DVDizzy Forum

Redadoodles wrote:

farerb wrote:Who is they? The people who make these decisions are not the same as the people who make the films.

What I'm saying is that ultimately putting someone in the franchise is merely a financial decision, not based on who said what on her film. Personally I'm not really invested in the who's in it and why, I think people give this franchise too much importance, honestly I kind of wish it never existed.

You do realize that the people who handle the merchandising are involved in the film, right? The producers have several meetings over what sells and what doesn't sell. There are hundreds of meetings involving costumes, side kicks and other things like that. I remember one of my friends who was the screenwriters on the Princess Sissi animated show telling me that they had ten different meetings where the writers and the marketing team were violently arguing on the hair color of the princess. The story team wanted to follow the real story and have the heroine keep her brown hair but the marketing team wanted her blonde as back then blonde dolls would sell better. At the end, the marketing team ended up winning the case. The same thing happened with Pocahontas when Mattel demanded that the story team would include a scene of Meeko braiding Pocahontas's hair so they would release a doll pack that would do the same thing.
All that to say that it would be very naive to think that marketing is not a huge part of an animated film's production.

Thumper_93 wrote:I'm a huge fan of Saban's Princess Sissi and what you said is very interesiting. I've saw that there's a collection of novels based on Sissis's life where She's blond and she looks so much like the animated one. I also collect dolls and it's incredible the ammount of models that Giochi Preziosi released (the peasant one, the grand ball, the wedding, Sissi goes in float, Sissi imperial ball....). They made a great job to be honest...

Thumper_93 wrote:

Redadoodles wrote:
You do realize that the people who handle the merchandising are involved in the film, right? The producers have several meetings over what sells and what doesn't sell. There are hundreds of meetings involving costumes, side kicks and other things like that. I remember one of my friends who was the screenwriters on the Princess Sissi animated show telling me that they had ten different meetings where the writers and the marketing team were violently arguing on the hair color of the princess. The story team wanted to follow the real story and have the heroine keep her brown hair but the marketing team wanted her blonde as back then blonde dolls would sell better. At the end, the marketing team ended up winning the case. The same thing happened with Pocahontas when Mattel demanded that the story team would include a scene of Meeko braiding Pocahontas's hair so they would release a doll pack that would do the same thing.
All that to say that it would be very naive to think that marketing is not a huge part of an animated film's production.

I'm a huge fan of Saban's Princess Sissi and what you said is very interesiting. I've saw that there's a collection of novels based on Sissis's life where She's blond and she looks so much like the animated one. I also collect dolls and it's incredible the ammount of models that Giochi Preziosi released (the peasant one, the grand ball, the wedding, Sissi goes in float, Sissi imperial ball....). They made a great job to be honest...

Stephen Berman wrote:In girls, initial sales of Raya and the Last Dragon were solid and were combined with the positive trajectory of Disney Princess helped offset the expected decline of Frozen and Frozen II products.

Sales of our Disney Princess products nearly doubled over the first quarter of last year. With the introduction of Raya and the Last Dragon, Disney Princess and Raya more than offset the decline in Frozen and Frozen II products.

We expect to benefit from the continued retail distribution expansion in addition to increased demand in the marketplace with the ever growing strength of the Disney Princess universe. We will continue to also support the Frozen franchise with a diverse line of products that brings the magic of Arendelle to fans in a variety of scales and formats. Beyond the core Disney Princess business, we will continue driving the great performance of product lines based on Raya and the Last Dragon. In addition to launching a dynamic line of toy products inspired by Encanto, the upcoming November theatrical release from the Walt Disney Animation Studios, centered around an extraordinarily family who lives in a magical home in a vibrant town nestled in the hidden mountains of Colombia. The Encanto product line will feature fashion dolls, large dolls, playsets, dress-up and role play.

On real growth, you'll see through – we have a lot of new licenses, we have Encanto, Raya is a great property that will continue.

John Kimble wrote:The big driver of the growth, the strong sales of Disney Princess and Raya merchandise anchored by the theatrical and streaming release in March, slightly offset by lower sales of Frozen.

John Kimble wrote:The big driver of the growth was the strong sales of Disney Princess and Raya merchandise slightly offset by lower sales of Frozen.

John Kimble wrote:Continued strength in our Disney Princess and Style Collection Lines, coupled with new Disney releases from Raya and the Last Dragon, ILY and Encanto, led the growth for the year.

