KIDS show Hi-5 is going global with a US version, pop single and movie in the works.
In a series of major coups for the BRW rich-listed show, Hi-5 will be televised in the UK with more screen time than it gets in Australia.
Hi-5 co-creator Helena Harris is in New York this week casting for a US version of the show, to be shot in Sydney.
Ms Harris confirmed a pop single and feature-length movie are part of the Hi-5 2003.
"The truth is, so much has happened this year and we really do have reason to celebrate, but we have to allow room for those projects," she told the Herald Sun.
"And until we get another big market involved, we would have to make a movie with a limited budget.
Considering production values are important to us, we want to make a movie we are all proud of.
Therefore, it's worth waiting a year."
Ms Harris's plans follow successful overseas assaults by The Wiggles, Humphrey B. Bear and another of her creations, Bananas in Pyjamas.
But Hi-5 is likely to find a wider audience because of its "cool" factor.
Hi-5's debut single, as yet untitled, will mark a push for radio airplay and the pop charts.
Ms Harris is firm about retaining control of the US version, given the cheesy leanings of most US kids shows.
"If the American Hi-5 cast are 80 per cent as talented as the Hi-5 we already have, I'll be thrilled," she said.
Hi-5 star Kellie Hoggart said:
"It's hard because American shows are a bit patronising.
"We had to make Hi-5 what it is by growing and working together, whereas the Americans are going to be working towards something by watching us."
In the UK, Hi-5 will be screened on Channel 5 five days a week, 36 weeks a year.
Hi-5 is shown in 61 countries, with the Australian cast - Hoggart, Nathan Foley, Tim Harding, Charli Robinson and Kathleen de Leon - beamed into 59 nations.
Hoggart's recent comments about money and a romance with Foley sparked angry denials from Channel 9.
