Movie marketing executive Peter Dang is banking that "Men in Black" action figures will be huge sellers, even though he predicts most girls won't be buying.
"Boys like destruction, girls like rescue," explained the executive vice president of Sony Signatures, the consumer products division of Sony Pictures Entertainment.
"Girls like to comb (characters') hair and put them to bed, and it's a little tough putting an alien to bed."
There'll be plenty of aliens in "Men in Black," a sci-fi comedy-action flick that opens July 2 and stars Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones as Earth-saving secret agents. The $90-million-dollar film is one of several monster-budget movies that will hit screens this summer backed by platoons of playthings.
Aliens, dinosaurs, seven-headed hydras and Batmobiles James Bond would envy are among the new movie-based toys parents can expect to begin crunching under foot.
When "The Lost World: Jurassic Park" opens May 23, there'll be dinosaur roars not only on screen but also on toy shelves. Among the toys partnered with this sequel to the third-highest grossing film of all time will be Kenner's Electronic Velociraptor, which "lets out a terrifying cry," and Thrasher T-Rex, which "chomps onto smaller dinosaurs" (or perhaps younger siblings). Also part of Kenner's dino-mania will be "giant attack-size" dinos (watch the baby), a dino-trackers' base-camp playset, plus vehicles equipped to spot and corral gargantuan spiny guys.
Vernon Hills-based Tiger Electronics gets into "The Lost World" action with a T-Rex Squawk Box ("makes four authentic T-Rex sound effects") and Baby T-Rex: "The Lost World" Giga Pet, a key-chain video game featuring a virtual pet that plays and even poops.
"Batman and Robin" sweeps into town on June 20 -- the fourth in the Batman series. Can't take home Alicia Silverstone? Take home Batgirl. Kenner's got her, complete with toy "battle blade blaster," plus a fleet of other "Batman and Robin" action figures and vehicles.
Disney's big summertime entry is "Hercules," opening June 27. "There's been some hesitation (among retailers) about whether `Hercules' will be a major hit because there was a lot of `Hunchback' (`of Notre Dame') merchandise left over last year," said Ira Mayer, publisher of the trade publication, The Licensing Letter.
Only time will tell if Mattel's Sword-Fighting Hercules, sexy Lots of Looks Megara (the hero's love interest), or Hydra Monster (with "seven fully pose-able heads") will fly off the shelves.
Galoob Toys is turning out Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones look-alike action figures that kids can use to "play `Men in Black,' " said Dang. And how do you do that? "It's the process of discovering that a normal-type human person is really an alien. `Men in Black' is funny and has a refreshing new angle to it, and with the humor and growing sophistication of kids, I think there's an expectation the movie will drive toy sales."
Which movie toys will be super-sellers this summer? Nobody knows, but Chris Byrne, editor of the New York-based publication, Market Focus: Toys, said one thing is sure: The competition will be fierce for "kids' `share of mind' -- you know, awareness. As movies have become ever more expensive to produce, people have looked for alternative revenue streams. In the '70s, it was `Oh, my god, we're doing a movie. We've got to deal with the toy people.' Now, it's more like, `OK, we're doing a movie. Where are the toy people?' "
(And, where are the fast-food people? Burger King has tied in with "The Lost World: Jurassic Park," and, beginning around Memorial Day, will offer a related toy for purchase to customers who buy a Value Meal. Disney has teamed up with McDonald's, where diners will receive free "Hercules" character dolls with Happy Meals starting in mid-June.)
So where do ideas for movie-based toys come from? Mattel's Lisa McKendall explained how her company works with Disney: "We get in as early as possible to see rough animation and try to identify those characters and key scenes kids would like to recreate at home."
Normally, the toy company initiates product ideas and proposes them to the movie studio, which usually ends up with a 12 to 15 percent cut of wholesale revenue. "We let the toy licensee do their thing," said Peter Dang, adding that the studio does "make suggestions" and "gets involved with quality control."
In a reverse of that process, however, producers at 20th Century Fox, the studio responsible for the 1992 film, "Home Alone 2: Lost in New York," approached Tiger Electronics and asked the company to create a voice-altering toy Macaulay Culkin could use to make himself sound older while trying to book a room at the Plaza Hotel. The result was Talkboy, an electronic recorder and voice changer.
