According to Variety, two seasoned executives with President of Marvel on their resumes have formed a new company, The Hatchery, to develop kid- and family-oriented intellectual property for media and consumer products.  

 

TV executive Margaret Loescher, who became President/CEO of Marvel Productions in 1984, brought X-Men to Fox Kids more recently, and has also run the Hallmark Channel, Jim Henson Productions, and held executive positions at Hanna Barbera and NBC. 

 

Former toy company executive Bruce Stein was President of Marvel Comics for a brief period in the mid-90s, and also had top positions on both sides of the toy wars -- as president of Kenner, and as president-worldwide of Mattel under Jill Barad.  Backing is coming from Mandalay Entertainment CEO Peter Guber and COO Paul Schaeffer. 

 

Properties already under development include Benji Returns:  Rags to Riches, which is due for release next summer, and future works based on the CGI short The Freak.