Press Releases

SAN FRANCISCO, CA (July 10, 2012) - Sony Pictures Consumer Products Inc. and PlayFirst Inc. today announced a licensing deal has been finalized in which PlayFirst shall develop and market an immersive mobile game based on the 3D animated comedy, Hotel Transylvania. The mobile game, to be called, Hotel Transylvania Dash, will leverage the signature Dash® time management game mechanic that has captivated millions of dedicated fans around the world. The game will be an all-new take on PlayFirst's popular Hotel Dash mobile game, featuring next generation animated art and characters from Sony Pictures Animation's Hotel Transylvania feature film scheduled for release on September 28, 2012.

Hotel Transylvania Dash will be the first PlayFirst game to seamlessly integrate movie characters and themes into a fun and immersive mobile game with mass appeal. Sony Pictures Consumer Products Inc. turned to PlayFirst for its signature addictive Dash® game play that has reached more than 600 million dedicated fans around the world.

"Sony Pictures Animation is pushing the creative limits of 3D animation with great story and characters in Hotel Transylvania, enabling us to deliver the kind of mobile game that will fully immerse players into a fantasy world with engaging characters and fun gameplay," said Marco DeMiroz, president and CEO of PlayFirst. "This deal with Sony, along with others that we have delivered on, continue to demonstrate the unique appeal of PlayFirst mobile games when combined with top content and major media brands."

"For the Hotel Transylvania mobile game, we wanted a licensee who could uniquely deliver the high quality game experience and fun on par with our movie. PlayFirst delivers a proven, immersive game mechanic and a worldwide recognized brand with both the ability to develop a great game and market it globally to an existing and growing fan base," said Mark Caplan, vice president of licensing and consumer products for Sony Pictures Entertainment.

The game will be available in the iTunes App Store on September 20, 2012.

About Hotel Transylvania
Welcome to Hotel Transylvania, Dracula's lavish five-stake resort, where monsters and their families can live it up, free to be the monsters they are without humans to bother them. On one special weekend, Dracula has invited some of his best friends - Frankenstein and his wife, the Mummy, the Invisible Man, the Werewolf family, and more - to celebrate his beloved daughter Mavis's 118th birthday. For Drac, catering to all of these legendary monsters is no problem - but everything could change for the overprotective dad when one ordinary guy stumbles on the hotel and takes a shine to Mavis. Directed by Genndy Tartakovsky. Produced by Michelle Murdocca. Screenplay by Peter Baynham and Robert Smigel. Story by Todd Durham and Daniel Hageman & Kevin Hageman.

About Sony Pictures Consumer Products
Sony Pictures Consumer Products manages the studio's film and television merchandising, licensing and retail opportunities for Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. for current and library properties by working with manufacturers (licensees) and retailers to create quality products and services and increase consumer awareness.

About Sony Pictures Animation
Sony Pictures Animation produces a variety of animated entertainment for audiences around the world. The studio is following its worldwide comedy hits - the 2011 hybrid live action/animated family blockbuster, The Smurfs (3D) and the 2009 mouth-watering Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (3D) - with the family comedy Hotel Transylvania (3D) in September 2012 and The Smurfs 2 (3D) in July 2013. Sony Pictures Animation, in conjunction with Aardman Animations, has produced two critically acclaimed feature films: the CG-animated family comedy Arthur Christmas (3D); and the stop-frame animated high-seas adventure, The Pirates! Band of Misfits (3D). In 2007, Surf's Up received an Academy Award® nomination for Best Animated Feature Film. The division, whose first feature film Open Season led to a very successful movie franchise, is turning 10 this year. Sony Pictures Animation is an operating unit of Sony Pictures Digital.

About PlayFirst
PlayFirst's mission is to be the world's first choice for fun. Through the success of worldwide megahits like Diner Dash®, PlayFirst has become the leading creator of mobile fun for family and friends. With over 600 million downloads worldwide, games in the Dash portfolio, including Diner Dash, Wedding Dash®, Cooking Dash®, Hotel Dash® and SpongeBob Diner Dash®, are the global leaders in time management mobile games. PlayFirst games are crafted using the PlayFirst Recipe for Fun™ which uniquely combines brand, characters, relatability, engagement, authenticity and quality, with feedback from its worldwide player base, to create hit after hit, including the most recent hit freemium game, Mall Stars®. For more information, please see www.playfirst.com.

Notes: PlayFirst, Diner Dash, Wedding Dash, Cooking Dash, Hotel Dash and Mall Stars are registered trademarks of PlayFirst, Inc. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.

Contacts:

For PlayFirst:
Julie McHenry
Communications Insight, LLC
julie@comminsight.com
650-504-6655
OR
Lauren Quan
lauren@playfirst.com
510-520-3468

Olivier Mouroux
Vice President, Publicity & Corporate Communications
Sony Pictures Animation
310-840-8230
omouroux@spanimation.com