The six teenage fairies at the centre of the Winx Club phenomenon are so popular these days that their creator is starting to be seen in his native Italy as a homegrown Walt Disney.
The imminent arrival of the Winx Club fairies on cinema screens, first in Italy and then abroad, highlights the level of success achieved by Rainbow SpA, which is soon to be floated on the Milan bourse.
Rainbow, the production company founded by Iginio Straffi in 1995, has just posted first-half profits of 5.5 million euros, an improvement of 33% on the same period last year.
From its base in the Marche region, it has managed to get the Winx Cub cartoons on TV screens in 130 countries. Merchandising has generated around 1.5 billion euros in the last four years.
Although its other projects have had their share of success, it has been the Winx Club that has made Rainbow a name recognised in the entertainment industry around the world.
The appeal of the six magical teenagers is based partly on the same fantasy and magic formula as Harry Potter. Like the English wizard, the characters grapple with a mixture of everyday teenage problems and extraordinary adventures in which they take the cause of good against evil.
Winx creators have made sure each sharply dressed fairy has a quite distinct identity so that the 6-12 year olds they are aimed at could find one to identify with: the passionate Bloom, the fashion-obsessed Stella, the sensitive Musa, the more down-to-earth Flora, the gadget-savvy Tecna and the seductive Aisha.
With Winx Club paraphernalia now adorning the bedroom and schoolbag of practically every Italian girl under the age of 12, the fairies have undoubtedly conquered their native land.
The next boost to the Winx's global reach will come with the 3-D animated feature film which is due to be released in Italy next month and in countries from Brazil to Turkey a few weeks later.
The film - Winx, The Secret of the Lost Kingdom - will be helped along by the voice of Australian pop star Natalie Imbruglia, who sings the theme song and appears to be a Winx fan herself.
"They're girls of today with a passion and drive that enables them to overcome all danger. It's the same drive that allowed me to make my bid for success and in the end succeed in what I wanted to do," she said.
Thanks to the planetary appeal of Stella & co., Rainbow is about to start building new production and design studios.
Meanwhile, Winx fairy dolls are now the third most popular dolls in the world and Rainbow is stepping up merchandising efforts with DVDs of the television series and a clothing line offering the world's tweens a 'Winx total look'.
