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Archie Comics Publications has signed with CAA. The agency will seek to create branded entertainment opportunities in film and TV in much the way that it has for toymaker Mattel.

The 70-year-old Archie Comics owns such brands as Archie & Friends, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Josie and the Pussycats, Cosmo the Merry Martian, Super Duck and Dotty and Ditto.

The Archie Comics pact comes as Hollywood is quickly gobbling up established branded properties, as evidenced by Disney's pending acquisition of Marvel Entertainment and Warner Bros.' recent exec overhaul of DC Comics.

Talent agencies have also been catalysts in matching branded properties with studios. CAA helped set up Mattel's "Major Matt Mason" property as a starring vehicle for Tom Hanks. WME has done strong business for its client Hasbro, which just set an adaptation of its board game "Battleship" for a July 2011 release with Peter Berg directing (Daily Variety, Sept. 18).