Walt Disney Consumer Products and toy licensee Hasbro will appeal to families interested in both active play and tech toys with Playmation, a system of toys and wearable devices that uses motion sensors and wireless technology to encourage kids to run around while controlling smart action figure toys from wriststrapped gear…
Throngs Discuss Thrones
June 15, 2015
Game of Thrones, the highest rated show in HBO history, set the social media universe ablaze with the plot twists in its fifth season finale June 14. Despite the controversial developments, the publicity can only be good news for licensees…
Toys & Games
Build-A-Bear Lines Up Licensees
June 15, 2015
Build-A-Bear Workshop’s 400 stores will host a lineup of visiting entertainment/characters licenses well into next year. In residence now, ahead of the July 10 theatrical release of Minions, from Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment, are Kevin, Bob
and Stuart. In August…
Movies
Will Jurrasic World Hatch Licensing Success?
June 15, 2015
Few things drive sales of licensed toys, apparel, etc., like a blockbuster movie. And at $208.8 million in North America and $524.1 globally, no film has ever grossed more in its opening weekend than Universal’s Jurassic World. Within days of Jurassic World’s June 12 opening, FX networks picked up the TV rights to the dino-sized hit. Of course, all of this is music to the ears of Jurassic World’s licensees…
Entertainment/Character
Garfield Gets Global Push
June 1, 2015
Fat cat Garfield will grow a bit more this year with new direct-to-retail deals in Europe and Asia, a new licensing agent in Japan, and stepped up activity in the U.S.…
Pre-school
Peppa Pig Joins the $1 Billion Club
June 1, 2015
Preschool property Peppa Pig has become a $1 billion property. There was no official announcement. Officials of Entertainment One Ltd., which has licensed Peppa to more than 600 licensees worldwide…
Movie Chart
Movie Licensing 2016–2019: Comics to Account for Almost One-Third of All Titles
May 18, 2015
This is the era of the comic book movie, and that’s unlikely to change any time soon. If the fact that Avengers: Age of Ultron took in $191 million in the U.S. in its opening weekend this month, en route to a projected $1 billion globally, isn’t proof enough, consider this…
Entertainment/Character
Frozen Selling 10 Times Faster Than Last Year
May 18, 2015
If you thought Frozen was a one-year wonder, forget it. Sales of Frozen licensed merchandise for the year are up 10 times above where they were last year at this time, according to Disney officials during a press conference. Earned licensing revenues for Frozen are up 23% over last year. Of course, the big Frozen surge came at the end of 2014. Even so…
Entertainment/Character
Avengers Dress Up Hot Topic
May 4, 2015
Mall retailer Hot Topic is going all out Avengers as the exclusive merchant for a new fashion line tied to Disney/Marvel’s Avengers: Age of Ultron…
Entertainment/Character
DC Plugs Into Girl Power
May 4, 2015
DC Entertainment, Warner Bros. Animation, Warner Bros. Consumer Products and Mattel are teaming for a new girls’ property, DC Super Hero Girls, which will launch this fall across multiple entertainment content platforms and product categories. Designed to appeal to girls 6 to 12, DC Super Hero Girls focuses on DC Comics’ female characters before they discovered their full super power potential…