Rumors that Disney is in negotiations to sell Star Wars back to George Lucas!

[irlandaise]

Yep I understand that. It does not change the fact that in the past it really didn’t matter how much a SW made because the toys and merchandise made Lucas filthy rich. That no longer occurs.

You've been claiming that decreased sales of low-end SW toys reflect a decreasing popularity of SW. Others are saying that they merely reflect a decreasing popularity of low-end toys in general.

 

[Sykes]

You've been claiming that decreased sales of low-end SW toys reflect a decreasing popularity of SW. Others are saying that they merely reflect a decreasing popularity of low-end toys in general.

The sales of Star Wars-themed land-line phones are also down dramatically. It certainly must be Bob Iger ruining the company--there's no other possible explanation.

 

[Smugpugmug]

I think Disney needs to start selling the Jar Jar Binks lollipops again. They would make bank. I mean, I would love to have the pleasure of owning one of these bad boys.

 

[reddog21]

Yep I understand that. It does not change the fact that in the past it really didn’t matter how much a SW made because the toys and merchandise made Lucas filthy rich. That no longer occurs.

estimates are that Star wars merchandise (there's no real distinction between toys/clothes) has generated roughly 5-7 billion dollars of sales per movie release. Seems like someone is buying the merchandise and a lot of it.

 

[ChipnDale79]

Yep I understand that. It does not change the fact that in the past it really didn’t matter how much a SW made because the toys and merchandise made Lucas filthy rich. That no longer occurs.

I'm not really sure where you're getting that. Everywhere i turn i see something with Star Wars on it.

Star Wars merchandise is everywhere. I would guess that toys in general have seen a massive decline in sales.

 

[PolymerSkywalker]

A local Super Walmart used to have an entire isle of SW toys back during the PT. Today it’s about a 4ft section. Walmart stocks what sales and they have insanely complicated analytics on what sales. You cannot make up the sales with enough high end figures to adults. It’s a tiny percentage of the fandom that collects the high end figures. Like extremely small percentage.

Walmart sales reflect the general public as a whole. You know the common folks that used to buy SW toys.

Where outside of the parks are you seeing tons of SW merchandise. Other than a small amount of toys (mainly Grogu) and some OT themed Tshirts at Target I just don’t see much.

 

[BrianL]

A local Super Walmart used to have an entire isle of SW toys back during the PT. Today it’s about a 4ft section. Walmart stocks what sales and they have insanely complicated analytics on what sales. You cannot make up the sales with enough high end figures to adults. It’s a tiny percentage of the fandom that collects the high end figures. Like extremely small percentage.

Walmart sales reflect the general public as a whole. You know the common folks that used to by SW toys.

Where outside of the parks are you seeing tons of SW merchandise. Other than a small amount of toys (mainly Grogu) and some OT themed Tshirts at Target I just don’t see much.

Yeah, but they also had four full aisles of toys or more, now it's one. They used to have a whole aisel for TMNT at one time. GI Joe. He-Man. Now they don't Star Wars is just like any other toy property - it waxes and wanes. It still has pretty good representation of the already shrinking toy section.

And, hey, sure there were a LOT of toys on the shelves when Episode I came out - and I bought most of them for a buck on clearance too. Were they not selling or just overproduced? The point is that there are a lot of factors at play here.

 

[PolymerSkywalker]

Yeah, but they also had four full aisles of toys or more, now it's one. They used to have a whole aisel for TMNT at one time. GI Joe. He-Man. Now they don't Star Wars is just like any other toy property - it waxes and wanes. It still has pretty good representation of the already shrinking toy section.

And, hey, sure there were a LOT of toys on the shelves when Episode I came out - and I bought most of them for a buck on clearance too. Were they not selling or just overproduced? The point is that there are a lot of factors at play here.

Now do Nerf? And Barbie?

Why do those sections look stronger or larger than in prior years?

Ok so let me understand your comparisons above to the SW toys:

TMNT = older dead brand trying to revive it some new content in the future. Not much in the way of any current content associated with TMNT.

GI Joe = older dead brand with very little new content of any kind.

Heman = older dead brand with very little new content except Kevin Smith’s terrible Netflix version that was not well received or even viewed that much.

So I do think it is pretty ironic that you chose those 3 dead / dying toy brands that have fallen out of the public eye to compare to Star Wars.

 

[BrianL]

Now do Nerf?

Okay, so Nerf has a decent section in toy aisles, though it is actually not as big as it used to be. There are a lot of Nerf-like competitors that have taken some of the marketshare. Still, foam dart guns remain popular currently. That's the thing - every brand will wax and wane. I mean, for 25 years, there was zero He-Man, and now there's a decent bit. When Star Wars puts out a new movie I guarantee that you will see bigger sections in the toy aisles for it.

