NEW YORK, Jan. 11 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Mark Shapiro, President and CEO of Six Flags Inc (NYSE: PKS), announced today the creation of the company's new Entertainment and Marketing department. The department, led by veterans of the entertainment, marketing and communications fields, will focus on creating a rich entertainment environment focused on the family audience at Six Flags parks around the country.

"At Six Flags, our mission is to surround the best rides in the world with entertainment from the fields of music, theater, sports, film and television," said Shapiro. "We want to be about more than rides -- Six Flags must be about a wider, more fulfilling experience. We also look forward to recharging our broad relationship with Warner Bros. through such great brands as Looney Tunes and DC Comics."

The new department, based in New York City, includes in-park entertainment, promotions, licensing agreements, advertising, communications and investor relations.

Former ESPN executive Mike Antinoro will lead the division as Executive Vice President, Entertainment and Marketing. "Mike is a strong and creative leader who will focus on enhancing the Six Flags entertainment experience while fielding dynamic new marketing and communications programs to improve customer satisfaction and drive business and buzz to our parks," said Shapiro.

Antinoro served as the Executive Producer of ESPN Original Entertainment (EOE) through November 2005. EOE is the core creative group that led the ESPN brand into non-traditional sports and entertainment programming. During his tenure at EOE, Antinoro created a number of successful original movies, a critically acclaimed dramatic series, talk, reality and game shows, documentaries and "The World Series of Poker" franchise. EOE won the prestigious Peabody Award in 2002 and since 2000 has been nominated for more than 20 Sports Emmys. Prior to his work at EOE, Antinoro served directly under Shapiro as coordinating producer of ESPN's landmark SportsCentury series.

"I'm incredibly enthusiastic about the opportunity to play a role in the rebirth of the Six Flags brand, and we've put together an outstanding leadership team to support this effort," said Antinoro. "I'm confident that their combination of experience and past successes will help Six Flags achieve new heights in providing the most creative and attractive entertainment environment possible for our Six Flags guests."

Reporting to Antinoro will be:

Angelina Vieira, Senior Vice President, Entertainment and Marketing. As President of Bugaboo, creators of the popular Bugaboo Frog baby stroller, Angie launched the company's North American marketing campaigns, enabling sales growth of over 500 percent in just two years. Earlier, with advertising agency Wieden + Kennedy, she worked to build brands for Nike, Microsoft, cK one, Krispy Kreme Doughnuts and ESPN. For Nike Women, Vieira heightened awareness of sports for young girls through the "If You Let Me Play" campaign; at ESPN, her responsibilities included the award winning campaign "This is SportsCenter," and the network's first brand campaign, "Without Sports."

Wendy Goldberg, Senior Vice President, Communications. As a senior strategist in corporate communications, Goldberg played a leadership role in building and maintaining companies' brand equity and focus on the consumer. From 1996 to 2002, she established and built the communications discipline for America Online, Inc.'s pioneering efforts in e-commerce and interactive marketing. She also developed and implemented a number of communications strategies, both internal and external, for the company's brand marketing, partner relations, member services and technologies organizations.

    Six Flags is the world's largest regional theme park company.

     LOONEY TUNES: TM & (C) Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
     DC SUPER HEROES: TM & (C) DC Comics.
     (s06)

    Forward Looking Statements:

The information contained in this news release, other than historical information, consists of forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act. These statements may involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in such statements. These risks and uncertainties include, among others, the costs of reviewing and responding to the unsolicited offer and consent solicitation, and other impacts of the proposed offer on Six Flags' operations. Although Six Flags believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to have been correct. Important factors, including factors impacting attendance, such as local conditions, events, disturbances and terrorist activities, risks of accidents occurring at Six Flags' parks, adverse weather conditions, general economic conditions (including consumer spending patterns), competition, pending, threatened or future legal proceedings and other factors could cause actual results to differ materially from Six Flags' expectations. Reference is made to a more complete discussion of forward-looking statements and applicable risks contained under the captions "Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements" and "Business - Risk Factors" in Six Flags' Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2004, which is available free of charge on Six Flags' website at www.sixflags.com

SOURCE Six Flags Inc