Hasbro CEO Brian Goldner Talks About The Bright Future Of Star Wars Toys

This week, Star Wars fans from around the world got exclusive toy sneak peeks at Toy Fair 2018 in New York, and Hasbro had some really cool reveals, including some from the upcoming Solo: A Star Wars Story. Despite all the positivity at the fair, declining Star Wars toy and merchandise sales were one of the hottest topics being discussed on the show floor. However, Hasbro’s CEO, Brian Goldner said that the worries about slumping Star Wars toy sales were way overblown. Read on for more!

 

The Street recently caught up with Hasbro’s CEO, Brian Goldner Monday at the annual toy exhibition to find out if the toy giant remains positive on Disney’s Star Wars franchise, despite recent toys sales related to the latest film falling flat. Here’s what the Goldner had to say:

“I remain totally bullish on Star Wars,” Goldner said.

 

Sales of Hasbro’s iconic Star Wars tied to the popular movie franchise fell in 2017 for the first time in years, the company recently reported. The decline puts pressure on the toy maker’s overall results since Star Wars toy business represented about 25% of Hasbro’s 2017 sales.

 

 

Goldner says that he doesn’t think the drop had anything to do with kids being Star Wars-toyed out after multiple film releases from Disney. He pointed to a theory he has about what was going on and that it might have something to do with merchandising a film months before its release.

“you can’t merchandise a film three months out prior to it’s release” he said. “so you have three months of inventory and but (only) one month or six weeks of movie marketing, and that difference matters”.

 

The CEO strongly believes that by moving Star Wars toy inventory closer to a film’s release (one month or six weeks), that it will result in stronger sales overall. “so for Han Solo we’ll have the product on the shelves in April and the movie coming out in May” – Goldner said.

 

 

Goldner added that Disney has so much awesome stuff coming that their outlook is net positive for the next five years plus. So fans of toys basically have got nothing to worry about with regards to Star Wars toy merchandise and Hasbro.

 

 

One More Thing Before I Go….

 

Hasbro just revealed its new Star Wars Ultimate Co-Pilot Chewie, a 16″ tall interactive toy created by FurReal Friends. Mashable recently had a first look at the new Chewbacca doll, which has been under development for just under two years. The doll has multiple different sound and motion combinations, including the famous Chewbacca roar and a fall asleep and snore mode.

 

Take a look at the new Star Wars Ultimate Co-Pilot Chewie in action in the Twitter tweet below (thanks to SWJ).

 

 

 

Remember to check out our SWNN’s very own John Hoey’s full recap, coverage and pictures from this years New York’s Toy Fair 2018 event here. Also, if you enjoy listening to Podcasts, don’t forget our great The Resistance Broadcast (@RBatSWNN) weekly Star Wars coverage on one of the many ways you can view our show at home or on the go.

 

 

 

 

May the force be with you….

 

Solo: A Star Wars Story hits theaters May 25, 2018.

 

 

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17 thoughts on “Hasbro CEO Brian Goldner Talks About The Bright Future Of Star Wars Toys

  • February 20, 2018 at 2:56 am
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    Chewie!

  • February 20, 2018 at 3:01 am
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    It’s rather simple:

    *Make Good SW Movies like TFA = Toys SELL

    *Make BAD SW Movies like The Last Jedi = Toys BOMB

    When people are inspired, they will go out and buy buy buy. No one wants the new Snoke figure, for example, since Snoke is a dead-nobody with no backstory and no future. He has no value, and it reflects in the toy sales.

    And last I checked, no one on earth is looking for a figure of the Broom-kid.

    • February 20, 2018 at 3:55 am
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      I thought TLJ was quite good, and usually collect the figures but I only bought 3 – Rose, Paige & Luke. The main reason for me is that there were very few new figures in the 3.75′ range- I’m not buying a new Finn because he’s got different coloured trousers, Rey because of a minor costume change, or Stormtrooper because it’s a different packet.

      The ships weren’t very buyable either- they are overpriced, and none of them really feature prominently in the movie. I might’ve bought the A-wing (if it’s on scale with the old original A-wing rather than the tiny Rebels one) but its not available in the UK. Fortunately Hasbro seem to be moving in a more interesting direction with the recent annoucements.

