Inkworks' schedule for the remainder of 2007 is an interesting mix of innovative TV series and fantasy movies.  Naruto, currently Inkworks' most popular property, gets two releases, a Naruto: Secret Weapons card series on June 27th and a Naruto 4th Collection, which is due out on November 1st.

The newcomer among Inkworks' TV releases is Jericho Season 1, which is due out on August 15th and which will include both autographs and piece-works chase cards.  Jericho is a serial drama that debuted on CBS last fall and it has developed a devoted following for its harrowing tales of life in a small Kansas town in the aftermath of a number of nuclear explosions across the U.S. including one in (relatively) nearby Denver. 

Although Jericho has averaged over seven million viewers, its future will not be assured until CBS announces the network's fall lineup later this month.  While most potential licensees for TV series wait until a show has been renewed at least once, Inworks' Allan Caplan chooses series that he really likes, a method that has served Inkworks well with licenses for such high quality series as Veronica Mars (the best continuing series on American TV), Buffy the Vampire Slayer (A 10th Anniversary Buffy series is due out on July 11th), Lost (ABC just announced that Lost will be renewed for three more 16-episode seasons and Inkworks' Lost Season 3 cards will be released on November 7th), Smallville (Season 5 is out now), Charmed (a Charmed Forever series is due out on May 30th), and Supernatural (Season 2 is out on September 12th).

Shrek the Third, the first of Inkworks' 2007 movie-based releases, has just been released.  It will be followed by The Dark is Rising with Inkworks' cards set for a September 5th release while the movie, which is based on Susan Cooper's series of fantasy novels, is currently slated to debut on September 28th.  Produced by Walden Media, the company behind the hugely successful Chronicles of Narnia, The Dark Is Rising is an Arthurian fantasy that won a Newberry Award in the 1960s and was reportedly one of Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling's favorite novels when she was growing up.  Of the numerous post-LOTR and Harry Potter fantasy movies, The Dark Is Rising is the one with real dark horse potential.

After The Dark Is Rising in Sepetmber Inkworks' next movie-based release will be based on what is certainly more of a sure thing, the $150 million fantasy blockbuster The Golden Compass (see 'Inkworks Has The Golden Compass License').  Inkworks' The Golden Compass cards are set for release on November 7th, a full month before the movie debuts on December 7th.  New Line, the company that produced the Lord of the Rings trilogy, is behind The Golden Compass, which is based on Phillip Pullman's His Dark Materials fantasy novels and which will have a panoply of licensed products (see 'Corgi Has 'The Golden Compass' Toy Line').

The final Inkworks' release of 2007 is a movie-based set of cards based on the Dark Horse Comics-inspired Alien vs. Predator 2 film, which is slated to debut on Christmas Day (Inkworks AvP2 cards will be out on December 5th).