JCC Movie Merchandising Missed Opportunities

Recently, I've been wondering why some movies, that you would think would be a no-brainer for merchandising, never got toys or collectibles back in the day, or only just now getting them, like in the case with the Dino De Laurentiis Flash Gordon movie.

Speaking of, I wondered why that movie never got a toy line back in the day, but then it occurred to me that Mattel made a Flash Gordon toyline in 1979 to support a short-lived Saturday Morning cartoon series, so chances are they were probably languishing on discount store shelves when the film was released. I'm sure a Flash Gordon-mad kid could recreate the movie with the cartoon figures in the link above (They even made a King Vultan, that with some imagination could pass as Brian Blessed!), but for Klytus, I guess a kid would have to make do with spray-painting a Darth Vader figure gold.

I remember at my babysitter's back in the day (1985 or so), after watching The Neverending Story, a bunch of us kids, mostly the girls, started talking and wondering why they haven't made any toys of the creatures in the film, especially of the dragon. Based on that talk, some toy companies were seriously losing money by not picking up the Neverending Story license.

From my journeys on the Internet, I've found that Hasbro planned a toyline for The Dark Crystal that never came to be, and Galoob planned an action figure line for The Last Starfighter, but no spaceships (which I think kids wanted more, to be honest). I can see why they didn't get made, as with anything, it's a crap shoot, you don't know if you're going to make a success or failure. But it's interesting to see what could've been, right?

 

Yeah, I think a Death Blossom toy would have been a must.

 

Actually, several years back there was a very nice but limited Flash Gordon movie figure line - here's a link with more info - the figures are pictured towards the bottom of the page. But, yes, I agree this film should've gotten an extensive toyline:

http://www.actionfigureuniverse.com/flashgordon1980.html

And, here's a related link re: 1980's movies that needed (but never got) a toyline:

http://actionfigures.about.com/od/historyofactionfigures/a/80s_Movie_Figures.htm

Recently, IMHO there were two films that could have benefited from nice toylines:

John Carter (2012) - though the film got poor reviews, I thought it was great & was dissapointed that there were no toys from the film. The Four-armed green aliens, Large white apes, red-skinned (but otherwise human-like) armored characters, & vehicles/other tech from the film would have been no-brainers for a nice toyline. Missed opportunity there, IMHO.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011) - one of my favorite films of the past decade. Sure, this wouldn't have been a very extensive toyline, but I would have liked to have seen figures of Caesar, the large Gorilla, and some of the other apes.

 

not a movie but venture brothers toys would be awesome. also life aquatic toys.

 

One of the songs in Disney Channel Original Movie "Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam" contained the lyric: "I like to use the word dude as a noun, or an adverb, or an adjective" and I always wanted merchandise emblazoned with

dude n., adv., adj.

but they never made any Camp Rock 2 merchandise

 

That chair of George Clooney's from Burn After Reading.

 

I'm sure there was a line of "retro" action figures being produced for Venture Bros. at one point. I can't remember where to get them though.

 

I have a Brock Sampson action figure.

 

I never did see a Space Balls flamethrower in stores.

 

Was there ever a Jules Winfield action figure? There should have been. And a warehouse playset from Reservoir Dogs.

 

i've seen that one and dr. venture, dean, the monarch, phantom limb and dr. girlfriend. but they all seem to be made my different companies and don't really go together. it would be awesome if there was a full toyline, with all the crazy random characters. i haven't collected toys since i was a kid but i would buy a venture brothers david bowie action figure.

 

I had this insanely cool Planet of the Apes set up when I was a kid. It had a village scene and quality Kenner action figures. Apes was my thing until SW. Wish I still had that.

 

I would also have liked a small Blade Runner toyline. This was definitely a missed opportunity - note this would work best as maybe about 4 figures and a vehicle:

Rick Deckard (HF)
Roy Batty
Pris
Zhora

Spinner Vehicle

 

http://www.brmovie.com/Collect/BR_Col_Spinners.htm

 

Not a movie, but the TV show Avatar: the Last Airbender, and even Legend of Korra, has a very non-existent merchandise field. Which is a shame that Nickelodeon doesn't realize that the majority of its fans are adults who would LOVE to spend money on Avatar stuff.

 

The Last Airbender LEGO range bombed.

http://lego.wikia.com/wiki/Avatar:_The_Last_Airbender

Then again, it only had 2 sets, and they were awful.

 

I've mentioned it on this board before, but one thing that baffles me is that nobody has ever made a Hot Wheels-sized die-cast car of the Deathmobile from Animal House. Sure, you can get die-cast cars of some of the various late '50s/early '60s-model cars from the movie, but no Deathmobile. I've seen a larger scale die-cast car of the Deathmobile that goes for a lot of money online, but I mean one that's Hot Wheels sized, you know? I want a Hot Wheels-sized die-cast car of the Deathmobile! Not Otter's pimpmobile or a generic blue-and-red car with the Delta Tau Chi symbols on it, the Deathmobile dammit! What's the problem with making that, whoever's responsible for licensing at Universal Studios?

I WANT A HOT WHEELS-SIZED DEATHMOBILE!

 

I'm one of the few people who owns the entire set of Schindler's List action figures. They really didn't appeal to the market and all that with the toys being in different shades of gray save for the girl in red. I also have the Oskar Schindler grave playset too.

 

Appreciate the info. - unfortunately, these items are quite HTF & very expensive. Though, the lego Spinner & Rick Deckard are nice.

I was thinking more along the lines of a small toyline by NECA (or a similar toy company) with some reasonably priced figures ($15 - $20), and maybe a 1-2 spinners (not to scale with the figures) for maybe $30-40 each.

 

you have to star out the F

 

I'm reminded of this question from Comic-Con 2 years ago

 

Requiem for a Dream action figures.