Anyone Find The Lack Of Muppet Merch Disturbing?

[frogboy4]

Now Available at Target and Amazon!​

 

[Walter]

I found out they actually made more MvA merch than I realized. Not saturate the landscape ala Toy Story 3 and Terminator Salvation wise, but they made figures of every single character(either action figures or bendems, including numerous playsets) Not sure where the bendys were sold, but theyre on ebay.

Im still scratching my head as to why MvA underperformed and didnt deserve further exploring in their eyes. While I like Madagascar some, MvA is the first film they did since Antz(which I love way more than a bug's life) that had me raving. To me its a perfect film, and the characters lend themselves to further adventures. My only complaint is there wasnt more monsters shown or more henchmen. I wanna see what other monsters look like!
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Yes!!! It is a Perfect Film!!!!! I LOVE Monsters Vs Aliens as well!!, And Nickelodeon is a bunch of complete idiots if they don't pick up the series this year!!!

 

[Drtooth]

Now Available at Target and Amazon!​

That's a start. I would get those, sure. Seems very odd they waited until after the movie for the product push, but I guess that's what the movie was... to relaunch the brand and re-introduce merchandise. Band-aids and Valentines, while not the most impressive things in the world, show that Disney is planning a lot of mainstream merchandising for the characters. Hopefully that results in some toy of some sort. I'd LOVE to see something similar to the Smurfs line by Jaxx Pacific... small, posible figures blister packed for 4 bucks each...

Yes!!! It is a Perfect Film!!!!! I LOVE Monsters Vs Aliens as well!!, And Nickelodeon is a bunch of complete idiots if they don't pick up the series this year!!!

Yeah... if they do, we may just at LEAST get another Happy Meal out of it. They had one of Penguins of Madagascar... and there was that series of figures (though I can't find the Skipper/Maurice set to complete the collection... thatnks a crap Christmas Tree Shop)

 

[beaker]

Yes!!! It is a Perfect Film!!!!! I LOVE Monsters Vs Aliens as well!!, And Nickelodeon is a bunch of complete idiots if they don't pick up the series this year!!!

Well thats three confirmed MvA fans I usually can't stand Dreamworks, but the style/quality/imagination/scope/fun of MvA really took me by surprise. I even have an Insectasaurus plush, and the three dvds(the movie, bobs break out and halloween special) That's...probably going to be the last we see of them. Meanwhile Im sure they'll keep resurrecting Shrek, and will make a Shark's Tale sequel before they do more MvA

I dont get why the public didnt go nuts for it

 

[Drtooth]

I dont get why the public didnt go nuts for it

Like I said before, it's not us...

Despite its success in the United States market, DreamWorks Animation's CEO, Jeffrey Katzenberg was quoted in the Los Angeles Times that a sequel would not be made because of the film's weak performance in some key international markets. "There was enough of a consensus from our distribution and marketing folks in certain parts of the world that 'doing a sequel' would be pushing a boulder up a hill."After the release of Megamind, Katzenberg commented Shark Tale, Monsters vs. Aliens, and Megamind: "All shared an approach and tone and idea of parody, and did not travel well internationally. We don’t have anything like that coming on our schedule now."

It's some unknown international market that didn't bite. I don't see why they can't just make another since it did well here... I don't see why one "key" international market is the hold up, since... like I said, Underworld keeps getting sequels and NO ONE likes them and they don't make that much money. Megamind was another very special movie, I don't think a sequel could do it justice... I'd DREAM for a crossover Megamind/MvA movie or project... but on the bright side, Sharktale also sucked in that market, so NO more Sharktale anyway. That was their worst film, and thankfully they moved on with it.

Still, MvA should have had a bigger merchandising presence. But Puss in Boots had nothing, and that's part of the Shrek franchise.

 

[frogboy4]

Keep in mind that originally the film was slated for Christmas release so product demand would not be anticipated until after the holidays. Product launches take time and it seems the flow of merchandise is increasing when initially intended. They have character plushes in the Disney store (along with some other items) and non-singing holiday Kermit plushes in Walgreens! The exposure is there, the increase of items is now coming.

