It has been announced that Disney Branded Television and Hasbro Entertainment have joined forces to revive the Jetix entertainment brand of action-adventure childrens' programming. The venture will include a FAST channel on such venues as Tubi, Pluto TV, and Amazon Prime's free channel lineup (formerly known as Freevee), as well as a dedicated YouTube channel, a branded hub on Disney+, and programming blocks on Disney Channel and Disney XD, in order to cover as many bases as possible and expose the brand to the widest potential audience.
The venture follows a years-long successful partnership between The Walt Disney Company and Hasbro, Inc. for toys based on Disney's popular Marvel and Star Wars brands, which will be prominent brands within the new Jetix. Disney's Disney XD network also broadcasts the Beyblade series based on Hasbro's toyline, and Hasbro is also the current owner of the Power Rangers series. Both series had prominent spots on the old Jetix (various alongside Marvel series), and both will also be featured on the new Jetix, alongside other Disney and Hasbro brands like Transformers, acquisitions such as Yu-Gi-Oh! and Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir, library series such as Gargoyles, Kim Possible, and The Tick, and former Jetix original series such as Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go!, Yin Yang Yo!, and W.I.T.C.H.
"Jetix, despite its short five-year lifespan, was a brand that meant a lot to many people," said Hasbro Entertainment president Oliver Dumont, "and we are proud to join forces with Disney to bring it back."
"Disney's popular Marvel and Star Wars brands combined with Hasbro's iconic action portfolio of Power Rangers, Transformers, and Beyblade will create a force to be reckoned with in the action-adventure space," added Cort Lane, Hasbro Entertainment vice president of kids' television.
In addition to expanding the existing partnership between Disney and Hasbro, the primary reason for Jetix's revival is to breathe life into the struggling kids action space.
"Action-adventure is currently underserved and underappreciated [in the kids TV space]", said Ayo Davis, president of Disney Branded Television. "We believe that Jetix is the perfect way to rejuvinate this historically popular genre of childrens' television."
Disney and Hasbro will each own 40% of the new venture, with the remaining 20% being split evenly between Toei Company- producer of the Super Sentai series adapted into Power Rangers, and majority owner of Toei Animation, producer of many popular anime including former Jetix series Digimon- and King Features Entertainment- which, alongside the likes of Popeye and Cuphead, also licenses former Jetix original Pucca and owns several other prominent action-adventure brands such as Flash Gordon and The Phantom. King Features is a subsidiary of Hearst Communications, which co-owns the A&E Networks group with Disney.
New series announced for Jetix include the previously announced Transformers: Cyberworld series of shorts from Hasbro, unnamed Power Rangers series from Percy Jackson and the Olympians showrunners Jonathan E. Steinberg and Dan Shotz, and Messi and the Giants from Sony Pictures Television. Meanwhile, newly announced series in development include a live-action reboot of W.I.T.C.H., a new animated Star Wars series, and a new Fantastic Four series spinning off of the upcoming movie Fantastic Four: First Steps, all from Disney, as well as a Nerf game show from Hasbro and Sony Pictures Television, a new Digimon series from Toei Animation, and a reboot of Defenders of the Earth and animated Pucca shorts from King Features, the latter in addition with brand owner Vooz.
Despite its focus on the typically boy-centric action-adventure genre, Disney insists that Jetix will be a gender-neutral brand, highlighting appeal to girls with series like W.I.T.C.H., Pucca, Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir, Kim Possible, and Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, as well as the historic popularity of the flagship Power Rangers franchise among girls (to the point of getting specially-made dolls for girls during its 1990s heyday).
"Jetix is not a boy brand," Davis bluntly stated. "It's an action brand. There's a difference."
In addition to the YouTube, FAST, and Disney+ channels, Jetix will air on weekday afternoons and weekday evenings on Disney Channel, with encore presentations every night on Disney XD. The brand is expected to relaunch in July. If the brand is successful, Disney and Hasbro have expressed expanding the Jetix brand with spin-off lines, such as a preschool strand featuring such series as Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends and PJ Masks, or a retro line featuring X-Men: The Animated Series, The Transformers: Generation One, and the original Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers.
