Hollywood's New Toys
First G.I. Joe - Now Lego - Games and Toys Inspire Blockbuster Films
Hollywood is all about bringing in the box office bucks. They actively keep track of trends and viewer preferences so that they can pump out movies to appeal to the widest possible audience. This is especially true of the summer blockbuster season. But the next fad Hollywood is banking on might seem a little ridiculous: toys.
Why Hollywood Likes its Toys
It used to be that actors were what sold movies to the audiences. Think of Arnold Schwarzenegger, or Will Smith. There was a time when slapping their names on a movie poster almost guaranteed box office return. That is no longer the case. Look no further than Bruce Willis as an example. His latest film, Surrogates, is the latest example of a high profile star doing little to nothing to help bring in an audience, pulling in only $14.9 million it's opening weekend.
It's not star power that fuels films now, it's franchises. Ever since Bryan Singer's 2000 adaptation of X-Men, comic books and superheros have been the go-to for quick franchise starters. Since they already have built-in fan bases and are already in the pop culture conscious, viewers know going to the films what they are in for.
And this familiarity is a big draw. With the economy down, people are pickier with how they spend their money, and they don't want to take a chance on something they might like. That is why much of the 2009 summer blockbusters were either sequels or spin-offs, and made up the bulk of the top grossing films of the year (Transformers 2, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Star Trek, and X-Men Origins: Wolverine were all in the top ten grossing films of the summer).
But as the number of recognizable superheros dwindle, Hollywood has to find a new place to find franchise starters. And the success of the Transformers movies and the G.I. Joe film that was released in summer '09 has led the studios to see toys as the next big wave of blockbuster success. Hence, Warner Bros. have bought the rights to Lego, Dreamworks bought View-Master, and Universal bought Ouija, Candyland, Battleship, and Barbie.
Why It's a Gamble
So why look to toys to start franchises? As mentioned earlier, most of the bankable superheros and comic books have already made the transition to film. Books also remain a source for adaptation, but outside of literary phenomenon's (such as Harry Potter or Twilight) they are not as recognizable to the general public. And it is the recognition that is key. Studio execs look at it as "unaided awareness." Even though there may not be any A-list stars in the movie, people know what Legos are. They know the game of Battleship. The hope is that people will pay to see movies about the game they grew up with.
But not everyone is optimistic of Hollywood's newest gamble. Since the announcement of the rights being purchased for the various toys and games, Internet bloggers have been particularly hostile. "What would the plot of a View-Master movie even be????" wrote Perez Hilton. And Movieblog.com called out the Battleship movie for being nothing more than "shameless promotional tie-in material." The biggest complaint is that there is no reason most of these movies need to be tied to a product. View-Master has no story behind it. Battleship is nothing but a war movie. They could easily pass as original screenplays if the brand names were removed. Candyland is really the only one that has any resemblance of a story attached to it, so it is really the only one that needs the rights.
Transformers and G.I. Joe were successful, yes. But they also had '80s cartoon shows to build off of as well. There is no way to determine if it was nostalgia for the shows or nostalgia for the toys themselves that had the greater impact on the box office. It the shows were more responsible for the "unaided recognition," then this next crop of toy movies may be in trouble.
Let the Games Begin
It is true that Transformers and G.I. Joe had '80s cartoons to draw inspiration from, but very little from those shows actually made it into the films. So why bother tying the movies to products? It could be argued that the scripts written for movies based on Ouija or View-Master, for example, could very easily be made as original films, and it is not vital to the plot at all that it be the View-Master or Ouija brand that is featured. The problem is Hollywood does not think people would see those movies without the "unaided awareness". The recent box office numbers support their notion. So until those numbers change, Hollywood will continue to use brand name products as their inspiration for film making.
movies based on View-Master and other toys
|
What do you think about this article?
More in Film & TV
Latest Articles