For non-toys, walk into a Boxlunch or Hot Topic and you will find plenty of Star Wrs stuff.

 

[Landry]

I once again vote that this thread either locks, moves, or is retitled "PolymerSkywalker Complains about Star Wars (or LucasArts)". This hasn't been a true rumor thread since page 1.

You say that Disney is doing worse than Lucas did with the prequels. I don't think that's really true. All we had after those movies were 1 TV show and novels that were quickly spiraling downhill. Now we have multiple great streaming shows, some great Marvel Comics, more video games, and novels that tie in with the comics. If you only want to talk about action figures, we now have a 3.75" line and a 6" line, with multiple other lines out there that include small ships, kid toys, and blind box items. That doesn't even include the much better board games that are using the license than we had before the sale to Disney. We used to only have 3.75" figures and The Queen's Gambit board game, that I don't remember seeing in stores.

 

[PsylockeSmythe]

A local Super Walmart used to have an entire isle of SW toys back during the PT. Today it’s about a 4ft section. Walmart stocks what sales and they have insanely complicated analytics on what sales. You cannot make up the sales with enough high end figures to adults. It’s a tiny percentage of the fandom that collects the high end figures. Like extremely small percentage.

Walmart sales reflect the general public as a whole. You know the common folks that used to by SW toys.

Where outside of the parks are you seeing tons of SW merchandise. Other than a small amount of toys (mainly Grogu) and some OT themed Tshirts at Target I just don’t see much.

I think you are missing the forest through the trees. The toy sections of Walmart, Target and others have been shrinking for years and it is not due to Stars Wars. It is the changing demographics and the rise of cell phones, tablets and digital games.

If you look at the3rd Quarter Report for both Hasbro (has the SW license) and Mattel, the consumer product division of Hasbro was down 17 percent, at Mattel, the action figure section was down 19%. MtG right now is what is keeping Hasbro going. It was up 40%, but they are slowly killing off that golden goose, due to how much product they keep releasing and the players getting product fatigue.

Action figures are not as popular as they were previously. As others have stated in earlier posts a lot of the people buying them now are collectors. Children today don't want action figures, they want digital games. Both my two younger grandkids would rather play a game or watch a video on their tablet then they would play with toys or go outside and play.

Psy

 

[PolymerSkywalker]

This is literally a topic about Disney selling SW back to George. How on earth is the differences between the two not applicable to this discussion?

Why do so many people want to control what others discuss? It is a very weird aspect of this message board to me. How hard is it to skip over stuff you don’t want to read? I do it literally all the time!

 

[PolymerSkywalker]

I think you are missing the forest through the trees. The toy sections of Walmart, Target and others have been shrinking for years and it is not due to Stars Wars. It is the changing demographics and the rise of cell phones, tablets and digital games.

If you look at the3rd Quarter Report for both Hasbro (has the SW license) and Mattel, the consumer product division of Hasbro was down 17 percent, at Mattel, the action figure section was down 19%. MtG right now is what is keeping Hasbro going. It was up 40%, but they are slowly killing off that golden goose, due to how much product they keep releasing and the players getting product fatigue.

Action figures are not as popular as they were previously. As others have stated in earlier posts a lot of the people buying them now are collectors. Children today don't want action figures, they want digital games. Both my two younger grandkids would rather play a game or watch a video on their tablet then they would play with toys or go outside and play.

Psy

Yes, I completely understand that, now explain the foam dart gun sections and Barbie sections of any local Walmart. Star Wars is a product for kids according to Lucas himself, so what does it say when average middle class kids don’t want SW stuff from Walmart anymore?

Are there a plethora of new SW related YouTube shorts and IOS based games that these kids are obsessed with instead?

If children are not engaging with the SW products anymore, what does that say for the future of the brand?

 

[ChipnDale79]

Yes, I completely understand that, now explain the foam dart gun sections and Barbie sections of any local Walmart. Star Wars is a product for kids according to Lucas himself, so what does it say when average middle class kids don’t want SW stuff from Walmart anymore?

Are there a plethora of new SW related YouTube shorts and IOS based games that these kids are obsessed with instead?

If children are not engaging with the SW products anymore, what does that say for the future of the brand?

i mean, there was just a massive Barbie movie out over the summer. when was the last barbie movie?

 

[BrianL]

Yes, I completely understand that, now explain the foam dart gun sections and Barbie sections of any local Walmart. Star Wars is a product for kids according to Lucas himself, so what does it say when average middle class kids don’t want SW stuff from Walmart anymore?