 

[Drtooth]

Keep in mind that originally the film was slated for Christmas release so product demand would not be anticipated until after the holidays. Product launches take time and it seems the flow of merchandise is increasing when initially intended. They have character plushes in the Disney store (along with some other items) and non-singing holiday Kermit plushes in Walgreens! The exposure is there, the increase of items is now coming.

Let's be thankful it didn't....it would have been completely buried under the 6 movies they released in a single week/2 week period. While this did indeed get worked out a while ago, I thought they planned the movie's release at Thanksgiving at least last year before filming. I guess that wasn't quite enough time....

Sometimes the movie stuff comes before the film comes out in theaters, sometimes by months at a time... sometimes they drop as soon as the movie hits, sometimes you have to wait until later.

Still, I'm mixed... while I would like to have seen much more before Christmas (if, for nothing else, the gift giving season), but I understand that to build a long, sustainable franchise most of the stuff has to come out later, but semi-regularly with seasonal releases.

And of course, among other things, they had to see where the movie audience was demographically before they could release a larger portion of merchandise. Seems like they found the great mix between the older fans and their kids... there's basically stuff at both the adult and young child end.

 

[Writersright]

I went to NY specifically so I didn't have to wait for februari to see the new Muppets flick. (and the Jim Henson exhibition at the MOTMI) I loved it and wanted to buy a lot of merchandise so we headed to Times Square and visited the gigantic Toys'R Us...couldn't find any merchandise. The Disney store had a very small part of the store devoted to the Muppets. I was lucky enough to fins a K-mart on the way to the airport back so I could buy the soundtrack!
I don't get it. The Muppets movie is doing pretty well and it's got the king of merchandise behind it, Disney. Even if they hated the Muppets I'd expect that they try to squeeze every penny out of it.

 

[beaker]

Let's be thankful it didn't....it would have been completely buried under the 6 movies they released in a single week/2 week period. While this did indeed get worked out a while ago, I thought they planned the movie's release at Thanksgiving at least last year before filming. I guess that wasn't quite enough time....

Sometimes the movie stuff comes before the film comes out in theaters, sometimes by months at a time... sometimes they drop as soon as the movie hits, sometimes you have to wait until later.

Still, I'm mixed... while I would like to have seen much more before Christmas (if, for nothing else, the gift giving season), but I understand that to build a long, sustainable franchise most of the stuff has to come out later, but semi-regularly with seasonal releases.

And of course, among other things, they had to see where the movie audience was demographically before they could release a larger portion of merchandise. Seems like they found the great mix between the older fans and their kids... there's basically stuff at both the adult and young child end.

I was at Target, all the Smurfs toys and playsets were in the 50-75% back of the store aisle. They should just pay people to take it. Sadly the only thing on toy aisles these days are overpriced shrimpy comic book figures, bakubentenmon, dubya dubya wrasslin,
and OH BOY! Star Wars. how exciting!

 

[beaker]

I don't get it. The Muppets movie is doing pretty well and it's got the king of merchandise behind it, Disney. Even if they hated the Muppets I'd expect that they try to squeeze every penny out of it.

I had predicted, or at least feared we wouldnt get any merchandise. I mean people are getting excited over Muppet nail polish, rubber bands and "snuggies"...that shows you how hard up people are for *any* merchandise. I was surprised they released a beaker, walter, and pepe plush. I think the Walter plush is the only movie specific thing released. At LEAST with past films, we had quite a lot of movie fast food tie-ins.

Im not sure if it's a disrespect of the Muppet fans or more of the same old thinking of how Muppets is some niche core they can brush over. Im not a big fan of Disney, and Ive sadly even lost my enthusiasm over Pixar. But even so, it was sad seeing Disney make the Muppets their main movie of the season, yet all you saw was princess stuff, cars, etc and then a tiny little end cap of mostly lame Muppet stuff(the plushes were the only cool thing...the rest was badly photoshopped crap slapped onto mugs and recycleable bags)