Licensing 2008: Something For Everyone
By Mary Ford, Editor
The business of Halloween licensing has become more sophisticated and more nuanced. Halloween suppliers are no longer focusing on a few upcoming hit-or-miss films. Instead they are offering a wider and more diverse array of licensed properties geared to specific segments of the Halloween market.
For 2008, Halloween-licensed films include a number of properties that are, in some way, already market tested. These include sequels of previous hits (Batman: The Dark Knight and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, both from Rubie’s Costume Co.), remakes of popular classics (The Incredible Hulk, from Disguise, Inc.) and films based on existing characters (Iron Man, from Disguise and Speed Racer, from Rubie’s).
Marty Brochstein, editorial director of The Licensing Letter, reports that more licenses are based on television shows than in the past, and this is certainly true of Halloween licenses — particularly children's properties. Rubie's will offer licenses for a number of Nickelodeon properties including Dora the Explorer and SpongeBob SquarePants. Disguise holds a license for Super Why!, a Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) series and for Abby Cadabby, the newest character on Sesame Street. Disguise also holds a license for Hannah Montana and Little Einsteins, both from The Disney Channel. Disguise also holds the license for Wall-E, a 2008 Disney Pixar release.
TIME FOR TV
Rubie's, which offered costumes from Disney's mega-hit television movie High School
Musical in 2007, will offer a line based on High School Musical 2 in 2008. Paper Magic
Group, Inc. will offer costumes and wigs based on two ABC series, Dancing With the
Stars and Ugly Betty. Rasta Imposta has acquired the license for two properties geared
to young males — Aqua Teen Hunger Force and Robot Chicken, both of which appear
on the Adult Swim programming segment of the Cartoon
Network. Young males are also the target market for Rubie's Halo
products, based on the popular video game. Museum Replicas will
offer a line based on The Tudors, a Showtime series.
Another growing trend in Halloween licensing is what one might call counterintuitive licensing — licensing children's properties to adults or men's properties to women, for example — to achieve a nostalgic and/or ironic appeal. Rubie's offers Wednesday Addams for adults; a Miss Krueger based on Freddie Krueger; a pregnant Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz; and a Harley-Davidson license for infant costumes. Rasta has Teletubbies for adults and will also offer Barney for adults in 2008. Disguise will feature Barbie and Ken costumes and wigs for adults and Care Bears for tweens. Similarly, Paper Magic offers a Hello Kitty line for teens.
For further information on companies mentioned within this article, please go to www.sellinghalloween.com and click on "TIA."