Spotted Online – 5 Suggestions for Fixing the Toy Industry
Toy industry commentator Richard Gottlieb has posted “5 Suggestions for Fixing the Toy Industry” . . . and point number one should be of interest to many of you who read battlegrip.com.
Gottlieb states:
“A gradual receding of action figure heroes from store shelves, as is happening now, is going to mean an eventual drop-off in movie ticket sales; The virtuous circle become a vicious circle.”
Gottlieb’s argument is that the hype of superhero movies is fueled by action figure sales, and action figure sales must be fueled by the superhero movies they’re designed to support. I’m thinking this over — and have been for days now — and I’m not sure exactly what I think about the suggestion that the decline of action figure sales is a harbinger of the reduction in superhero movie hype and box office revenue.
I’ve posted a few times about the dying interest in action figures — see “Action Figure Market Shrinking?” (November, 2012) and “Google Trends – DC Universe Classics vs. Hot Wheels” (January, 2014) for a few of my older posts — but I’ve never once thought that it would lead to a drop in superhero movie sales. Are the two really that connected, or are superhero movies so mainstream now that the majority of the viewers could care less about the associated toys?
And that’s just one of the five suggestions posted in the article. Check it out if you’re interested in Gottlieb’s take on what needs to happen next for toy makers to thrive in the changing market.
Related articles
- Interview: Richard Gottlieb of Global Toy Experts (flightpath.com)
- GoldieBlox: Rebelling against dolls, the pink princess, and the toy complex (today.com)
- Paul Dini: Superhero cartoon execs don’t want largely female audiences (io9.com)
I’d love to read the article, but it seems their website is completely down.
From what you posted though, I think Gottlieb has got it completely backwards. Without a child focused media, there is going to be no interest in a toy line. Most toys don’t have an attached cartoon, and I can’t remember the last time I saw a commercial for action figures on tv. The toys that do seem to do well are ones that have a strong media presence, whether it is a video game or regularly airing cartoon. Granted, this is just based on my personal observations from walking through the toy aisles during my semi regular shopping trips.
My other concern is, are children (5-9) really the ones going to see The Avengers, or Captain America, or is it the teenagers to mid-30’s group. If it’s the latter, then they’re most likely not interested or even aware that there is an accompanying toy line.
Again, I’m not a professional, so this is just supposition on my part.
Link didn’t work for me. Could their site be down? Can you summarize?
I can’t read this article now, but I can respond with my first blush reaction.
First the title of this article, “5 Suggestions for Fixing the Toy Industry” is a tad bit hyperbolic if you ask me. It’s suggesting that the toy industry is “broken” in the first place. Sure the toy industry is changing, but hasn’t it always been in a state of flux? What worked in 2005 may not work now. What worked in 1983 is certainly not what existed in 1963 and so on.
Perhaps the article will further expound upon this, so until I actually read it that’s all I can really comment for now.
As far as the point you highlighted, I’m not exactly sure where he’s coming from. I guess it’s sort of a chicken and egg thing. Do superhero films exist to sell toys or do toys exist to sell superhero films? I think it is the former rather than the latter. Obviously merchandising is an immense factor when optioning films, but I really doubt that a decline in action figure sales is going to hurt the film industry.
I would state that the hype of superhero movies is only partially fueled by action figure sales. Sure I’m sure there is some mutual benefit to each other, i.e. a kid goes to the toy aisle and sees toys for a new movie and thus wants to see it versus a kid going to see the latest super hero flick and then wanting to hit the toy aisle. But look at how many other product tie-ins there are, fast food (not counting Happy Meal toys), soda, snack food, t-shirts, lunch boxes, etc., etc. I am no market expert and I have no data to back this up but I feel as though action figure/toy sales do not represent the majority of merchandising revenue through licensed products.
I don’t think anyone can deny there is a declining interest in action figures but I don’t think you can pinpoint it to a dying interest in superhero films. There are a number of things you could attribute it to (too numerous to list here). The market is changing but that does not necessarily mean it is “brokenâ€.
Finally I’ll leave off with an example of the Man of Steel. Anyone who strolled down the toy aisle in the last six months knows the toys didn’t sell well, and the film wasn’t quite the runaway hit they expected (although according to the source on Wikipedia it made $687,999,518 box office http://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Man-of-Steel#tab=summary) but it certainly didn’t get the same hype Batman Begins got…
I can’t read this article now, but I can respond with my first blush reaction.
First the title of this article, “5 Suggestions for Fixing the Toy Industry” is a tad bit hyperbolic if you ask me. It’s suggesting that the toy industry is “broken” in the first place. Sure the toy industry is changing, but hasn’t it always been in a state of flux? What worked in 2005 may not work now. What worked in 1983 is certainly not what existed in 1963 and so on.
Perhaps the article will further expound upon this, so until I actually read it that’s all I can really comment for now.
As far as the point you highlighted, I’m not exactly sure where he’s coming from. I guess it’s sort of a chicken and egg thing. Do superhero films exist to sell toys or do toys exist to sell superhero films? I think it is the former rather than the latter. Obviously merchandising is an immense factor when optioning films, but I really doubt that a decline in action figure sales is going to hurt the film industry.
I would state that the hype of superhero movies is only partially fueled by action figure sales. Sure I’m sure there is some mutual benefit to each other, i.e. a kid goes to the toy aisle and sees toys for a new movie and thus wants to see it versus a kid going to see the latest super hero flick and then wanting to hit the toy aisle. But look at how many other product tie-ins there are, fast food (not counting Happy Meal toys), soda, snack food, t-shirts, lunch boxes, etc., etc. I am no market expert and I have no data to back this up but I feel as though action figure/toy sales do not represent the majority of merchandising revenue through licensed products.
I don’t think anyone can deny there is a declining interest in action figures but I don’t think you can pinpoint it to a dying interest in superhero films. There are a number of things you could attribute it to (too numerous to list here). The market is changing but that does not necessarily mean it is “brokenâ€.
Finally I’ll leave off with an example of the Man of Steel. Anyone who strolled down the toy aisle in the last six months knows the toys didn’t sell well, and the film wasn’t quite the runaway hit they expected (although according to the source on Wikipedia it made $687,999,518 box office but it certainly didn’t get the same hype Batman Begins got…
Hasbro’s revenue for the first quarter was $679.5 million. Comparing that to the box office receipts for Marvel’s movies I think action figure sales are just a bonus.
[Okay, I was able to see the article, finally!] I think the movies themselves aren’t really geared towards kids. The Marvel ones are at least much lighter in tone, but still PG-13 so parents might wait to let them see them. Which likely is too late for prime “action figure” age.*
Man of Steel and Dark Knight are waaaaay dark of kids. Esp. Batman. Supes isn’t the shiny emblem he once was and Bats has plenty of cartoons to keep him in front of kids’ eyeballs.
I’d say the movies would need to be closer to something like Star Wars (in tone) before they parents are more comfortable taking kids when they’re around 6 or 7.
*Though I’m aware of lots of parents taking their smaller kids anyway. They’re almost always surprised at how much violence there is, which is stupid–it’s PG-13!!
Agreed — I would not take my kid to see The Dark Knight or Dark Knight Returns if he or she was under ten…