there hasn't been a star wars movie in five years, nobody really gives a shit about the MCU anymore, and kids haven't given a shit about cape comics in decades. Makes sense to me.
I get what you’re saying, but I think the nature of streaming has…lessoned…those issues. Especially when you consider the biggest “thing“ to happen to Star Wars since Force Awakens was a streaming TV series. The luster of MCU has certainly faded, but those films remain in hefty rotation on basic cable and consumers with D+ have access to nearly 50 years of animation content.
I think a better question is: What happened to the kids toys? Hasbro has become so focused on milking us old farts, it feels like stuff FOR KIDS is barely a secondary concern, and that’s reflecting in, broadly, lackluster showings across the board. Going back to my local Ollie’s, aside from the Mission Fleet dump, it wasn’t kids product overflowing across multiple end caps and in the toy section…it was MULTIPLE assortments of Marvel Legends and Star Wars Black.
Compared to what Mattel makes for Jurassic or especially Spin Master’s DC output, Hasbro’s stuff is frustratingly conservative. Doubly so for Star Wars, which brought back a 4“ line...only to NOT offer the same degree of articulation seen in the Marvel segment. Guardians of the Galaxy‘s kids line omitted 3 of the film’s CENTRAL characters (Nebula, Warlock, High Evolutionary) for no discernible reason (aside from keeping the assortments to as few items as possible).
So the issue I have to ask is…Is this a Disney issue or Hasbro issue? Or a little both? Because it sure feels like Hasbro’s sacrificing future generations of fans/collectors for the sake of milking what they can from the existing pool of them.
That might be true but it's unlikely that an animated feature will be predicted to have nearly the box office and therefore merch shifts that a live action one will by retailers.
Again, we'll see, but I think people in this thread people are papering over the cracks a little bit because of one data point.
I think Transformers One is in a better position compared to this time last year due to the strike. Due to the strike, Transformers is well positioned as family friendly counter programming for the fall (akin to how TMNT Mutant Mayhem ended up last year). Inside Out 2 and Despicable Me 4 will be out in June-July, and Disney won’t have anything of significance until the end of November, at minimum.
On the merch angle, TF One should be benefitting from rolling out with the fall product resets (generally mid-late August) and be more “on point” with the film’s release, plus being a “fresher” film by the time holiday sales roll around. And that doesn’t even address that Earthspark should be getting new episodes and whatever Hasbro’s 40th initiatives might bring by that point.
If they keep the budget under $100 million (TMNT:MM was $70 million, Into the Spiderverse was $90 million), they won’t NEED to do especially large business, and I think Transformers will have bigger international returns compared to Ninja Turtles.
If anything is going to hurt Hasbro’s numbers this year, it’s going to be a lack of major initiatives from Star Wars, despite a pair of streaming series, and only two meaningful Marvel films for merch purposes (Madame Webb is getting squat, neither will Kraven. Venom will get some support and Deadpool 3 is the ONLY MCU film this year, period).
