Movies & Toys

Been catching up on a few movies in recent weeks, some new some not so... and was just wondering what decisions go into deciding in advance what toys come out from these movies?

I'm not gonna review the movies, as such or issue any spoilers, so you can rest easy reading on, but I'm here to talk about the toy opportunities and the likes, that stem from these films... go to a movie website or catch the movie yourself if you want to know what happens, after all - many movies are about personal opinions, and what you like and don't like, I mean - I'm not expecting the Smurfs to be anything but a movie about the Smurfs... its not award winning material and should never be seen as such.... anyway, I'm not here to critic the critics who really get my goat sometimes...but that's another blog.

Anyway, so, last week we went to see Cowboys & Aliens at the movieplex - without the kids - which was nice and also cheap - 241 Orange Wednesdays!

I loved it, being a huge Bond and Star Wars fan, it had two leads that I could easily relate to, with Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford fighting Aliens in the wild west. It strikes me that this kind of movie, with Cowboys, and Indians and Aliens and a super wrist gadget, deployed by Craig, and loads of space ships, lends itself to a toy franchise.

Now i know its a 12A, but hey that's not stopped a who heap of Halo Wars toys, Transformer Toys, and more from movies with ratings beyond the target audience for play figures, hey even Revenge of the Sith was a 12A rated movie, and that's from George Lucas who gave us, Jar Jar Binks and Ewoks. So who made the decision or not to licence the toys from this.

It struck me that toys similar to those released for Independence Day or Iron Man would go down well... a whole bunch of Cowboy Characters and a Whole heap of Aliens.... I know kids can now create the whole environment of this movie themselves by buying a load of Cowboys (Woody?) and using any Aliens (Ben 10?) they have - because its been created in a movie (albeit a comic book transfer).

Mr Favreau, CvsA director and who directed Iron Man - another movie with a higher rating than the toy buying audience, again a 12A - surely likes marketing of this kind, as I know Iron man had a load of action figures cars, etc. which were very popular with even the younger audience too young to go see the film.

It just seems an odd decision, but i think its down to the number of marketable movies coming out this year, but I'd have liked to have seen some action figures anyway....and its possible the film producers maybe have another movie coming out or already out with figures likely to sell even better...

Still, whilst were on Daniel Craig and Bond surely there is a licensee out there to make some Action Figure sized Bond Characters. I know action man released a whole collection of collectable 12" Doll sized exclusive figures a few years back, but it'd be awesome to have to scale Bond figures to ride in Cars from all of the movies. Hey, I'd even buy the Octopussy all-girl rowing boat playset.

Seriously, though, I think Bond does lend it self to a range of Star Wars like action figures. I know there have been funding issues for the most recent bond movie, and i think this would raise a few bob for future movies. Boys and adults alike would clamber for these. There must be reasons for not doing it, because I cannot see any other movie franchise since Star Wars that has NOT had action figures attached to them.

Also saw Super 8, another Alien movie - which I suspect like ET, which it pays a lot of homage, and the Producer of Super 8 is Spielberg, would lend itself to a toy franchise - even a train set, see the movie and you'll understand. Maybe they are intent on selling handheld cameras off the back of this instead.

Another movie I caught was again another Alien based movie in Battle Los Angeles (12A), I said I was catching up...again it kind of lends itself to a toy franchise in the same vein as Transformers, with soldiers, tanks and aliens all in the mix, it certainly would go down with the 8-12 year olds.

My kids have both seen Cars 2 & the Smurfs, which both obviously have been marketed well, with the Smurf tie in with McDonald's running right now, and Cars being promoted everywhere, from Toys R Us to Argos and beyond...

I'm wondering if studios who have game producing arms are channeling all of their toy output into games marketing, what with Halo Wars and NFS (Need For Speed) both hitching rides on the ever growing popularity of Mega Bloks, and I'm wondering if the tie in to these multi million dollar businesses are better value, and better audiences for toys especially for boys.

Maybe when Real Steel pops out in October my toy prayers will be answered, as I saw some great figures and playsets for this way back at Toy Fair in January 2011, and am looking forward to these Robot fighting action figures. Lets just hope they hold up to play fighting action.

I know there will also be a lot of Tintin related merchandise later in the year, and perhaps that's the Spielberg movie that will get people more excited than the probably too dark for toys, Super 8, although I do recommend it, as it is a great movie...!

Maybe its that too many major toy manufacturers have been burnt by movies in the recent past, with poor cinematic responses, and shelf warming toys. I'm not sure either the Green Lantern nor Thor have been that popular both at the box office or at the Toy Shop, and toys from movies in the recent past, have not really done well either, due to poor ratings of the movies, including the dreadful Avatar: The Last Airbender (did anyone buy any Avatar, Airbender Lego?) and the exceedingly much better Golden Compass which left a lot of Toys unsold.with more and more comic book conversions happening as well, and in the near future, studios and companies willing to tie in are perhaps being much more cautious. 

I'm also thinking that the toy retailers are also unsure of where to put their stock and what to invest in. Think of all the action figure related movies of the recent past, Iron Man, Pirates, Potter, Star Wars, Green Lantern, Green Hornet, Thor, Captain America, X-Men, Wolverine, Star Trek, etc. the choice in the past few years has been overwhelming, its no wonder that Action figure sales specifically have declined in an overall growing toy market. 

There will never be a time when a movie like Captain America or Iron Man doesn't have action figures and toys associated with it, but it does appear that some franchises, film studios or whatever are not choosing to spend out on excessive but ultimately expensive and loss making marketing via toys. Lucas back in 1977 lead the way, but I think the times have changed and people are overloaded, and its probably Lucas's fault were in this situation what with his over marketing of Episode I. (see Star Wars comments in blog further below).

Being a boy myself its sad to see the state of the Action Figure Market. Its been a bit of overkill with so many 'action / comic' style movies coming out recently and in the near future. 

I'm sure the new Spider-Man movie will be great, but its totally unnecessary, its not part four its a new origin story which we've already had! It certainly will have loads of toys, toys of which will be not much different to those released in the past and still available on the 2ndary market from the previous 3 Spider-Man movies. 

Heck, we've had 3 Hulk movies, all with toys, all of which have had limited success and shelf warming products that have not moved. Cinema and toy manufacturers have got lazy, and are fleecing consumers for inferior products. I know that even being a massive Star Wars fan, Mr Lucas will do the usual when Episode I - 3D appears next year. 

As consumers we need to keep up and with so much product its hard for boys (and girls) to invest time in a product when a new one appears the next week or month. Back in the day star wars was the only action figure line, and it lasted from 1978 to 1985 before dieing out. Even the latest range has been going strong since 1995, but other film related toy lines have moved off the shelves, only a range like Cars / Toy Story have had recent longevity. Even a series like Harry Potter has seen dwindling returns in toys as the movies have got older and more adult themed (only Lego have kept the playability with these ranges).

I suspect its down to a great toy manufacturer like Hasbro who have had years of success selling Star Wars that they keep the line going. These new band wagon jumping toy makers and film franchises are trying to swim in increasingly crowded waters.

I think this coming festive season will be the make or break for many big movies and toy makers, action figures in particular are likely to be heading towards a watershed moment, because I think other companies, like Playmobil & Lego and the playground crazes are likely to be more important to boys and girls looking to spend their pocket money and adding to their Xmas lists over the next few months.

Here's hoping some better choices and better decisions are made concerning movie toys over the next few months and into 2012... because I fear for some major players banking on the next big thing and being sucked under....