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Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

TIE-INS—Lego Jumps on ‘Jurassic Park’ Merchandise Bandwagon

More dinosaurs are headed to toy stores just in time Universal Studios and Lego Co. hope to cash in on the upcoming release of the newest sequel to “Jurassic Park.” An agreement between the studio and the Denmark-based Lego comes as Universal is putting the finishing touches on “Jurassic Park III,” scheduled for a July 18 release. The film will go head to head with a number of other summer big budget films that have already begun their own merchandising campaigns: Twentieth Century Fox’s “The Planet of the Apes” and “Dr. Doolittle II,” and Paramount Pictures’ “Tomb Raider,” among others. The new dinosaurs will be marketed along with the existing Steven Spielberg MovieMaker Set, issued in November, featuring a PC video camera, editing software and familiar Lego building blocks. “Children will be able to point their PC camera and shoot, using different angles like in the movies,” said Shannon Hartnett, a spokeswoman for the toy maker. The kit comes with instructions, telling youngsters how to make a movie using the PC camera, which can be linked directly to any personal computer with digital video capability. Children will have a chance to build a Spinosaurus dinosaur, like one featured in the movie. One kit, retailing for $34.99, features a cameraman on a mechanical crane seemingly filming a dinosaur attacking an airplane. A second set, retailing for $19.99, features three tiny people, along with enough segments to build two raptors and a Pternodon dinosaur. Jill Jones, Universal’s executive vice president of merchandising, said the latest Lego agreement is part of a larger merchandising drive associated with the company’s biggest movie franchise. According to Los Angeles-based Exhibitor Relations Co., which tracks movie receipts, “Jurassic Park” and “The Lost World: Jurassic Park II” are among the highest grossing movies of all time, garnering $923 million and $614 million in total receipts, respectively. They rank third and 10th in all-time receipts worldwide. The franchise, which has generated about $2.5 billion in merchandise sales, ranks a far second, however, behind George Lucas’s all-time movie merchandising “Star Wars” juggernaut, which has grossed $4 billion, according to the trade publication Licensing Letter. Merchandise associated with movies and television generate an average of about $16 billion a year in revenue. “For us, Jurassic Park is a year-round business, but now we have a lot of new products and merchandise to coincide with the movie’s opening,” Jones said. The deal the two companies struck is in keeping with an earlier one in which Lego made toys for the original 1993 “Jurassic Park” and its 1997 sequel, “The Lost World: Jurassic Park II,” both distributed by Universal. Raymond Katz, an analyst with Bear Stearns, said the company’s merchandising arm will likely continue its past success with its new licensing agreements. Revenue from the Lego deal and other related deals, he estimated, could top $500 million in the U.S. alone. Universal’s Jones refused to speculate on the studio’s revenue estimates. Mark Litwak, an entertainment attorney who specializes in merchandising, said films like “Jurassic Park” and “Star Wars,” with their high-tech gizmos and strange creatures, are ideal for merchandising. But, Litwak said, others like “Saving Private Ryan,” for instance, have limited potential because their subject matter doesn’t lend itself to the sale of toys and T-shirts. Hartnett said the portion of royalties that would ordinarily go to producer Steven Spielberg on the dinosaur kits will go instead to the Starbright Foundation, which provides activities and trips to severely ill children, and the Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation, which is filming and taping interviews with Holocaust survivors. Hartnett would not disclose what percentage of the royalties would go to the foundations. The licensing deal is one of the first related to the third film of the celebrated movie franchise, but it certainly will not be the last. Universal Vice President for Marketing Poul Schou said there will also be the standard cross promotions with a major fast food chain and retailers. “Today, anytime anyone says dinosaurs, kids immediately think of Jurassic Park, so it’s been our most successful franchise to date,” Jones said. The Lego toys join another line of Jurassic Park-related toys by Hasbro, Corp., featuring action figures and a slew of dinosaurs from all the films and several games based on the films. Hasbro’s Tiger Electronics, Ltd., the makers of Furby, the talking furry creature, is scheduled to launch Dino-Dex, an electronic encyclopedia and personal organizer with sound effects from the Jurassic Park movies. Wal-Mart will offer a full line of boys apparel and shoes based on the movie theme. And a new video game by Tiger Electronics will arrive in stores this spring. Lego Systems, Inc. is the North American subsidiary of the privately-held Lego Co. of Denmark. Lego Systems is based in Enfield, Conn. The movie, based on characters created by Michael Crichton, will star Sam Neill, William H. Macy and Tea Leoni. Meanwhile, Universal’s merchandising machine is already in gear with licensing agreements for the April release of “Josie and the Pussycats,” based on the children’s comics and 1970s-era cartoon series. Another Universal film getting the merchandising treatment is “The Mummy Returns,” set for release in May.

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