Movies and TV Hasbro No Longer Financing Movies Based On Their IP, Focusing On Game Development Instead

Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks has told Bloomberg that they will no longer be co-financing films based on Hasbro IP. While Hasbro will continue to license its IP to other film companies such as Lionsgate and Sony, Hasbro is stepping out of the film business with the disappointing box office returns of Transformers One and Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves.

Cocks, who came to Hasbro from Microsoft in 2016, was put in charge of Hasbro's card game, Magic: the Gathering before becoming CEO two years ago after the death of the previous CEO Brian Goldner. Cocks is focusing more on upcoming video games to try to "reach fans where they play" by ear marking $100 - $150 million a year to producing video games based on Hasbro's IP. Games mentioned were the upcoming GI JOE game, Exodus made by Bioware, and an unannounced Dungeons and Dragons game.

No word on any upcoming Transformers video games, but stay tuned to the news feed to find out as soon as we hear anything.


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[LBD "Nytetrayn"]

Can hardly blame them, with the way Paramount has been handling things, making good movies look bad and bad movies look even worse.

 

[Princess Viola]

personally i think this TOY company should focus on making TOYS

 

[Superomegaprime]

personally i think this TOY company should focus on making TOYS

I agree with you, they should focus on their primary purpose, but then it seems to be a tread of late, where large companies stop focusing on their core and focus on something completely different, the latest example is Jaguar, they suddenly want to stop being a car maker and become a life style brand and the dealerships where you go for a coffee instead of to buy a posh car!

 

[ZakuConvoy]

I mean, video games are kind of a type of toy. Sorta. From a certain point of view.

But, I can't say I really blame them about getting out of movies. By all accounts, the people who actually saw most of Hasbro's last few attempts at movies enjoyed them. It's just that not a lot of people actually went out and saw them. Blame marketing or blame designs or just blame franchise fatigue, but it wasn't really working out for them. I can't blame them deciding to stop throwing good money after bad.

But, honestly, I don't know if this is going to work out any better for them. I mean, I'm looking forward to the Power Rangers beat-em-up they have cooking, but I doubt it's going to set the world on fire. And it's not like they have any big financial successes recently in video games that they can build off from. Even GI Joe Wrath of Cobra recently went over with a great big "meh". Earning around 60's on average. Not really getting great reviews or great sales. So, I feel like they're going to find similar success in gaming as they did in movies. Unfortunately.

 

[Superomegaprime]

Hasbro has other properties from the 80s that they are just sat on and doing nothing major with, just because they failed back then, doesn't mean that they can't attempt a revival, but then, they are generally in a lot of trouble, as they got mountains of unsold Disney Star Wars and Marvel stuff that simply isn't shifting and they are facing legal problems with that from investors who been mislead as they have over produced a lot of stuff and there is a lot of stuff unsold as they had bad advice or completely dupped, I know one youtube channel that has videos of him touring various stores in the US and showing tons of unsold Disney Marvel & Star Wars stuff, things that been sitting on shelves for at least a year, depending what movie or TV show its from!

In general, I think the current leadership of Hasbro, simply doesn't know what to do, but then again, Paramount is kind of in the same boat where they lack a sense of direction or purpose, about the most sucessful thing Paramount has going right now, would be the Sonic movies as Sonic is one of the most popular boys brands right now, while Marvel & Star Wars have fallen off due to gross mismanagement! Until someone with a proper vision comes along and is given control, I think Hasbro will just stagger along until they collapse and go bust or get bought by another company who have a plan for them! Kids today are more into tech than we were with mobile phones being used to keep them quiet when shopping and pads at home, there will always be a market for action figures, but likely never on the scale of the 80s, but for a sucessful toy, it needs to appeal to a boy or a girl directly (none of this mind set of trans, disable or race swapping characters, etc...), proper marketing, maybe a cartoon show that is on more than just one platform, of course other stuff like school stuff, promotion with other properties like food or drink meant for the age group, then praying that it takes off with the target group.

 

[CoffeeHorse]

Paramount is kind of in the same boat

It's getting to be a very crowded boat. Most of the industry ought to be rethinking the money they've been spending on movies.

 

[Superomegaprime]

It's getting to be a very crowded boat. Most of the industry ought to be rethinking the money they've been spending on movies.

Well the cheep money, ran out and now they got to make money, so its sink or swim and with a lot of Hollywood elite being complete idiots online and some actively attacking potential customers, they been killing movies in advance because they are out right idiots!