DisneyFan09 wrote:

Thumper_93 wrote:I'm a huge fan of Saban's Princess Sissi and what you said is very interesiting. I've saw that there's a collection of novels based on Sissis's life where She's blond and she looks so much like the animated one. I also collect dolls and it's incredible the ammount of models that Giochi Preziosi released (the peasant one, the grand ball, the wedding, Sissi goes in float, Sissi imperial ball....). They made a great job to be honest...

I`m glad to see more Princess Sissi fans here! I liked it, too. Even though I was a teenager when it aired, I still mesmerized by it.

Redadoodles wrote:Sadly, I am pretty sure that it is because Raya is thinner and has a more traditional beauty with a thinner nose and straight hair... At least, when it comes to the dolls.

There are signs Encanto has found its audience in ways that are crucial to Disney’s bottom line: According to industry magazine Toy Insider, an $80 Encanto playset was one of the year’s top-selling toys.

“Our 2022 is off to an exceptional start,” said Stephen Berman, JAKKS Chairman and CEO. [...] As the year begins, we are starting to see strong results as more consumers discover and embrace films like Sonic the Hedgehog® 2 and Disney’s Encanto™, and want to deepen their relationships with the characters by engaging with a broad array of our toys, Halloween Costumes, day-to-day role play and many other related products.

We are thrilled with the excitement around Disney's Encanto. [...] Although some of our pre-holiday on-shelf presence was impacted by logistic delays, we have seen tremendous velocity since the film debuted on Disney+ on Christmas Eve. [...] We are seeing great sell-through across all accounts in the month of January in the U.S. and Europe, and are locked in to maximize the opportunity throughout 2022 and beyond, more to come on Encanto. [...] Disney's newest theatrical release, Encanto, provided incremental shipping. [...] Continued strength in our Disney Princess and Style Collection Lines, coupled with new Disney releases from Raya and The Last Dragon, ILY and Encanto, led the growth for the year. [...] In 2022, we will be extending the product line to build on the fans' favorite scenes as well as incorporating even more music in the toys, which we'll be bringing to market later this year.

We continue to see fantastic demand for our Encanto Disney products. Retail inventory of Encanto at our top three U.S. accounts at the end of the quarter was only 4 million. The team has been laser-focused on fulfilling the existing demand and broadening the product line with some great new items in time for this holiday season. [...] And then the enhancement grew -- growth was Encanto, Sonic, and Disguise. [...] What we're trying to communicate is certainly we had a lot of great success with both Sonic and Encanto in the quarter on the Toy side. [...] We have some really strong successes currently, even without the formidable Encanto and Sonic. [...] We had only $4 million of inventory of retail and Encanto at the end of the quarter. [...] And then the excitement is going great with the licensing of Encanto and all the different categories.

To name a few, toys developed for the Disney animated film Encanto and the live action and CGI film, Sonic The Hedgehog 2 are having exceptional years. [...] When it comes to Disney's Encanto, we have been scrambling since January to keep up with demand and make sure that this will be a magical holiday season when it comes to Encanto toys. The Magical Madrigal House has been the hot hard-to-find toy and we're on track to ship nearly 0.5 million units. Our largest customers are planning meaningful out-of-aisle real estate in Q3 and Q4 as much anticipated Encanto inventory makes its way to retail shelves. [...] Encanto on its own had a successful launch in last year in fall and also continues this year from first quarter onward. But Encanto has also, I believe, helped the enhancement of the overall Princess business as Princess, the Doll Role Play and Dress Up category, inclusive of Encanto has grown tremendously, with the overall just general Princess properties as well as our Style Collection. [...] Encanto has been growing double-digit for years.

That's in addition to ramping up more production for ranges like Disney Encanto, we already had planned for the spring and summer and autumn and winter seasons. [...] Encanto still has been doing tremendous throughout the world. We see some great excitement with that.

In addition, we had two strong entertainment led product lines for Disney's Encanto and SEGA, Sonic The Hedgehog. I'm happy to report that in total 7 of our top largest toy consumer product segments grew in calendar year 2022. We had a very strong holiday season led by key SKUs across our major brands. And our Disney's Encanto Magical Casa Madrigal we've discussed before, but is worth bringing up again, it's been such a great item for us. [...] Our Dolls, Role Play and Dress Up segment is coming off a massive year led by growth in Disney's Encanto, Disney Princess Dress Up, and the Disney Princess Style Collection. [...] Each month, Disney will celebrate a key franchise every month. Disney’s Encanto was a focus in February.

For instance, our private label business that we do is extremely strong. Our core Disney Princess is doing very well. We had the one item or category movie that was a big splash that it does happen. We had a great year and then it will come down, but the sell-throughs on that property, which was Encanto, is still very strong sell-throughs.