HIT Entertainment Digital Newsroom

Thomas & Friends™: Team Up With Thomas

All Aboard! New Engine Friends and A New Engine Driver Take Thomas & Friends™ Full Steam Ahead!

New York, NY

Available As A Single DVD Or Packaged With A Thomas Wooden Railway Engine
On May 19, 2009 From Lionsgate And HIT Entertainment

Street Date: 5/19/09
Order Date: 4/22/09
DVD SRP: $16.98 with toy train/$14.98 DVD alone

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
The beloved animated children's series, Thomas & Friends™, has a new look, new engine friends and a new live-action host, Mr. Arkwright, waiting with a warm smile and a tip of the hat to welcome you to the Island of Sodor. Teaching timeless life lessons such as friendship, cooperation and respect for others, Thomas & Friends invites children to enter a world of imagination through the tracks of a train and the words of a story. Enjoy thrilling new stories when Thomas & Friends: Team Up With Thomas steams onto DVD May 19, 2009 from Lionsgate and HIT Entertainment.

The new host, Mr. Arkwright, can be seen ONLY on DVD, and is a new driver on the Island of Sodor. Mr. Arkwright is Sir Topham Hatt's right-hand man, and engages children with interactive dialogue and extra fun, like showing how to build a cardboard engine for Sir Topham Hatt's grandchildren. As an added bonus, Lionsgate and HIT Entertainment are also releasing a special limited edition of Thomas & Friends: Team Up With Thomas packaged with a Thomas Wooden Railway engine.

DVD SYNOPSIS
Everyone's favorite true blue engine, Thomas, is back with friends old and new in four fun adventures on the Island of Sodor in Thomas & Friends: Team Up With Thomas. This DVD is enhanced with state-of-the-art CG animation and a new live-action host, Mr. Arkwright, who welcomes viewers with a smile and a fun project for Lady Hatt's grandchildren. Thomas, Edward, Toby, James and the rest of the engines introduce young engineers to Hank, a big, strong, new engine, and Flora, a lovely new lady steam engine. Together, they take us along on their tasks around the island. Be careful: trouble may lie around the next bend. But one thing's for certain - you'll always come home with a brand new friend!

Episodes include:

• "Heave Ho Thomas" - Sir Topham Hatt asks Thomas to show Hank, the new engine, around the island. Thomas quickly rails against Hank's brash personality and refuses to let Hank help him with his important jobs. When overloaded, Thomas cracks a cylinder and needs Hank's help. The two soon become good friends.
• "James Works It Out" - It's winter on the island and James is telling everyone he always knows best and never needs advice from anyone! When Hector tries to warn him about the bad weather, he decides to ignore him. He soon changes his mind when they get stuck in the snow. Luckily, Hector is happy to help his friend James.
• "Tram Trouble" - Toby is very excited about leading the parade at the first Great Waterton festival, so when Thomas discovers that Flora, the new steam tram, is also leading the parade, Thomas is worried his friend will be upset. Thomas tries to impede the forthcoming events…little does he know that Toby is scared of leading the parade on his own!
• "Push Me Pull You" - The Puppet Show has arrived on the Island of Sodor and Skarloey excitedly asks Sir Topham Hatt if he can pull the puppet show special. The trucks are very heavy, and instead of accepting Rheneas' offer of help, Skarloey challenges him to a tug of war with the trucks. Disaster quickly ensues, and Skarloey learns that friendship is the strongest thing of all.

DVD SPECIAL FEATURES
Spot the Difference Game
Sir Topham Hatt's Helping Hands
Bonus Episode: Roary™ the Racing Car - "Roary Takes Off" The all-new TV series from the creators of Bob the Builder™

PROGRAM INFORMATION
Title Copyright: Copyright: © 2009 HIT Entertainment Limited. Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends™ Based on The Railway Series by The Reverend W Awdry. © 2009 Gullane (Thomas) Limited. Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends and Thomas & Friends are trademarks of Gullane (Thomas) Limited. Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends and Design is Reg. U.S. Pat. & Tm. Off.
Rating: NR
Genre: Children/Family/Ages 2-5
Closed Captioned: English Closed Captioned
Format: Full Screen
Feature Running Time: 46 minutes
DVD Audio Status: English, Spanish and French 2.0 Dolby Digital
Website: www.thomasandfriends.com

To download art, visit www.lionsgatepublicity.com or www.hitnewsonline.com