Disney Tops Licensed Merch Sales

[JeanGreyForever]

Oh wow, there was a drop. It's a sad day when the franchise made less in merchandise in the same year as two SW films than it did before TFA even came out (2014 specifically). But like you said, there must be other factors involved, not the least of which include Marvel siphoning a lot of the profits with Infinity War, Black Panther, etc.

[Avaitor]

From what I can tell, Star Wars always sells better than Marvel. While 2018 could've been a better year for Marvel thanks to Black Panther and Infinity War, I'm not surprised that SW is still a bigger draw.

[JeanGreyForever]

From what I can tell, Star Wars always sells better than Marvel. While 2018 could've been a better year for Marvel thanks to Black Panther and Infinity War, I'm not surprised that SW is still a bigger draw.

I wish somebody could say this to all those YouTubers with too much time on their hands who constantly make videos about how the Disney Parks are failing with the Star Wars expansions and how Disney ruins everything it touches, at least when it comes to Star Wars. I never realized how many multitudes of people are actually indoctrinated by these videos and believe every word that is said without any facts or sources to back up the claims.

[Thumper_93]

I work in a franchise that sells merchandise of different brands and Star wars sells more than Marvel. at least It does in my stores. People use to buy everything about all the characters of SW but in Marvel is not like that. Iron Man and Captain america sell all right, Captain Marvel, Groot and Doctor Strange have also a good success but the rest of the characters use to end in the sales section. Obviously it also happens with other brands like Disney Princesses but they always count with the same characters and Marvel is going to have a new "team" of characters so I believe that they're not going to sell so good as they've been doin till today. I'm pretty sure that Star Wars is going to have a better year because of "The child" and "The Mandalorian".

[Disney's Divinity]

That makes sense, Thumper_93. As you said, it’s like how different princesses sell differently than others. I know there are only a few Marvel characters I would buy merchandise for, most people have one or a few favorites.

[Thumper_93]

That makes sense, Thumper_93. As you said, it’s like how different princesses sell differently than others. I know there are only a few Marvel characters I would buy merchandise for, most people have one or a few favorites.

Exactly! For example in the case of Funko Pops all the funkos use to be under de "Disney Brand". There are a Snow White collection, a Cinderella Collection so people are not really buying a Disney princess product.
When you buy a Disney princess item there are some different princess in the desing and Disney uses to include the princesses that are most popular. But this could not work with Marvel in the nex years. They need to create a new team and they don't have characters so famous like Iron Man or Captain america so I think that Marvel is not going to sell so good as it does today. They can use of course these characters but th e big part of the merchandise is relationated with the MCU and these characters are hard to include in the universe right now so they will have to sell merchandise with a team created with: Ant-man, Captain Marvel, Doctor Strange...characters that are not so popular.

Also I heard that when you want to buy a license to create products of a Disney franchise you have to pay for the license and for each character that you're going to use. That's why some companies only pay for the characters that are going to be a success and they don't risk their money to characters that are not so popular.

[Avaitor]

From what I can tell, Star Wars always sells better than Marvel. While 2018 could've been a better year for Marvel thanks to Black Panther and Infinity War, I'm not surprised that SW is still a bigger draw.

I wish somebody could say this to all those YouTubers with too much time on their hands who constantly make videos about how the Disney Parks are failing with the Star Wars expansions and how Disney ruins everything it touches, at least when it comes to Star Wars. I never realized how many multitudes of people are actually indoctrinated by these videos and believe every word that is said without any facts or sources to back up the claims.

Yeah, most of the people who say that the Star Wars expansions at the Disney parks are failing don't actually know or care much about the parks, and just want an outlet to let their rage out. Granted, from what I understand, numbers were a bit low when Galaxy's Edge first opened (cast members were initially blocked out of the parks it opened at, but were gained access back after only a couple of weeks), but by the time Rise of the Resistance arrived a few months ago, it became the megahit Disney was hoping for and thensome.

And Thumper_93. that sounds right. Most Marvel fans have a few favorites of their own, but Star Wars fans tend to go for the whole shebang from what I can see. I do think that there's also a good amount of older fans still buying merch for Star Wars, those who grew up with the movies. Even though Marvel's been around for a bit longer, comic books have never been as big of a draw as movies have, so there may not be nearly as much nostalgia for them.

