How Hasbro is Successful in Getting Movies Made About its Toys?
Advertising Age had an interesting article regarding Hasbro and Mattel the world’s leading toy companies and how they are pushing their brands through Hollywood to build sales. The question is which toy company will win the battle? With two distinctly different marketing strategies it seems Hasbro is poised to increase in sales and earnings this year.
It seems the reason Hasbro has the edge is due to their agressive push to get projects rolled out onto the big screen and partnering with top talent doesn’t hurt, secondly the fact they got the head start with Transformers being a hit back in 2007 gives them the advantage in my opinion.
“Hasbro is pursuing a strategy of finding long-term studio homes for its brands and involving top writers and directors early on in the creative process, while Mattel has taken a property-by-property approach that is far less trusting of Hollywood talent — and has yielded far fewer potential film projects so far.”
It not just G.I. Joe and Transformers, which are easier sells because of their cultural iconic status nor their major talent of cast and crew. Its how other projects are getting the same treatment. Ridley Scott (Gladiator) is developing Monopoly, Ethan Cohen is writing Candyland, Gore Verbinski is developing Clue,
“Peter Berg (“Friday Night Lights,” “The Kingdom”) is in negotiations to adapt the Milton Bradley naval-warfare game Battleship for the big screen, National Treasure screenwriters Cormac and Marianne Wibberley are in negotiations to write a script inspired by Parker Brothers’ Ouija to be produced by Michael Bay and finally Bruce Almighty screenwriter Steve Odekerk is putting the final touches on a superhero-comedy script based on Kenner’s long-defunct, elastic-limbed muscleman, Stretch Armstrong.”
All of this is falling on the deal they signed with Universal for a 6 year partnership to pump out these films and that is attributed to the work of William Morris Agency who reps Hasbro. For a time it seemed Hollywood would be skeptical developing feature films on these “narrative-free entertainments” such as Ouija. But AdAge and even the Variety story back in February cites the work of William Morris agents Rob Carlson and Jon Fogelman, who had persuaded Hasbro to leave Creative Artists Agency (CAA – who reps Mattel) and sign at their agency in late spring 2007 by promising a great deal to get Universal to agree to make at least at least four movies based on Hasbro properties in six years and if the studio didn’t take steps toward making those movies, “Universal would have to pay Hasbro millions of dollars in penalties.”
So the question here is why would Universal suddenly take a chance on Hasbro’s properties that weren’t similiar to G.I. Joe or Transformers?
“I think what were seeing in the world at large is the power of brands distinguishing themselves,” said Universal Pictures Chairman Marc Shmuger, who was previously the studio’s marketing capo. “As we’re gripped with fear and anxiety, we look for something we can rely on and trust. Look what just happened when we brought back the original cast of ‘Fast and Furious.’ And so the value of brands has changed, and with the value of brands changing, what the owners of the brands want to accomplish changes too.”
I think the issue is not only a brand perspective but the high level creative talent that beleive the brands make for applicable and interesting stories to be told. Their appeal is something that as a movie consumer I would never have considered but thinking about it now, narrative free storytelling in the brands do give a lot of leeway to the film creatives to do something cool with the project.
In the article Hasbro’s CEO, Brian Goldner calls it a plan of “reinvent, reignite and re-imagine” looking at Hasbro brands such as Stretch Armstrong by delivering “immersive entertainment experiences,” while that is a good marketing way of saying it I prefer William Morris’ Bennett Schneir saying,
“whether a certain toy or game might make a great movie is better determined by “creative stewards” such as Mssrs. Odekerk and Berg than by suits like himself. As a result, “there’s a real enthusiasm and excitement to work with these brands,” Mr. Schneir said.”
Ultimately its the aggressive package that Hasbro, William Morris have put together but its also the trust they have put in Hollywood talent to take the brand and imagine something outside the scale of the boardgames and toys. This is something I commend them for and it is working not only for Hasbro but it is also working for the Marvel Entertainment brand as well and their properties getting pushed into film adaptations.
A little connection here with another comic book brand, Mattel has some projects wrapped up at Warner Brothers (mainly Hot Wheels) just like DC Comic they are getting nowhere with them correlating with DC brands who have been stalwart for awhile such as Flash, Wonder Woman, Superman etc. Mattel brands like the DC ones use a property-by-property approach and that creates far less trust of Hollywood talent thus leading them to have only three film projects in the works such as the Major Matt Mason project with Tom Hanks and Hot Wheels, which insiders say will likely remain “in neutral for a while”, after Speed Racer crapped out last summer (I liked it though), Warner Brothers, who has the rights to the project, is less likely to race out another classic Mattel car-theme.
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