Licensing: The latest toy deals
By C. Annicelli, T. Benitez & K. Peterson -- Playthings, 6/26/2007 10:58:00 AM
From big screen franchises to popular animated series to book and video game characters, this year's Licensing Show saw toy-related deals get done across the spectrum of product categories. Here's our round-up of who signed what with whom before, during and in the few days since this year's event.
In 2008, Harrison Ford returns for the fourth installment of the Indiana Jones franchise, and Hasbro is already on board as the master toy and game licensee. Under the partnership, Hasbro will develop a line of action figures, vehicles, role play toys and games, scheduled for release spring 2008, just before Lucasfilm’s movie release in May.
Hasbro's Indiana Jones license builds upon its 30-year relationship with Lucasfilm Ltd., which began when Hasbro made action figures for the first Star Wars movie. Since then, Hasbro has helped build Star Wars into the No. 1 boys' action brand of all time.
“Indiana Jones is a property with tremendous heritage and vast territory to be explored,” said Brian Goldner, Hasbro's chief operating officer. “We see many parallels with the Star Wars franchise in that the property appeals both to children, who love new adventures, and to parents, who have unforgettable memories of Indiana Jones.”
Lucasfilm has also signed Lego to produce construction toys based on the Indiana Jones films, including next year’s installment. Four playsets based on the original Indiana Jones trilogy will launch in 2008. Three of the sets will be based on iconic scenes from the first film, Raiders of the Lost Ark: Temple Escape, based on the movie’s rolling boulder scene; Race for the Stolen Treasure, based on Indy’s fight between two trucks; and Indiana Jones and the Lost Tomb, which will let kids reenact the scene when Indy rescues Marion from an Egyptian tomb full of snakes. The fourth set, Motorcycle Chase, is based on a scene from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade where Indy and his father escape to a hidden temple. Playsets based on the fourth movie will launch in May 2008, concurrent with the film. Like Hasbro, Lego already produces a line of toys based on the Star Wars movies.
Lego is also licensing out some of its most popular properties, including Bionicle, Exo-Force and the classic Lego brand, partnering with several licensees to bring the brands to life through high-quality merchandise in children's lifestyle categories, including children's furniture with partner InCap Ltd. Furniture, an expansion of apparel with Soul Industry, food from Kellogg's and additional video games by TT Games.
As master toy licensee, Mattel will take on Speed Racer and the latest Batman film, The Dark Knight—both out next summer—in categories including: vehicles, action figures, action play, remote control vehicles, handheld electronics and games and puzzles.
Written and directed by Larry and Andy Wachowski (The Matrix creators), Speed Racer is a live-action adventure film based on the classic anime series, first created by Japanese anime pioneer Tatsuo Yoshido in the 1960s as a manga series, following the adventures of the young race car, a Mach 5 race car. Inspired by Mach 5, the Hot Wheels brand will offer a wide assortment of die-cast vehicles, race sets and track sets as well as additional R/C vehicles, modeled after the famous car, from Tyco. Radica, Mattel's games and electronics division, will develop a line of games and puzzles, including a special-edition UNO card game. Speed Racer products are expected to arrive in retail late March 2008.
Just in time for the July ’08 release of The Dark Knight, starring Christian Bale once again as the Caped Crusader and Heath Ledger as the Joker, Mattel will take some specific elements from the Batman film to create a product line for kids, including: a new vehicle, the Batpod; action scenes that set the stage for role play items; an action figure line will feature Batman in his new Batsuit; new, chunkier Superfriends action figures and vehicles designed for smaller hands; role-play items like a Mega Cape with cowl—which opens 6 feet wide—a Grapnel Launcher and Attack Bat will also be included in the line. Tyco R/C vehicles will bring the Batmobile and the Batpod to life on a smaller scale. Mattel will release a line of board games and puzzles. All are expected to be available beginning June 2008; additional partners for The Dark Knight include Rubies (adult/kid costumes); Lego (construction sets), Digital Blue (electronics) and Jada Toys (plastic figures).
Mattel has also signed a licensing partnership with Idea Nuova to produce a first-ever collection of Hot Wheels and Barbie room furnishings. Among the new products featuring the toymaker’s glamour gal are regulation golf clubs for girls ages 3 to 5 and 5 to 8 from SportsSource that feature light and sound elements expected to reach sporting good stores in time for holiday ’07; an expanded assortment of Emerson electronics, particularly a new iPod speaker and digital photo frames; retro T-shirts from Mighty Fine; and additional “luxe” jewelry from Layna and Alan Friedman Diamonds. Fisher-Price merchandise focuses on themes like “rainforest” for apparel, baby gear and textiles that ratchet up the cuteness of their animal and other self-created characters without hammering home an overwhelming F-P brand message.
Emeryville, Calif.-based LeapFrog has partnered with PorchLight Entertainment, which recently formed a domestic home entertainment division, PorchLight Home Entertainment, to focus on the distribution of more kids and family programming with the addition of animated features from LeapFrog. PorchLight Home Entertainment‘s initial releases will include the LeapFrog animated DVD special, A Tad of Christmas Cheer, a spin on the James Stewart classic, It’s a Wonderful Life, featuring a 4-year-old frog, Tad, and his friends and family in November.
“LeapFrog is one of the leading educational electronic companies in the world and we are confident that this new release will follow in the path of prior LeapFrog DVD releases that have sold millions of units to date,” says Gary Jones, senior vice president of PorchLight Home Entertainment.
