50 countries. Its library of comics-based characters spans across multiple genres and multiple target audiences. Its library includes characters that span story genres, including science fiction, fantasy, horror, mystery, romance, comedy, crime, action/adventure, and family. In addition to approximately 1,000 characters developed in-house, the company also acquired the rights to the characters and storylines of Italian-based, SBE Publishing's Horror/Sci-Fi Universe and French-based, Hexagon Comics, as well as U.S.-based Top Cow. Print Publishing Every project the company publishes is designed for adaptation to other media, including film and television. It licenses its characters and stories for domestic and/or international comics publishing. It also produces its own publications under the ‘Platinum Studios Comics' label. It has agreements with other publishers and original copyright holders whereby its agreement provides for these parties to continue publishing comic books, generating new characters and stories which are added to its library of material. The company has such arrangement with the Bonelli Publishing library from Italy, which produces comic books in printed form. Major characters from the Bonelli library include Nathan Never, Legs Weaver and Dylan Dog. Digital Publishing The company intends to commercialize its intellectual property through viable media outlets and channels, including the online content space. It intends to aggregate various online comic properties and develop an online comics ‘portal,' where it can further interact with the comic-creator and -fan communities through content, reference information, community tools and other interactive features. Online Comics Community / Portal: In 2006, the company acquired Drunk Duck (www.drunkduck.com), an online Web comic community with approximately 3,000 strips and 10 million monthly page views. It intends to create a network of sites for the online comic genre (which includes Web based comic strips similar to the traditional newspaper format, online comic books and graphic novels, and streaming/electronic comics) anchored by Drunk Duck. Casual Games The company's Drunk Duck portal includes a casual gaming section, with a range of games featuring characters and story lines from its library. Digital Studio Model The company is in the process of creating a ‘digital studio,' which would be positioned to exploit its intellectual property across the Web and expand its audience for comic-based entertainment. Content developed through the digital studio would be tailored to Web distribution platforms, including electronic comics, streaming video/video-on-demand, all of which would be distributed through its own syndication network, Splastk. Mobile/Wireless Distribution Through affiliations and partnerships with mobile content developers, syndicators, and distributors, the company intends to make available a range of downloadable content, including ring tones, wallpapers, and games, featuring characters, icons and concepts from its library of characters. Filmed Entertainment: Feature Films The company is pursuing a multi-pronged approach to create feature films: Licensing characters and stories to third-party producers and/or affiliated major studios for production; and Secure outside financing to produce its own slates of films. Filmed Entertainment: Television In television, the company intends to license its characters and stories to third-party producers for sale to broadcast and cable television networks: and secure third-party financing to produce its own specials and series. Significant Events On February 4, 2009, Sony Pictures Animation Inc. has set a deal with Platinum Studios Inc. to develop an animated feature. Customers The company's customers include film production companies. History Platinum Studios, Inc. was founded in 1996.