[JeanGreyForever]

I work in a franchise that sells merchandise of different brands and Star wars sells more than Marvel. at least It does in my stores. People use to buy everything about all the characters of SW but in Marvel is not like that. Iron Man and Captain america sell all right, Captain Marvel, Groot and Doctor Strange have also a good success but the rest of the characters use to end in the sales section. Obviously it also happens with other brands like Disney Princesses but they always count with the same characters and Marvel is going to have a new "team" of characters so I believe that they're not going to sell so good as they've been doin till today. I'm pretty sure that Star Wars is going to have a better year because of "The child" and "The Mandalorian".

That's so interesting! I'm glad Captain Marvel is a top seller since Marvel has never been good about promoting female characters and she's always been one of my favorites. Doctor Strange selling well is nice to hear as well. How does Black Panther fare in comparison? I was under the impression he was a top seller but maybe not.

Do you know how the Disney Princesses tend to sell as in which ones sell the most and which ones are least popualr?

I know in Star Wars that while Rey is fairly popular enough, Kylo Ren is the big seller when it comes to all forms of merchandise and media. Still have no idea why Disney killed off one of their cash cows, even when they worked against time to make sure another of their cash cows (Elsa) was kept alive.

[JeanGreyForever]

When you buy a Disney princess item there are some different princess in the desing and Disney uses to include the princesses that are most popular. But this could not work with Marvel in the nex years. They need to create a new team and they don't have characters so famous like Iron Man or Captain america so I think that Marvel is not going to sell so good as it does today. They can use of course these characters but th e big part of the merchandise is relationated with the MCU and these characters are hard to include in the universe right now so they will have to sell merchandise with a team created with: Ant-man, Captain Marvel, Doctor Strange...characters that are not so popular.

Also I heard that when you want to buy a license to create products of a Disney franchise you have to pay for the license and for each character that you're going to use. That's why some companies only pay for the characters that are going to be a success and they don't risk their money to characters that are not so popular.

I've heard Marvel is trying to position Black Panther, Captain Marvel, and Doctor Strange as the new Iron Man, Captain America, and Thor. Obviously they still have Spider-Man and the new Natalie Portman/Jane Foster Thor will be there even as the old Thor hasn't been killed off completely. And Wanda/Scarlet Witch is being positioned in a very prominent position as well now that Disney no longer has to worry about sharing her with Fox. Ant-Man I can't imagine is very popular and there's a reason Marvel hasn't had major plans with his character.

I wish somebody could say this to all those YouTubers with too much time on their hands who constantly make videos about how the Disney Parks are failing with the Star Wars expansions and how Disney ruins everything it touches, at least when it comes to Star Wars. I never realized how many multitudes of people are actually indoctrinated by these videos and believe every word that is said without any facts or sources to back up the claims.

Yeah, most of the people who say that the Star Wars expansions at the Disney parks are failing don't actually know or care much about the parks, and just want an outlet to let their rage out. Granted, from what I understand, numbers were a bit low when Galaxy's Edge first opened (cast members were initially blocked out of the parks it opened at, but were gained access back after only a couple of weeks), but by the time Rise of the Resistance arrived a few months ago, it became the megahit Disney was hoping for and thensome.

And Thumper_93. that sounds right. Most Marvel fans have a few favorites of their own, but Star Wars fans tend to go for the whole shebang from what I can see. I do think that there's also a good amount of older fans still buying merch for Star Wars, those who grew up with the movies. Even though Marvel's been around for a bit longer, comic books have never been as big of a draw as movies have, so there may not be nearly as much nostalgia for them.

Those numbers were also in part low when Galaxy's Edge first opened because the full park hadn't even been released yet. With rising ticket prices, families can barely afford to go once a year let alone multiple times so they would plan on going when Rise of the Resistance was fully open. All the news articles about how you needed a reservation months in advance and you would only get 3-4 hours at the park were also off-putting and made many people reconsider.

DC used to have the most iconic superheroes who were known worldwide. Marvel really just had Spider-Man, Wolverine, and Hulk. That's changed now but even so, only a few of their mega characters have that worldwide appeal now like Iron Man. I've heard even Captain America is a tough sell outside of the US because foreign audiences are very reluctant to accept him as a hero. As for Star Wars, I agree that despite the fans who claim they are done with the franchise and won't accept the PT or the ST or the Special Editions of the OT, they are still the type to go out and collect everything, even the stuff they supposedly hate.

[Thumper_93]

I work in a franchise that sells merchandise of different brands and Star wars sells more than Marvel. at least It does in my stores. People use to buy everything about all the characters of SW but in Marvel is not like that. Iron Man and Captain america sell all right, Captain Marvel, Groot and Doctor Strange have also a good success but the rest of the characters use to end in the sales section. Obviously it also happens with other brands like Disney Princesses but they always count with the same characters and Marvel is going to have a new "team" of characters so I believe that they're not going to sell so good as they've been doin till today. I'm pretty sure that Star Wars is going to have a better year because of "The child" and "The Mandalorian".