Jakks Pacific is the new master toy licensee for Big Tent Entertainment’s The Wiggles. The company plans a line of toys and related preschool products based on the Australian-import pop group under its Child Guidance brand.Categories covered in Jakks’ agreement include plush, preschool toys, musical toys, role play products, youth electronics, bath toys, craft and activity kits, interactive, dance mats, foam puzzles, playsets, seasonal and outdoor products. The first products under the deal will debut at retail in fall 2008.
Hello Kitty’s U.S. home, Torrance, Calif.-based Sanrio, named Jennifer Campbell, vice president of licensing for the company. In this new position, Campbell will work to expand the Hello Kitty franchise and other Sanrio brands into multiple categories throughout North America. Campbell joins Sanrio with a background of positions at Mattel, Upper Deck and Walt Disney Studios.
iToys is partnering to create interactive toys for the upcoming Spiderwick Chronicles film from Paramount Pictures, including the “Seeing Stone,” featured in the film, as well as figures that feature magnetic motion action. Additional licensees for Spiderwick include University Games and Simon & Schuster, for games and books, respectively. For Paramount’s Beowulf, McFarlane Toys, will produce action figures and 3-D wall pieces; Diamond Select Toys will develop figures, prop replicas and resin busts; Ubisoft will develop a video game; Fantasy Flight Games will develop additional games; IDW will create a four-part comic book series adapted from the movie's screenplay; and publishing products will debut from both Chronicle Books and HarperCollins.
Products for both films will likely begin in specialty and then expand to mass if the audience is as large as expected, Michael Bartok, executive vice president of licensing for Paramount told Playthings. “With each property, we look at the different ways the license gives the product resonance with consumers and the way the film resonates with the audience...We don’t want to do any category for the sake of doing the category. We’re not in the business of logo-slapping.”
New York’s Scholastic will release seven formats of books around the release of New Line Cinema's The Golden Compass in December, which the publisher is co-producing. Additional products will include multi-platform video games from Sega, figures from Corgi, collectibles from Master Replicas, trading cards from Inkworks, playsets from Mega Brands and games from Sababa Toys.
"We're reaching all these different ages," says Leslye Schaefer, senior vice president of Scholastic Media, told Playthings. "This property has such a large fan base." The first push of product will debut about six weeks prior to the release of the film, with additional promotions and support throughout the subsequent release of the DVD and, hopefully, ahead of another movie in the series, since Compass is the first book of a trilogy, Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials.
San Francisco manga publisher and anime producer Viz Media has named Bandai America its American toy licensee for products based on the new anime series Blue Dragon, which is based on the popular Microsoft Xbox 360 Role Playing Game, for release this August. Earlier this year, Viz was named the master licensor for the television, home video and non-video game merchandising rights for Blue Dragon.
For Fox properties, New York’s Mezco Toyz will continue to make Family Guy action figures; Electronic Arts is developing video games around drama series Prison Break and 24. Mcfarlane Toys will produce action figure based on the upcoming Halo 3 video game and feature film, out later this year, including characters Master Chief, Brute Chieftain, Jackal Sniper, a Grunt 2-Pack and Cortana. McFarlane will also produce three die-cast metal/plastic vehicles—Warthog, Chopper and Ghost. All are expected to hit store shelves in spring 2008.
Corgi International was named master toy licensee for the upcoming CG-animated feature Igor, a Weinstein Co., and will develop a range of products, including action figures, play sets, electronic role-play games, pocket money toys, vinyl figures, plush, statues, busts and other products. The film, scheduled for release next October, follows a hunchback who dreams of winning the big prize at the annual Evil Science Fair. Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Division have also signed a major publishing deal for seven Igor books, which will be published under their Simon Scribbles and Simon Spotlight imprints.
Another beloved character, Raggedy Ann, will also be seeing ongoing support through 2008 with the revamped Raggedy Ann & Me line. Russ-Berrie has signed on for plush, and a prototype soft rag doll was on display at the show. Additional products are also on the horizon.
For New York-based Sesame Workshop, all eyes were on the fairy-in-training Abby Cadabby, the first new female character to be introduced on the long-running series in 13 years and the costumed host of picture-taking sessions at select times during the show this year. “Adding a character is not something we do lightly,” Ann Kearns, vice president of toys and global consumer products, told Playthings. “We needed a strong female character and the producers also wanted to model strong female relationships.” Abby’s focus will be literacy, and a curriculum has been created for her that will be explored on the show, Kearns noted.
A number of big deals have already been signed for Abby, including plush toys from both Fisher-Price and Gund, books (Bendon Publishing, Dalmation, Random House, Reader's Digest); CDs from Soundprints and DVDs from Sony Wonder, with nearly a dozen video releases are being planned for Abby in 2008. Abby will join the cast every day once the show’s 38th season launches in August.
Big Idea’s flagship VeggieTales property leads the list with this winter’s release of the Universal Pictures-produced feature film, The Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything—A VeggieTales Movie. Among the toymakers on board for product are Manhattan Toy (finger puppets), Blue Box (bath toys), Pint Sizes Productions (plush) and Talicor (puzzles). Sister division Classic Media has projects ready for classic cartoon property Underdog. Disney’s live-action feature film Underdog hits theaters in August, backed by collectible toys from Mezco, bobble heads from Funko and video games from Blast! (distributed in the U.S. by Eidos), while classic animated episodes on the original Underdog animated series appear for the first time on DVD from Genius Products.
Imperial Toy will market a line of bubble products based on HIT Entertainment's Bob the Builder and Thomas & Friends. Under the deal, Imperial will launch a line of Dip and Blow bubble toys and sand toys, including buckets, watering cans, sand tools and molds, based on the popular children’s television characters in spring 2008.
Editor's note: We'll let you know as more deals are signed!
