Sunday, June 23, 2013

Synergistic Profits

You have a hit in one corner of the media universe, you want to enlarge it to the other corners.

Disney Interactive Media Group is still licensing select movies for stand-alone game experiences (like Disney’s Planes), but the August 18 launch of Disney Infinity will literally change the licensing game moving forward for Walt Disney Pictures’ live action and animated movies. Monsters University, which just debuted at the box office, will join The Lone Ranger as two big tentpole movie experiences that will expand within the new gaming platform.

Disney Infinity, which will be available across multiple consoles, isn’t just a game. It’s an expandable gaming world (similar in some ways to Activision’s Skylanders) that can plug in new stand-alone play sets featuring the casts of movies like Cars, Pirates of the Caribbean and The Incredibles. These original story lines will offer 6 to 10 hours of gameplay, which is about the average that traditional stand-alone Hollywood licensed games would offer.

“A great example of expanding these movie worlds is Monsters University and what’s going on with Fear Tech, which is the rival university that we’re exploring in this game,” said John Pleasants, co-president of Disney Interactive. ...

It's about maximizing value, boys and girls. You have yourself a hit movie, you want a hit tv series ... and mobile app ... and video game to go with it.

Then, naturally enough, there are the little silver disks, e-books, and plush toys that the kiddies will whisk off the shelves of Toys R Us. And the worldwide licensing opportunities and t.v. playoffs. The idea is to squeeze all the juicy goodness from the property, then go on to the next sequel.

It's why tent poles are so popular. The support big, stretchy tents made of money.

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