That's so interesting! I'm glad Captain Marvel is a top seller since Marvel has never been good about promoting female characters and she's always been one of my favorites. Doctor Strange selling well is nice to hear as well. How does Black Panther fare in comparison? I was under the impression he was a top seller but maybe not.

Do you know how the Disney Princesses tend to sell as in which ones sell the most and which ones are least popualr?

I know in Star Wars that while Rey is fairly popular enough, Kylo Ren is the big seller when it comes to all forms of merchandise and media. Still have no idea why Disney killed off one of their cash cows, even when they worked against time to make sure another of their cash cows (Elsa) was kept alive.

About the princesses the onte that used to sells more is Ariel. People used to ask for Belle's merchandise too. Cinderella, Snow white and Jasmine uses to sell good too but no so good as Ariel for example. Mulan sells all right, we didn't have merchandise of the animated classic and people bought LA merchandise because they love the character. Rapunzel is not much asked but the big part of the clients that we have are over 20 years old so they didn't grow up with her. People use to ask for Pocahontas too but we don't have anything about her, not even a keychain.
Tiana is not asked, people don't buy her and neither Aurora. This is how things work in my shop. I don't know how it works with another age range, in another shop or in another country.

About how Black Panther works...well, T'challa sells some merchandise but not so much as other characters do and he sells something because he's the main character, all the rest of the characters are in the sale section and we don't sell them even with a 50% disscount. But that happens with lots of other movies/tv shows.

[Farerb]

We can tell about the Princesses popularity by the number of Funko Pops each one has:
Snow White - 4
Cinderella - 6
Aurora - 4
Ariel - 12
Belle - 8
Jasmine - 7
Pocahontas - 2
Mulan - 5
Tiana - 2
Rapunzel - 4
Merida - 3
Moana - 7

[Thumper_93]

We can tell about the Princesses popularity by the number of Funko Pops each one has:
Snow White - 4
Cinderella - 6
Aurora - 4
Ariel - 12
Belle - 8
Jasmine - 7
Pocahontas - 2
Mulan - 5
Tiana - 2
Rapunzel - 4
Merida - 3
Moana - 7

That's not true at all. To see if something is popular or not you have to differene the age of the people that buy it and some other facts. Some of these pop's have been released because of anniversaries. One of the shops where I work only sells funko pop's and Pocahontas sells much more than Tiana, Rapunzel, Merida and even Moana. Another fact is that the big part of the products are for kids so that's why they used to include the princesses that more sells to catch their attention and make the parents buy the productos.
In my Disney store I talked with the manager of the shop and she told me that girls love princesses like Cinderella for the transformation of her gown and that's why she sells more than other princesses despite that big part of these kids don't have even have seen the movie.
I also have and an Instagram account and a blog about Disney princesses and I've contact with the editorial that makes the magazine in Spain and they tells me that they always put Ariel and Rapunzel because they're more popular to the kids than other princesses. They inclu de characters like Mulan when a Live action is going to be released or when they have an anniversary. If the magazine would be for Adults they would choose other princesses because they "don't want" so much the newest princesses.
So, new princesses are more popular between kids. They also love some old princesses but they do it because of live-actions, transformations or just because they use to see them everywhere. The mature audience prefeer old princesses for nostalgia and that's a fact. That's why we can't have an "official" list of wich one is more popular because there are lots of different facts.

[Sotiris]

To see if something is popular or not you have to differene the age of the people that buy it and some other facts. Some of these pop's have been released because of anniversaries. One of the shops where I work only sells funko pop's and Pocahontas sells much more than Tiana, Rapunzel, Merida and even Moana. Another fact is that the big part of the products are for kids so that's why they used to include the princesses that more sells to catch their attention and make the parents buy the products.

Thanks for all the info you're sharing with us! It's rare we get a glimpse of how things works in retail. I'm glad Pocahontas is still beloved and asked for by consumers. It's a darn shame Disney doesn't include her in more merch. The fact that you have no products of hers to sell at your store is a travesty.

I also have and an Instagram account and a blog about Disney princesses and I've contact with the editorial that makes the magazine in Spain and they tells me that they always put Ariel and Rapunzel because they're more popular to the kids than other princesses. They include characters like Mulan when a Live action is going to be released or when they have an anniversary. If the magazine would be for Adults they would choose other princesses because they "don't want" so much the newest princesses.

