King Features is celebrating the 40th anniversary of the cult classic film Flash Gordon by engaging retro-nostalgia experts Plastic Meatball for a multi-year licensing agreement across multiple product categories.
Plastic Meatball is kicking off the program with a retro-style family board game, but the deal encompasses a wide swath of consumer products categories, including apparel, puzzles, paper goods, housewares, limited-edition artwork and more. Additionally, it extends beyond the 1980 film to include nearly all comic and animated iterations of the character.
“I’ve loved this movie since I first saw it opening weekend at the Village Cinema in Newark, NY,” said Mark Morse, President of Plastic Meatball. “As a kid, I was always frustrated that a proper merchandise program was never developed around the film. We’re hoping to correct that, with a suite of authentic products that look like they could have been found on the store shelves of an alternate 1980.”
The first product released Dec. 4 is a retro-style family board game, where players must travel to the various moons of Mongo to build strength and collect allies to help them in a showdown with the villainess Ming the Merciless. Featuring artwork by renowned Australian artist Hugh Fleming, the game will initially launch on Kickstarter in January with an array of special bonuses and add-ons, and fans can sign up on Plastic Meatball’s website (www.plasticmeatball.com/pages/flashgordon) to be alerted when the campaign goes live.
Celebrating the 40th anniversary of its release on Dec. 5, 2020, “Flash Gordon” chronicles the adventures of an American pro-football quarterback who finds himself thrust into an alien world, where he must unite the races of Mongo in a battle against the tyrannical Ming the Merciless, who threatens to destroy the Earth for his own twisted amusement. Directed by Mike Hodges and featuring a thundering soundtrack by Queen, the colorful, campy space-opera soon gained a cult following upon its release that’s only grown over the years.
Plastic Meatball was chosen by King Features because the firm specializes in creating products with a unique retro look and feel.
“At Plastic Meatball, our trade is wish fulfillment,” says Morse. “We recognize that the pop culture brands we love don’t always get the merchandise programs they deserve. We identify the properties and characters our customers adored when they were younger and develop cross-category product offerings to help them fall in love all over again.
“Our goal is to have our products look like they’ve traveled through time from an alternate past, and evoke memories in our customers that are priceless.”
Plastic Meatball’s first wave of Flash Gordon merchandise will launch in January to align with the Kickstarter campaign. Drinking glasses in a “fast food” promo style will also be available, along with apparel, enamel pins, puzzles and more. Products will initially be available on the company’s website, www.plasticmeatball.com, with retail distribution expected to follow.