Blockbuster Bonanza! Big Moves for Movie Toys!

By Jack Placidi

Since the moment the rst licensed toy was concieved, toys and movies have gone together like peanut butter and jelly. We’ve seen plenty of instances where dolls and action gures act as a marketing tool to drive sales of the movies they’re inspired by, and vice versa. Ever since the massive success that Kenner found through its line of Star Wars toys back in the ‘70s, toy companies have always been on the lookout for the next big IP from which to create toys.

e lm industry has always been one of the riskiest businesses, where success can be le to just a roll of the dice. at same risk can also be applied to creating brand-new toys in the industry. When you’re creating a toy from scratch, there’s always a possibility that it might not take o . With movie-based toys, however, you’ll usually be able to gauge the success of the product from the success of the lm through early reviews and screenings. O en, these numbers go hand in hand and can o er a safer bet for companies looking to create some hit toys.

You can’t really talk about movie-based toys without mentioning Hasbro. ey have acquired a vast amount of licenses over the years and have been making toys and action gures for fans young and old all the while. Every year brings a new round of Star Wars toys without fail, from recreations of classic Kenner gures, to interactive electronic toys and life-size collectible lightsabers. Star Wars will always be a cash cow when it comes to toys, but Hasbro tapped into other properties this year with the release of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, and Transformers: Rise of the Beasts. Each movie had varying degrees of success at the box o ce, with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 becoming one of the top 100 highest-grossing movies of all time as of the writing of this article (source: Box O ce Mojo) to Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny underperforming at the box o ce. While this created a mixed bag of sales for Hasbro, it has been a duller pro t margin in 2023 overall so far.

However, enter e Super Mario Bros. Movie and Barbie, both of which crossed the $1 billion gross pro ts worldwide…each!

Jakks Paci c is currently one of the primary license holders of the Super Mario brand, and the toy sales from e Super Mario Bros. Movie alone helped it dig out of a steep 24.3 percent Q2 sales decline and an increase in action gure sales by 41 percent according to Kidscreen.com. e tremendous success of e Super Mario Bros. Movie also helped Mattel in its Hot Wheels line of movie-inspired cars and racetracks, but Mattel’s true crowning achievement came from the sales generated by the Barbie movie.

According to Nasdaq, Mattel garnered huge pro ts this year, and a stock value increase of 20 percent! While e Super Mario Bros. Movie license wasn’t exclusive to Mattel, they were the only toy licensors for the Barbie movie-inspired dolls. e movie’s popularity exploded in the box o ce and across toy aisles in store and online. Many Barbie dolls and playsets continue to sell out, and Ken dolls have gotten more love than ever before, with those in particular being hard to nd, combined with massive preorders happening for the release of another movie variation of Ken next year. Time will tell just how long the hype train keeps rolling for the Barbie movie line of dolls, but given this movie’s blockbuster status and potential formation of a cult following, there’s going to be plenty of other dolls along the horizon. Still waiting on a new Allan doll, Mattel!

Given the success of the Barbie movie, Mattel is moving full speed ahead and creating other lms based o its current IPs, including American Girl, Masters of the Universe, Hot Wheels, and one of the oddest picks of the bunch, Magic 8 Ball. Marvel opened the gates to creating an expansive cinematic universe, and I’m curious to see how a “Mattelverse” will do both in the quality of the movies and the toy sales gures.

With the year coming to an end soon and the holiday season approaching, 2023 can certainly be considered the “Year of the Movie Toys” given the sheer amount of licensed product we’ve seen come through our o ce, as well as the success that came from the movies they were inspired by. It will be interesting to track how the sales of these movie-based toys continue to trend as these blockbusters exit theaters and go to streaming services, and as children and kidults write their holiday wish lists. Will 2024 and beyond bring more successful toy-to-movie-based franchises? I’ll have to ask my soon-to-be on the silver screen Magic 8 Ball.

Jack Placidi is the Creative Director at aNb Media, whose expertise includes years of video content creations and promotions for various toy companies and influencers. He can be reached at jack@ttpm.com