Nickelodeon's Stars Light Up the 84th Annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade® With Miranda Cosgrove, Big Time Rush, Victoria Justice, Dora and SpongeBob

Nickelodeon's Stars Light Up the 84th Annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade® With Miranda Cosgrove, Big Time Rush, Victoria Justice, Dora and SpongeBob

Parade to Feature Appearance by Miranda Cosgrove, Performances by Big Time Rush and Victoria Justice

Three-time Grammy Award-Winning India.Arie to Perform on Brand-New Dora the Explorer Float

NEW YORK, Nov. 8, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Some of Nickelodeon's most popular stars will participate in the 84th Annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade® on Thursday, Nov. 25. iCarly star and teen sensation Miranda Cosgrove, one of the voices featured in the animated blockbuster hit film, Despicable Me, will make a special appearance on the Statue of Liberty Float with her co-stars the Minions. Big Time Rush, whose debut album entered the Billboard 200 at #3, will perform live at the Parade on Hess's Bridge to the Future float. Victoria Justice, star of Victorious, will perform on the Build-A-Bear Workshop®'s International Cele-bear-ation Clock Tower float. An all-new Dora the Explorer float inspired by the Dora's Christmas Carol Adventure television special, will be unveiled at the Parade and will feature a performance by India.Arie. SpongeBob SquarePants will make his sixth appearance as the only "square" balloon. The Samurai Power Rangers, whose new series is scheduled to air on Nickelodeon early next year, will make their first public appearance when they walk with the Planet Earth balloon. Additionally, Po the Panda, star of DreamWorks Animation SKG, Inc.'s (Nasdaq: DWA) hit feature film Kung Fu Panda, will make his balloon debut at the Parade.

"Nickelodeon has a long history of successful collaborations with Macy's and we're very excited to bring so many of our incredible characters and talent to the Parade this year," said Pam Kaufman, Chief Marketing Officer, Nickelodeon/MTVN Kids and Family Group. "Watching the Parade is a Thanksgiving Day tradition for millions of families across the country and it's the perfect event for our iconic characters and young stars who appeal to the entire family - from preschoolers, to tweens and teens, to their parents who enjoy the Nickelodeon shows with them."

Nickelodeon's participation in the 84th Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade includes:

-- Star of Nickelodeon's iCarly and teen sensation Miranda Cosgrove will be
riding aboard the Statue of Liberty float accompanied by the endearingly
mischievous Minions, in support of Despicable Me's Blu-ray/DVD release
on Dec. 14. The mega-hit series, iCarly, follows Carly Shay (Cosgrove)
and her two best friends as they create a webcast for and about kids
their age while grappling with everyday tween problems and adventures.
iCarly ranks as Nickelodeon's number-one show with K6-11 and T9-14 and
is the number-one live-action series with kids 2-11 in 2010. Cosgrove
is signed to Columbia Records, as part of the partnership between
Nickelodeon and Sony Music, and her first solo CD, Sparks Fly, debuted
at #8 on the Billboard chart in April 2010. In Universal's animated
feature Despicable Me, Cosgrove voiced the character of Margo, opposite
Steve Carell and Kristen Wiig.

-- Nickelodeon/Columbia Records group Big Time Rush -- Kendall Schmidt,
James Maslow, Carlos Pena, Logan Henderson -- will perform their current
hit "Til I Forget About You" on the Bridge to the Future float. The
song is off their newly released debut album, BTR, which entered the
Billboard Top 200 chart at #3 with over 66,000 units sold and features
original songs from the hit Nickelodeon comedy series, Big Time Rush.
Produced in partnership with Sony Music, the series follows four best
friends from Minnesota as they trade in their hockey sticks and parkas
for a chance at music superstardom in Los Angeles. Big Time Rush had
the highest-rated and most-watched live-action series premiere with
kids, tweens and total viewers (6.8 million) in the history of the
network.

-- Nickelodeon's newest rising teen star, Victoria Justice, will perform
"Freak the Freak Out," an original song from her hit comedy Victorious,
on the Build-A-Bear Workshop®'s float. On the series, Justice plays
the musically-talented "Tori Vega" who unexpectedly finds herself
navigating life as a student at an elite performing arts high school.
Currently in production on its second season, Victorious--a
co-production with Nickelodeon and Sony Music--is created and
exec-produced by TV hitmaker Dan Schneider (iCarly, Drake & Josh, Zoey
101). Justice first joined Nickelodeon in 2005 when she was cast as a
series regular on the network's Emmy-nominated hit Zoey 101. A triple
threat, Justice acted, sang and danced in the 2009 Nickelodeon
movie-musical Spectacular! and most recently, headlined her first-ever
television movie, The Boy Who Cried Werewolf.

