WB Casts Its Dollars With Animated ‘X-Men’

Seeking to build on its “Pokemon”-powered success among kids and especially boys, the WB network has made a deal for a new animated series based on the comic book “X-Men,” which could benefit from catching the coattails of a big-budget feature film due this summer.

If “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” brought ABC a complete reversal of its prime-time fortune, “Pokemon” has done much the same for the WB in the kids ratings race. The question has been how to capitalize on the millions of moppets glued to the network weekday afternoons and Saturday mornings.

“X-Men,” a popular Marvel Comics property, focuses on a team of youthful mutant superheroes and was previously adapted as a TV series on the Fox Kids Network. The new program will premiere on WB in the fall, a few months after 20th Century Fox’s live-action film from director Bryan Singer (“The Usual Suspects”) hits theaters.

In addition, the WB--which won’t officially announce next season’s children’s lineup until April--is said to be in negotiations for a series that would feature the animated incarnation of action star Jackie Chan. Both concepts seem designed to attract the same kids who have transformed “Pokemon” into a sensation since its premiere a little over a year ago.

Ratings for Kids’ WB, as the children’s block is known, have exploded in that time, even surpassing Nickelodeon--which, catering to kids around the clock, possesses a significant promotional advantage over broadcasters. WB holds a slight edge over the cable network in Saturday morning this season, with an average audience of about 1.6 million kids in the target 2 to 11 age bracket, followed by ABC, Fox and CBS.

*

While declining comment regarding the Chan project, Donna Friedman, senior vice president of programming at Kids’ WB, confirmed plans for “X-Men,” which she said will be loosely connected with the film and significantly different from Fox’s earlier version.

Programmers have gambled on children’s series hooked to yet-to-be-released movies in the past, with mixed results: The WB lucked out with an animated version of “Men in Black,” but Fox’s “Godzilla: The Series” didn’t fare much better than TriStar Pictures’ 1998 box-office disappointment.

“We didn’t look at ‘X-Men’ as a movie property. That was a bonus,” Friedman said. “If the movie is a huge hit, terrific. But we’re not relying on the movie.”

Since “Pokemon” premiered, viewing has also increased for other WB shows, including “Men in Black” and the futuristic “Batman Beyond.”

“It has invigorated the entire schedule,” WB Chief Executive Jamie Kellner said. “We have a chance right now to establish a lot of new programs, because we have more circulation.”

Toward that end, WB is plowing resources back into kids programming, with more original productions in the works for next season than ever before. As for the strategy in building on its current foundation, Friedman said, “The way I describe it is ‘Boys first, but girls right there.’ . . . Even [“X-Men”] is a real balance of strong male lead characters and strong female leads.”

Kids’ WB is already turning a profit, something the prime-time lineup has yet to achieve. Still, Kellner called the children’s fare a “feeder tube” that will help lead younger viewers to the WB’s prime-time shows, which are most popular among teenagers.

The surge in children’s ratings is all the more impressive given that the prime-time lineup has softened this season, falling to an average 3.9 million viewers--leaving the WB tied with its fellow aspirant to the “fifth network” title, UPN, which has received a huge boost from the wrestling show “WWF Smackdown!”

The competition in children’s programming remains fierce--played out by media giants in both the broadcast and cable arenas. Beyond its interest in the WB, Time Warner controls the Cartoon Network, pitting its children’s arsenal against Viacom (whose holdings include Nickelodeon, part of UPN and if granted the necessary approvals, CBS) as well as Disney (ABC and the Disney Channel) and News Corp. (Fox and the Fox Family Channel).

*

To these companies, the bottom-line significance of children’s programming extends into several areas, including merchandising, sale of videos and even characters for theme parks.

Networks could also be grappling this spring over a shrinking pool of advertising dollars. With toy companies such as Hasbro and Mattel experiencing stock woes and new cable channels creating a glut of available ad time, analysts have speculated the $900 million spent on media buys in children’s TV programs could decline next season.

The “X-Men” series, meanwhile, is particularly important to Marvel, keeping the franchise alive long after the movie--with a cast that includes Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen and Halle Berry--fades from theaters.

Marvel’s parent company, Toy Biz, will market a line of toys related to the property and, according to sources, will spend several million dollars advertising on the WB. Network officials say advertising for the toys was entirely unrelated to the series deal, and Marvel executives couldn’t be reached for comment.

ABC, which slipped to fourth place among kids during the February sweeps, has already announced its own big gun for next season, “Buzz Lightyear of Star Command,” featuring the character from Disney’s hit “Toy Story” films. CBS could also be a more formidable player come fall, having announced plans for a block of Saturday morning programming supplied by Nickelodeon--an early dividend from the pending merger with Viacom.