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Paramount to court teens with Habbo

Written by Joseph B. Mauceri

Tuesday, 29 January 2008 08:16

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BY Marc Graser

{Variety} - Paramount Pictures Digital Entertainment has inked a licensing deal with online virtual world Habbo to court teens with the studio's pics.

Deal will enable the studio to create and sell virtual goods based off its slate of films. First to get the push will be "The Spiderwick Chronicles," "Beowulf" and "Mean Girls."

Items will include, for example, themed apparel to accessorize avatars, and virtual furniture.

Habbo is considered the largest online virtual world for teens, with more than 1.8 million members among the demographic in North America. It has 8 million unique users visiting the site worldwide.

Par pact is Habbo's first with a major studio. Par is courting others to use its films to attract young demos as well, while giving Habbo new merchandise to offer its user base.

Habbo had already been developing an original animated series with Lionsgate to appear on the site.

"The Habbo audience demands that their community reflect today's real-world pop culture entertainment landscape," said Teemu Huuhtanen, executive VP of Habbo business and the company's North America prexy. "By establishing a licensing deal with a leading studio like Paramount Pictures Digital Entertainment, we are able to produce themed virtual goods relevant to the movies our teen audience is watching, while simultaneously implementing impactful promotional campaigns for the studio."