8 ms·
The easiest, but maybe the shortest. Movie toys cannot be sold for more than a year. While others can last for decades (think legos or kapla)
by elcomet 6y ago
The easiest, but maybe the shortest. Movie toys cannot be sold for more than a year. While others can last for decades (think legos or kapla)
- imhoguy 6y agoThey can much longer when you merge classic move genre (dc comics, marvel, star wars) with timeless toys and utensils (lego&compatible, flashlights, balls, backpacks, pencils, lunchboxes). Lightsabers will sell now and in 2030 too.
- scarface74 6y agoHow long were Star Wars toys popular in the 70s and 80s?
- jhbadger 6y agoBasically from 1978 (when they were released; they missed Christmas 1977 which was their goal) until they were discontinued in 1985 (a couple of years after the end of the original trilogy). While each movie added new figures and playsets, a fair number of figures were unchanged during the seven year period.
- pantaloony 6y agoMovie releases used to be a lot more stretched out. Theatrical release, maybe a year passes then it hits the premium movie channels, another year and they get to make a big deal about it being aired on a regular network. Then finally a few months later you’re seeing ads for the big VHS release. A blockbuster movie was like a 3-4 year marketing event.
- paulie_a 6y agoNot every movie is star wars. There were hundreds of low quality movies made last year with toy tie ins. But most are forgotten
- sokoloff 6y agoWhile this is generally true, I distinctly remember from my childhood asking for and playing with Star Wars toys for the better part of a decade. (Yeah, there was an on-going franchise, but the toys sold for much, much longer than a year per episode.) I wonder if there was something fundamentally different about that property or if there were just fewer options?
- Symbiote 6y agoHarry Potter is probably the current equivalent.
- aloer 6y agoI’d say Minecraft as well
- kijin 6y agoMarvel has been doing quite well for the better part of a decade, too.
- egypturnash 6y agoMarvel’s got a constant churn of content with their characters though. And not just movies, there’s the comics they started in, there’s kid’s books, video games, etc. If people are still buying tons of Star Wars stuff, and mostly just Original Trilogy stuff, that’s a very different situation.
- philwelch 6y agoInterestingly enough, they've pretty much stopped making any toys for the Star Wars sequel trilogy but are continuing to make original trilogy toys. Some franchises are just that much more ephemeral than others.
- zenhack 6y agoStar-wars is kindof an exceptional case. The original was the highest grossing film of all time when it was released. Return of the Jedi came out years before I was born but the toys were still popular when I was a kid, despite them having not made any movies recently.
- kingkawn 6y agoStar Wars, Harry Potter, any Disney or Pixar movie, etc etc