That's fascinating! I'm not surprised Ariel is popular amongst kids and adults alike. She's a great character. Have you heard anything about the popularity of Elsa and Anna? How well do they sell in relation to the princesses?

By the way, you're welcome to share you Instagram and blog accounts here. I'm sure a lot of people would be interested in them.

[Thumper_93]

To see if something is popular or not you have to differene the age of the people that buy it and some other facts. Some of these pop's have been released because of anniversaries. One of the shops where I work only sells funko pop's and Pocahontas sells much more than Tiana, Rapunzel, Merida and even Moana. Another fact is that the big part of the products are for kids so that's why they used to include the princesses that more sells to catch their attention and make the parents buy the products.

Thanks for all the info you're sharing with us! It's rare we get a glimpse of how things works in retail. I'm glad Pocahontas is still beloved and asked for by consumers. It's a darn shame Disney doesn't include her in more merch. The fact that you have no products of hers to sell at your store is a travesty.

I also have and an Instagram account and a blog about Disney princesses and I've contact with the editorial that makes the magazine in Spain and they tells me that they always put Ariel and Rapunzel because they're more popular to the kids than other princesses. They include characters like Mulan when a Live action is going to be released or when they have an anniversary. If the magazine would be for Adults they would choose other princesses because they "don't want" so much the newest princesses.

That's fascinating! I'm not surprised Ariel is popular amongst kids and adults alike. She's a great character. Have you heard anything about the popularity of Elsa and Anna? How well do they sell in relation to the princesses?

By the way, you're welcome to share you Instagram and blog accounts here. I'm sure a lot of people would be interested in them.

Pocahontas sells more than Rapunzel in some cases for example in the Pop's because the adults use to buy them more than the kids so they want characters that tey like.

About Anna and Elsa well, they sell a lot but the big part of the things that we sell are for kids. Their parents, grandpartens use to buy the Pops for them but the adults don't use to buy them, only the collectors.
Ariel for example sells a lot because she's a mermaid. Kids loves Mermaids, adults love Mermaids. The kids only want her in her mermaid form while adults use to buy her in any form because they love the character and the movie and they don't want her only because she's a mermaid. This happens with Beauty and the beast. Kids buys the pops of Belle because of the live action while adults buy the product because they're in love with the movie and they use to want almost all the characters.

I leave my instagram account and the blog bellow, the blog was under construction and I don't work too much on it because is hard to do it in the smartphone. The instagram is more easy to construct and people use to use it more than blogspot. I started a few months before so I don't have much posts now but you're all welcome!

@disneyprincessblogspain
http://disneyprincessblog.blogspot.com/

[JeanGreyForever]

That's so interesting! I'm glad Captain Marvel is a top seller since Marvel has never been good about promoting female characters and she's always been one of my favorites. Doctor Strange selling well is nice to hear as well. How does Black Panther fare in comparison? I was under the impression he was a top seller but maybe not.

Do you know how the Disney Princesses tend to sell as in which ones sell the most and which ones are least popualr?

I know in Star Wars that while Rey is fairly popular enough, Kylo Ren is the big seller when it comes to all forms of merchandise and media. Still have no idea why Disney killed off one of their cash cows, even when they worked against time to make sure another of their cash cows (Elsa) was kept alive.

About the princesses the onte that used to sells more is Ariel. People used to ask for Belle's merchandise too. Cinderella, Snow white and Jasmine uses to sell good too but no so good as Ariel for example. Mulan sells all right, we didn't have merchandise of the animated classic and people bought LA merchandise because they love the character. Rapunzel is not much asked but the big part of the clients that we have are over 20 years old so they didn't grow up with her. People use to ask for Pocahontas too but we don't have anything about her, not even a keychain.
Tiana is not asked, people don't buy her and neither Aurora. This is how things work in my shop. I don't know how it works with another age range, in another shop or in another country.

About how Black Panther works...well, T'challa sells some merchandise but not so much as other characters do and he sells something because he's the main character, all the rest of the characters are in the sale section and we don't sell them even with a 50% disscount. But that happens with lots of other movies/tv shows.

Thank you for the stats and the explanations! I love reading stuff like this. It sounds very similar to what I remember reading about how the Disney Princesses used to sell when it came to dolls in the Disney Store when the franchise first began in 2000. 1) Cinderella 2) Ariel 3) Belle 4) Jasmine 5) Snow White 6) Aurora 7) Pocahontas 8 ) Mulan

I'm so glad that my favorite classic princesses all sell well, save for Aurora which doesn't surprise me too much. That makes sense that Rapunzel wouldn't sell as well because the age group that makes up your clientele wouldn't be into her. That's so tragic about Pocahontas but I'm glad that people still ask about her. I'm surprised there's no merch for her because Disney Store and Hot Topic have both gotten better about creating at least a few pieces for her.

