Jaw-Dropping Garfield iPad App Launches Today

New York (October 6, 2011) – Technology, art, and humor come together in Garfield’s BooClips app available today from Israel-based Castle Builders (IL). This stunning digital children’s book application takes full advantage of Jim Davis’ GARFIELD via an original screenplay written by Davis. Garfield’s Pet Force leaps off the pages in this iPad storybook using rich multimedia, video clips, vivid animations and music from the original movie.

The BooClips™ app offers a wide array of fantastic features such as word-for-word narration, voiceover recording, HD video, 3D interface, touch capabilities, sign language interpretation, translation to different languages, easy navigation between pages, an animated magnifying glass, a dynamic bookmark that remembers where the reading was stopped for the next time the app is running, and other features easily accessible with the touch of a finger. The Garfield BooClips app is now available not only for the iPad, but also for the PC and the Mac, via Castle Builders’ new digital book store – www.booclips.com, which was launched earlier this week.

“When I first saw this app in use my jaw dropped, “said Garfield creator Jim Davis. “It was like having a book, a movie, a narrator, and a translator in my hands.  The overall experience packs so much punch – it’s changed the way I look at digital storybooks.”

Davis’s Garfield’s Pet Force, written for a motion picture in CGI for Twentieth Century Fox and the Animation Picture Company, delivered the right balance of storytelling and action to compliment abilities of this high-tech app.  In the story, Garfield faces a battle of epic proportions when the characters of Cartoon World – Garfield, Odie, Arlene, and Pooky – are drawn into a parallel universe where they exist as superheroes engaged in a fight with the evil Vetvix who’s bent on controlling the entire universe.  The earthly counterparts are soon recruited by their superhero counterparts to save the world.

The app launches today in the iTunes store:  http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/garfields-booclips-garfields/id466305557?ls=1&mt=8.  A demonstration of the product’s capabilities can been found on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bkti4n-HfCM .

Castle Builders keeps up with its contribution to the community by providing an optional American Sign Language interpretation in every part of the narration throughout the BooClip. With an Eco-friendly product, greener than ever, the app offers realistic animated page flip and every book attribute that you can think of, without the use of actual paper.

About Castle Builders (IL), Ltd.
Castle Builders (IL) is a young evolving software company that specializes in the development of imaginative products for children. Its main goal is to encourage children all over the world to read more, with a commitment to innovation and entertainment. The company works diligently to deliver an inspiring experience directly to the child, by harnessing state-of-the-art technology for the creation of a user-friendly interface and incomparable features. The company was incorporated in Israel in 2006 by Gil Abramovich, who found an enormous business opportunity in the vanishing world of the traditional reading and anticipated the tremendous trend for digital reading.

Additional information is available on the www.castle-builders.net company website.

About Garfield
GARFIELD was born on the comics pages on June 19, 1978.  The mastermind of cartoonist Jim Davis, GARFIELD is a humorous strip centered on the lives of a fat, lazy, cynical orange cat who loves lasagna, coffee, and his remote control; his owner, the long-suffering Jon Arbuckle; and Odie, a sweet but dumb dog. GARFIELD was introduced to the world in just 41 newspapers but quickly became the fastest growing and most widely syndicated comic strip ever. Today, the strip appears in over 2310 newspapers and is read daily by over 200 million people around the globe.

The success of the comic strip spawned a popular animated TV show, “Garfield & Friends,” which appeared on CBS-TV from 1988 to 1995, and is currently in worldwide syndication.  In 2009, “The Garfield Show”, debuted on Cartoon Network USA and now airs on Cartoon Network in 130 countries/territories.  PEOPLE magazine called the show, “One of the Year’s Best New Kids’ Shows” in 2009.

Twentieth Century Fox made Garfield a movie star in his first-ever full-length feature film, GARFIELD: THE MOVIE, released in June 2004.  A sequel to the movie, GARFIELD: A TAIL OF TWO KITTIES was released in June 2006.  The movies earned over $340 million at the box office.  Garfield also has been the star in three CGI animated movies, all penned by Jim Davis.  Fox released Garfield Gets Real (2007), Garfield’s Fun Fest (2008), and Garfield’s Pet Force (2009) on DVD and in limited theatrical release. 

Garfield enjoys a healthy product-licensing program whereby nearly 400 manufacturers crank out thousands of products depicting Garfield and the rest of the gang. The licensing and creative business for Garfield is handled by Paws, Inc., founded in 1981 by Davis.  The company, located in rural Indiana in the US, is a privately held company and the sole owner of the copyrights and trademarks for Garfield and the Garfield characters.       

Garfield’s empire also includes a popular web site, www.garfield.com. Garfield recently added a new edutainment site to his accomplishes.  He engages kids in interesting and pedagogically sound activities to promote literacy at www.professorgarfield.org.

Garfield has long been considered a “classic” or “evergreen” property because he has not only endured, but continues to be fresh and funny after over 30 years in the limelight.
 
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Contact Information

Ori Abramovich

VP Marketing

Castle Builders (IL)

ori@castle-builders.biz