LAFFERS DANCE - Kidscreen

Tight times for CGI fi lms and related consumer products
b y l a n a c a s t l e m a n
Talk in animated feature fi lm circles has turned to the perceived
glut of CGI family fl icks fl ooding the market. To be sure, 2006
was a watershed year, with more CGI toons hitting U.S. theaters
than ever before—16 were
eligible for the best animated feature
Oscar in 2007. And while the
competition at the box offi ce heats
up, studio consumer products pros
are faced with the task of convincing
retailers and consumers
that their fi lms and related merch
merit attention in an environment
already plagued by shrinking sales
margins and shelf space.
The past year saw the once
fl op-proof CGI genre produce
its fair share of box-offi ce disappointments—including
Disney’s
The Wild and Warner Bros.’ Ant
Bully, which respectively racked
up just US$37 million and US$28
million in domestic ticket sales.
But all players continue to formulate plans on how to best navigate
these choppy CP waters. For example, with Fox’s 2008 release
Horton Hears a Who, Dr. Seuss Enterprises is attempting to remain
above the fray by not licensing moviespecifi
c product at all. “Merchandise will
be based on our classic Horton book
program because it’s timeless and has
a longer shelf life,” says Susan Brandt,
EVP of licensing and marketing. The
program will also be limited to one mass
retailer for apparel, toys, health & beauty
and a targeted book and gift line.
For its part, undisputed movie licensing
champ Disney Consumer Products
hasn’t drifted into comfortable complacency.
Mary Beech, DCP VP and
GM of animation marketing, says it’s
a more competitive environment, and
she has noticed that retailers are asking
to see CGI fi lms at earlier stages in their
development. Accordingly, the House
of Mouse has upped its game in product
The biggest domestic earner, Disney/Pixar’s
Cars (US$244 million),
marked the joint-venture’s lowest
To help it stand out on crowded shelves, film creators
and category experts developed Ratatouille product together
innovation, involving fi lmmakers/artists
in merch development to make its fi lmbased
product stand out in the crowd.
take since 1998’s A Bug’s Life, and DreamWorks Animation is likely Product has to be authentic and true to the story, Beech explains.
to write down costs on Flushed Away; it grossed US$129 million “Toys are easy, but with something like melamine plates and cups,
worldwide, but its associated costs ran around US$143 million. it’s a bit harder.” For Ratatouille, bowing this summer, her team went
Turning to the ancillary market, studio licensing execs are the extra mile to create melamine that looks like plates found in
not insensitive to the idea that consumers may be suffering French cafés to refl ect the movie’s Parisian culinary setting. Addi-
from animation fatigue, and that parents, in particular, might tionally, items as mundane as T-shirts have been given an extra
be having diffi culty distinguishing a toy based on one wise- dimension with a scratch-and-sniff feature; one style will smell like
cracking talking animal from another. DreamWorks Consumer fresh-baked pastries, for example. The creators who’ve worked on
Products head of licensing and retail marketing Rick Rekedal, Ratatouille also have a hand in making product. One of the fi lm’s
for one, believes the market fallout has already started, noting animators illustrated the tie-in book Too Many Cooks, and Beech says
fewer CGI releases are set for 2007 and even fewer still are it’s standard practice to pair creators with experts in each product
based on original material.
category to see what innovations they can come up with.
JANUARY 2007
43