Are there a plethora of new SW related YouTube shorts and IOS based games that these kids are obsessed with instead?

If children are not engaging with the SW products anymore, what does that say for the future of the brand?

Again, this stuff comes and goes. Look at Ninja Turtles. It hit in the late 80's and hit BIG. then it kind of disappeared. Then it made a minor comeback. Then it was gone. Then it made a major come back. Kids and adults engage with the brand in different ways. Right now they are selling the exact same toys they sold when I was a kid - same package and everything. They are identical - but they are targeted at the nostalgic feelings of people my age.

Kids definitely do engage with Star Wars - that's why they have the plastic lightsabers, Mission Fleet, the Young Jedi Adventures, etc. Granted, it may not be the most popular thing in the toy aisle, but it can't always be. It's still pretty solid. Kids are still going to prefer Fortnite right now - of course, that's why they do the Star Wars/Fortnite crossovers.

 

[ChipnDale79]

Again, this stuff comes and goes. Look at Ninja Turtles. It hit in the late 80's and hit BIG. then it kind of disappeared. Then it made a minor comeback. Then it was gone. Then it made a major come back. Kids and adults engage with the brand in different ways. Right now they are selling the exact same toys they sold when I was a kid - same package and everything. They are identical - but they are targeted at the nostalgic feelings of people my age.

Kids definitely do engage with Star Wars - that's why they have the plastic lightsabers, Mission Fleet, the Young Jedi Adventures, etc. Granted, it may not be the most popular thing in the toy aisle, but it can't always be. It's still pretty solid. Kids are still going to prefer Fortnite right now - of course, that's why they do the Star Wars/Fortnite crossovers.

i mean lets be real, how many other franchises have been around as long as Star Wars and are still selling toys?

there arent many. you're right, things come and go.

 

[Smugpugmug]

i mean lets be real, how many other franchises have been around as long as Star Wars and are still selling toys?

there arent many. you're right, things come and go.

Not as old as Star Wars but probably the closest thing I can think of are Nintendo franchises. They're still going strong since the early-mid 80s.

 

[PsylockeSmythe]

Yes, I completely understand that, now explain the foam dart gun sections and Barbie sections of any local Walmart. Star Wars is a product for kids according to Lucas himself, so what does it say when average middle class kids don’t want SW stuff from Walmart anymore?

Are there a plethora of new SW related YouTube shorts and IOS based games that these kids are obsessed with instead?

If children are not engaging with the SW products anymore, what does that say for the future of the brand?

At my local Super Walmart, the toy section is down to around 2 1/2 rows, the area where action figures are located take up about 1/3 of a row (for all the action figures), Hot Wheels take up about 6 or so feet of a row, Lego and baby toy section are both about a row each. Nerf has about 1/3 of a row. I can't tell you what is down the girl's doll isle since I don't walk down it. The smart toys take up about a row. My local Target has a bigger toy section, but again the action figures and Nerf products take up about a row each.

My grandkids don't watch anything SW as far as I know, they like Paw Patrol, Spidey and Friends on the Disney Channel and stuff like that. Trying to get them to watch Star Wars (any of the movies/tv shows), doesn't work.

Again, I feel that a lot of this is due to changing demographics and trying to compare how things use to be, with how things are now. A good example of this, is that my wife and I would prefer to own movies and TV shows on physical media compared to buying a digital copy. Yet, due to how people view media now, trying to find a local store that carries DVDs/Blu Rays, is getting harder. Around us, we are down to Walmart and that section went from 2 full rows of movies/tv shows to about 3/4 of a row and the local Targets around us don't carry them at all any longer.

Psy

 

[PolymerSkywalker]

I 100% agree that things come and go. Unfortunately for the health of Lucasfilm I believe Star Wars popularity happens to be one of those things that has kinda come and gone.

I mean I looked like an idiot back in the day wearing parachute pants, but at the time what I was wearing was “in” fashion.

According to my kids the young people around my area no longer care at all about Star Wars. My kids have a few friends that will admit to liking SW, but not many. Mine like it ok, as they grew up loving the PT. They don’t really watch any SW content anymore unless they plop down and watch something I have on. Two of mine never finished the ST as they just lost interest and never bothered with it.

 

[BrianL]

Not as old as Star Wars but probably the closest thing I can think of are Nintendo franchises. They're still going strong since the early-mid 80s.

Yeah, but Nintendo has had it's ups and downs too - sometimes not doing as well as their competitors. They are solid right now with Switch for sure. They all ride waves of highs and lows.