-- Dora the Explorer is returning to the parade on a brand new float themed
to the holiday special, Dora's Christmas Carol Adventure. Joining Dora
will be three-time Grammy Award-winning artist India.Arie, who will
perform the Emmy-nominated song, "Nochebuena." The float will feature
Dora and a 12-foot tall Christmas tree decorated with dazzling ornaments
and very special gifts. Dora and her friends will showcase their most
recent adventure, where they teach their friend Swiper the true spirit
of the holidays.

-- Pop-culture icon and eternal optimist SpongeBob SquarePants will make
his sixth appearance when he takes a special holiday trip to soak up the
sights and sounds of the New York City. Based on the number-one animated
kids' show on TV, the SpongeBob balloon will absorb more than 16,200
cubic feet of helium to fly down the route. Although it may appear
square, the SpongeBob balloon isn't square at all; it is actually a
single chamber sphere, made intricately square-shaped by more than 600
internal tie-lines. Looking dapper as always, SpongeBob stands at
62-feet high, 38-feet wide and 28-feet long.

-- The most successful kids' action series returns with a bang when the
Samurai Power Rangers descend upon the streets of New York. Utilizing
their Samurai powers, which give them control over the elements of Fire,
Water, Sky, Forest, and Earth, the Rangers will embark on their first
journey together as they escort the Planet Earth balloon through the
streets of Manhattan. The parade marks the first-ever U.S. appearance of
the five Samurai Power Rangers as they get ready for the premiere of
their new series, Power Rangers Samurai, which will air on Nickelodeon
and Nicktoons in North America, premiering in early 2011. After the
Parade, fans can tune in to Nickelodeon for a special first look at the
new series.

-- In the fall of 2011, Nickelodeon will premiere Kung Fu Panda: The
Series, based on DreamWorks Animation's hit feature film, Kung Fu Panda,
which has grossed more than $630 million at the worldwide box office.
The new TV series will chronicle the further adventures of Po, who is
aided by his mentor Shifu and the Furious Five: Tigress, Mantis, Crane,
Monkey and Viper. At more than 16,000 cubic feet of helium, Po the Panda
is truly a larger-than-life master of the ancient Chinese art of Kung
Fu. Designed by the magicians at Macy's Parade Studio, Po was created
with the help of more than half a mile of fabric and is covered in 17
gallons of paint. For his Parade debut, Po the Panda measures 42-feet
tall, 46-feet long, and 34-feet wide, giving him the scale to take giant
leaps down the route, poised to deliver his signature martial arts moves
along the way. DreamWorks Animation plans to release Kung Fu Panda 2 in
theaters on May 27, 2011.

About the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

With more than 50 million viewers across the country and more than 3.5 million spectators that line up along the streets of New York City each year, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is a national icon that has grown into a world-famous holiday event. For more than 80 years, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade has marked the official start of the holiday season. Growing in size and scale, the Parade proudly marches down a more than 2-mile route in New York City with more than 8,000 participants in tow including Macy's employees, their families, celebrities, athletes, clowns and dance groups spreading holiday cheer. The Parade also features America's best marching bands, fabulous floats and Macy's signature giant helium character balloons. For more information on the Macy's Parade please visit www.macys.com/parade or call the Parade hotline at (212) 494-4495.

About Nickelodeon:

Nickelodeon, now in its 31st year, is the number-one entertainment brand for kids. It has built a diverse, global business by putting kids first in everything it does. The company includes television programming and production in the United States and around the world, plus consumer products, online, recreation, books and feature films. Nickelodeon's U.S. television network is seen in more than 100 million households and has been the number-one-rated basic cable network for 16 consecutive years. For more information or artwork, visit www.nickpress.com. Nickelodeon and all related titles, characters and logos are trademarks of Viacom Inc. (NYSE: VIA - News, VIA.B - News).

SOURCE Nickelodeon

Nickelodeon

CONTACT: Nickelodeon, Tori Fernandes, +1-212-846-4942, Tori.Fernandes@mtvstaff.com; or Macy's, Orlando Veras, +1-646-429-7450, Orlando.Veras@macys.com

Web Site: http://www.nick.com

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