Not surprised about Tiana, she might get more promotion than Pocahontas but she's arguably even less popular than her. She was also the least popular princess in the UK survey from what I remember or at least, her film was the least watched and least known.

After how well Black Panther did in terms of the box office, I assumed he was a huge seller when it comes to merch but then again, I don't see him much in stores. Captain Marvel I still see a lot in part because Marvel needs a female heroine and frankly Black Widow can only be promoted so much as the sole heroine for almost 10 years or so. I really hope Disney will elevate Wanda Maximoff's character as well in the future since she's meant to have a bigger role in the MCU. Pleasantly surprised that Doctor Strange sells so well only because I knew he was popular but I didn't realize he was that popular.

We can tell about the Princesses popularity by the number of Funko Pops each one has:
Snow White - 4
Cinderella - 6
Aurora - 4
Ariel - 12
Belle - 8
Jasmine - 7
Pocahontas - 2
Mulan - 5
Tiana - 2
Rapunzel - 4
Merida - 3
Moana - 7

This might be a tad bit skewed also because a character like Moana probably has had more pops because she's from a recent film and had a whole wave at least to promote it. But I don't think it's that inaccurate when it comes to popularity.

[Disney's Divinity]

Thanks for all the info you're sharing with us! It's rare we get a glimpse of how things works in retail. I'm glad Pocahontas is still beloved and asked for by consumers. It's a darn shame Disney doesn't include her in more merch. The fact that you have no products of hers to sell at your store is a travesty.

I'm not really surprised that she might sell well because there must have been a reason Pocahontas didn't get hidden away like Hunchback over the years.

[Thumper_93]

We also have the Hunchback of Notre dame pop's in the shop. They sell all right but now we're having problems to sell all the stock. But that also happened with Frozen 2 Pop's because we have much stock.

[Disney's Divinity]

I wonder if they might've ordered more for Hunchback because of how well the Hercules line did. From what I remember, there was some surprise that Hercules did so well? I believe the same thing happened when they finally released Aladdin (the character) and it sold really well. Up 'til then, they mostly avoided releasing male characters for some reason, like they thought they would flop or something. I think Aladdin having done so well is the only reason they started reaching out to other properties that Disney normally ignores, since the Hercules line and the The Emperor's New Groove lines happened right after--and both were more extensive than I would've ever expected. I wish pops were already in full gear when TP&TF and Tangled had been released, so Naveen, Charlotte, Ray, Odie, Eugene, and Rapunzel (a brunette variant) would all have pops already.

Rapunzel, Ariel, Cinderella, and the Frozen sisters have always felt like the most popular from the outside. It makes sense... Rapunzel and Ariel have exuberant personalities, Ariel's a fantasy creature as well as a princess like you said, Cinderella has one of the prettiest dresses and is the iconic fairytale, Elsa has magic, and Anna is a tag-along with Elsa. It's a shame if Tiana really does sell that poorly. I thought she'd at least do as well as Pocahontas and Mulan. Maybe when that generation grows up and starts buying merchandise? Although Pocahontas didn't do as well as the Fab Four, it was still a pretty big film. It also followed The Lion King, when all eyes were on Disney at the time. So, love it or hate it, but almost everyone had seen it from that generation, and I can understand why she would be fun to a child. The merchandise for her should be very colorful because of the song CotW and her hair flipping around in the wind everywhere looks really pretty. I think there may have been many like me who, whatever they thought of the film overall, really liked the main character if nothing else. Thank you for relating your experiences, Thumper_93.

[blackcauldron85]

It's a shame if Tiana really does sell that poorly. I thought she'd at least do as well as Pocahontas and Mulan.

I was thinking maybe this is because Tiana only has one Pop, but I just looked it up, and she not only has the blue-dress Pop, but a green-dress Pop! (Weirdly enough, I only have the blue-dress Pop but mine came with mini Frog Naveen, but online the green dress one comes with Naveen...maybe mine was used and they threw him in...even though I've since lost Naveen...)

[Thumper_93]

I'm glad to share my experiences with you! As soon as I come back to my job I'll investigate more!

About male characters I think that they should have continued with the "Disney heroes" franchise...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWkxzYziyDA