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LICENSING
SHOW 2012
Entertainment is producing a 52 x half-hour anime-inspired series, while TV distribution
and licensing falls to FremantleMedia Enterprises. Topps is looking after developing the property’s
other driver, a core trading card game.
“There hasn’t been a strong new boys action-adventure property for several years,” contends
Sander Schwartz, president of FME children’s and family group. “There is always a
demand in the marketplace for a strong compelling action-adventure show.”
With this heavy-hitting foursome behind it, the Monsuno series scored a global broadcast
deal with Nickelodeon-owned channels for the fi rst run of eps, which will roll out over the next
two years. While some critics might suggest that it’s a stretch to gamble on an anime-based
property to spawn the next big global hit—the genre has been luke warm in US consumer
products circles in recent years—Schwartz disagrees with pigeonholing the concept.
“The show is a true hybrid,” he says. “It’s Western storytelling told in an anime style.”
Notably, the episodes have a classic three-act structure that owes more to Western animation
tradition than anime.
While it’s still too early to gauge
the success of the series—it just
bowed in the US on NickToons in
March—analysts approve of the
partnership’s strategy and execution
thus far.
“I think they should be applauded
for taking this bold step,” says
Steve Reece, a toy and games brand
marketing consultant based in the
UK. “There are some really interesting
features about it, particularly a
good range of characters. From an
execution standpoint I’d rate it as
good to very good.”
“The toys are pretty cool,” notes
Johnson, who independently estimates
that Jakks needs a hit that
rakes in between US$200 million
and US$300 million to maintain its
independence. He suggests that the
goal is not unattainable given the
state of the market at the moment.
While he says certain anime-based
programs are either fi nished (Redakai)
or winding down (Beyblade) in
the US, he adds there might just be
room for another one.
“Each time you think it’s fi nished,
a new anime property comes along and lights it up again,” Johnson says. “It would
stand to reason that they have a wide-open tract to do something that those other properties
have done.”
Sean McGowan, senior analyst, leisure and lifestyle at New York’s Needham & Company,
believes that all the components are in place to make the IP a winner for all partners involved,
especially Jakks.
“They have done everything they could to make this a good opportunity,” he says.
“They have good partners, good play value, and the show looks as good as any other…
You could say it has all the elements of a hit.” He adds that while the boys six to 12 demo
is always a highly competitive space, at the present time there is an open window of opportunity
in the market.
“Bakugan is gone, so there is a market there,” he says. “Of course that doesn’t mean it
will work, but it doesn’t mean it’s going to fail either.”
48 May/June 2012
Hasbro has enlisted a battalion of Hollywood talent to fl oat Battleship,
which it is wagering will become its next Transformers-sized franchise
The sleeper: Battleship
While there is some evidence that retail and consumer willingness
to support big licensing programs tied to tent-pole
movies is on the wane, the data collected so far hasn’t confi
rmed it as fact.
There’s speculation that revenues from blockbusterdriven
licensing will suff er signifi cantly because the movies
themselves are not as toyetic as they were in summers past.
Not everyone agrees, though. “I don’t think it’s a trend,” says
Ascendiant’s Woo. “It’s just the cyclical nature of movies.”
However, BMO’s Johnson believes that the performance
of movie-related licensing programs over the past few
years suggest , a bigger change is afoot. “The vast majority
of movie-related toys have underperformed
against expectations
over the last two years,” he says.
“Cars 2, Toy Story 3, Thor, Captain
America, Kung Fu Panda 2—everything
has underperformed except
The Smurfs. But when expectations
were raised for that during the DVD
release, everyone got excited and
shipped more product and it just
didn’t move.”
Johnson outlines the major
stumbling blocks; a glut of theatrical
releases in the summer months
fi ghting for limited shelf space
within a relatively short timeframe
to make sales. All of these factors
have contributed to the dwindling of
movie-related licensing returns, he
says, summing it up as a “crowded
space without a lot of innovation.”
Of course, a few underperforming
programs won’t stop would-be
kid-friendly blockbuster fi lms from
fl ooding the multiplexes this summer,
nor their related merchandise
from fi lling the mass-market retail
channels with expansive full-category
assaults, along with their attendant
high expectations.
And it’s into this environment that Hasbro is setting sail
with Battleship, an SFX-laden feature fi lm with an estimated
US$200-million production budget and a consumer products
program based on its classic board game IP. Along with
the launch of TV net The Hub in 2010, it’s really the next
phase of Hasbro’s strategy to turn itself into a full-fl edged
entertainment company that can build successful franchises
culled from its own warehouse of properties. The strategy
certainly worked with Transformers, now a multi-billion
dollar concern that essentially established Hasbro’s entertainment
and production arm. However, many are wondering
if it will work for this summer’s Battleship.