were based on classic books. Examples include Treasure Island and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.
One movie, Groove Squad, was a completely new story. It was about a team of cheerleaders who fought crime.
Here is the list of the movies that aired:
- Inspector Gadget's Last Case (based on Inspector Gadget) (October 6, 2002)
- Sabrina: Friends Forever (based on Sabrina: The Animated Series) (October 13, 2002)
- Time Kid (based on The Time Machine by H. G. Wells) (October 20, 2002)
- Dennis the Menace: Cruise Control (based on the 1986–1988 animated series of Dennis the Menace) (October 27, 2002)
- The Archies in Jugman (based on the Archie universe) (November 3, 2002)
- Dinosaur Island (based on The Lost World by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle) (November 10, 2002)
- My Fair Madeline (based on Madeline) (November 17, 2002)
- Groove Squad (November 24, 2002)
- Treasure Island (based on Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson) (December 1, 2002)
- Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol (based on A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens) (December 8, 2002)
- Globehunters: An Around the World in 80 Days Adventure (based on Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne) (December 15, 2002)
- The Amazing Zorro (based on Johnston McCulley's Zorro) (December 22, 2002)
- 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (based on 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne) (December 29, 2002)
Where They Aired Around the World
In October 2002, DIC announced a big deal. Disney Television International bought the rights to air these movies. They showed them on Disney Channel, Toon Disney, and Playhouse Disney networks. This included countries like France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, and Australia. They also aired in New Zealand, Spain, Portugal, and the Middle East.
In November 2002, more channels bought the rights. Super RTL in Germany got the rights to show them for free. YTV in Canada also bought them. Cartoon Network Japan aired them too. In Latin America, Televisa in Mexico and RCTV in Venezuela showed the movies.
Later, other channels also bought the movies. These included ITV in the UK and Club RTL in Belgium. Mediatrade in Italy, Alter TV in Greece, and Anteve in Indonesia also aired them.
Watching Them at Home
Most of these movies were later released for home viewing. You could find them on VHS tapes and DVDs. MGM Home Entertainment released them in the United States. The only movie not released by MGM was A Christmas Carol. In 2008, another company called Gaiam re-released the films on DVD.
In the United Kingdom, some of the movies were sold by Prism Leisure. Later, Boulevard Entertainment also distributed them.
In other countries, different companies released the movies. TF1 Video released them in France. Eagle Pictures did so in Italy. Sum released them in Spain and Latin America. Shock released them in Australia, and ICTV in Ukraine. In Poland, Kartunz dubbed and distributed these movies.
