With the biggest kidvid sell-through season of the year underway, several old-guard franchises are poised to cash in on the spirit of shopping. On October 31, Universal will release Casper’s Haunted Christmas on DVD (US$26.98) and VHS (US$19.98). Uni will run print ads in support of the vid (which prebooks on October 6) in parenting pubs and spots on kids cablers such as Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon. Promo partners tying in for the all-CGI direct video title include Orange Julius and Baskin-Robbins.

On October 31, Warner Bros. will drop Teletubbies: Christmas in the Snow, the dual-cassette follow-up to last year’s Merry Christmas. For this Tubbies release (US$29.98), which prebooks on October 3, pubco Scholastic has created the tie-in picturebook, The Snow Tubby, which will carry a sticker promoting the video.

In support of the release, WHV will run print ads in Parenting, Parents, Child and Baby Talk this quarter.

For older kids, WHV will also release Dexter’s Laboratory: Ego Trip on November 7. The first feature-length movie based on the Cartoon Net property will also feature two eps from the show Dexter’s Laboratory. Available on VHS (US$14.95) only, WHV will support the title

with national print, TV, in-theater and on-line advertising.

Random unveils final chapter in Dark Materials

The Amber Spyglass (US$19.95), the much-hyped third and final installment in Philip Pullman’s fantastical His Dark Materials trilogy, about a universe where a person’s negative traits transmute into the form of an animal, will hit bookshelves in hardcover this month. Since August, pubco Random House Children’s Books has been offering excerpts of the title on-line at theamberspyglass.com. Last month, RHC also ran a contest offering 100 retailers the chance to give away 10 copies of the book to consumers a month in advance of its publication date.

Landoll captures Cardcaptors license

Ashland, Ohio-based publisher Landoll has signed a deal with licensor Nelvana to create a line of coloring activity books based on anime property Cardcaptors. The Kodansha-produced series, which debuted on Kids’ WB! in June, follows the adventures Sakura, a fourth-grade Japanese girl who hunts for monsters and tries to return them to a magic deck of cards. Landoll will release the books to stores in March.