Disney Consumer Products Projects Profitble Future
At an online press conference preceding this month’s Licensing Show, Walt Disney outlined their plans for 2011 and the future. Andy Mooney, president of Disney Consumer Products, hosted the event and emphasized that the company’s properties were all being evaluated for exploitation in all forms, using the phrase “newness” to cover technology and “value” to explain multi-figure packaging.
Obviously, the company expects to reap huge profits from this month’s 3-D release of Toy Story 3. Mooney anticipates $2.4 billion of global sales of merchandise for this franchise alone.
After that, Mooney felt Tron: Legacy, coming in December, will appeal to boys and has partnered with Mattel for toys based on the movie starring Jeff Bridges and Olivia Wilde.
For 2011, the company will be flogging Pixar’s next sequel, Cars 2, due in June, following a month later with the next animated Winnie the Pooh movie. For the younger set, there will also be the first new Muppets feature film in nearly a decade. The Disney Princess brand will continue to be pushed, accompanied by the recently launched Fairies line of product which already has grown into a $1.3 billion business.
Little was said about the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean film, On Stranger Tides, which takes the action to America. Similarly, nothing was mentioned about the next big action film, 2012’s live-action John Carter of Mars.
Disney is also exploring a sequel to 3 Men and a Baby, the 1987 film, directed by Leonard Nimoy and starting Tom Selleck, Steve Guttenberg, and Ted Danson. The charming comedy led to a less charming sequel 3 Men and a Little Lady in 1990 and now the studio appears interested in seeing a later chapter in their lives. Selleck confirmed for MTV that “It is true that Disney checked my availability,” he said. 3 Men and a Bride is the likely title and plotline, with Selleck adding, “I hope it’s a good script, and if it is a good script I hope they do it, because it would be really fun to get back with Ted and Steve. The strongest of the two movies I think is the first one. It had more heart, and that’s what I hope this third one would have if we do it.”
Why is the new Muppet movie for children too young for Winnie the Pooh? It stars Jason Segel and was co-written between him and Forgetting Sarah Marshall director Nicholas Stoller. – that means a chunk of the audience will be from the Apatow-crowd (teens to 30s). Plus, it’s being directed by the same guy that did Ali G and FotC.
Why is the new Muppet movie for children too young for Winnie the Pooh? It stars Jason Segel and was co-written between him and Forgetting Sarah Marshall director Nicholas Stoller. – that means a chunk of the audience will be from the Apatow-crowd (teens to 30s). Plus, it's being directed by the same guy that did Ali G and FotC.