      • February 20, 2018 at 4:06 am
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        Yeah those Rose’s are overflowing the Clearance Bin at Target on La Brea and Santa Monica LOL

      • February 20, 2018 at 2:54 pm
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        I didn’t purchase much this time either. I purchased only 6 inch Black Series. They were Rey (Jedi Training) Luke, the FO Officer and Ackbar two pack (there were literally 42 of these at my local Toys R Us) and the Amazon exclusive FO Stormtrooper with all the extra bits.

        My local WalMart has probably around 60 or so figures in Black Series, all for 5USD each. Most are Cassian Andor and Jyn Erso, with a few others mixed in from TFA. I think part of it is the way Hasbro packs the figures themselves. They don’t sell just a box of Luke Skywalkers, they have others mixed in, figures that don’t really sell well. For instance, during the 40th Anniversary I never once saw a Han Solo or R2-D2 in the wild. It is a shame really, the only way you can be sure to get the figures you actually want is to buy direct from Hasbro, get lucky at a store, or pre-order from a toy retailer.

  • February 20, 2018 at 5:17 am
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    There’s simply no arguing that The Last Jedi toys are overpriced shelf warmers… Remember also, that this movie came out during December, giving consumers (even those unfamiliar with the movie) looking for something to grab to wrap under the tree for Christmas, and still the average 16-24 foot display in most stores is still packed! Not only with TLJ but a huge leftover assortment of TFA toys/action figures. Check the overhead at any Toys R Us or Target. Check the bland demand and prices on eBay, there’s no “hot” sought after “treasure hunts” (to steal a Hot Wheels title).Think Brown Vest POTF2 Jedi Luke variant, or reissued Yak Face, or Vader with the removable mask… yeah, you (I) just had to have them all! The Last Jedi was a huge disappointment to me, and resulted in ZERO toy purchases, and let me tell you, I’m “that guy” who (used to) buy it all. No more. When I discovered the quality of the 3.5 TFA figures were shit and figures couldn’t even fit into the ships without literally jamming them in sideways (Poe into his black xwing), and the movie didn’t “blow me away” my toys buying fascination/addiction dramatically slowed. When I saw TLJ (btw, I’m ONE AND DONE. Will never see it again) I had no reason what to ever to collect ANY of the figures, even Luke Skywalker… because that ISN’T MY LUKE SKYWALKER. I would however like to get that R1 Tank tho, that’s pretty tits!!! (just not stupid green milk tits… Rian/Disney/LucasFilm/Kathleen, you idiots.)

    • February 20, 2018 at 8:12 am
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      Yeah man. It’s puzzling how they underestimated how much Luke meant to people with his 3/4” toy release. No saber & 5 points of articulation. After waiting all those years for a new Luke figure after the awesome ROTJ figures we get the lamest figure for the most anticipated character. It suggests there’s a bit of s disconnect with the folks running Star Wars and the fans. Really puzzling that Lukes action figure sucked so bad. Thank God for Rey, she’s the only thing keeping me interested.

    • February 20, 2018 at 9:40 am
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      Nail on the head!

    • February 20, 2018 at 2:29 pm
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      I don’t know what happened with my local Toys R Us as they never got any TLJ toys in their inventory for some reason. I went there a few weeks and they still had Rogue One toys sitting in inventory there. It’s mind boggling that someone at the store didn’t notice that, as the standalone movie toys are going to sell worse then the Saga movies.

  • February 20, 2018 at 10:05 am
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    TLJ Was terrible, that’s the simple reason why the toys are not selling. I notice they dare not release Holdo. The shelves reflect the forced agenda. Did you notice certain figures came packed with desirable characters such as bb9e and bb8?
    Now, toy fair, sail barge, amazing but I can’t get in the uk!
    R1 tank very cool
    The vintage line, yes that’s what we’ve been saying!!!
    I would imagine the only reason why it was dropped was to make more profit as it makes no other sense!
    The new solo falcon, why?! This could be so much better, I’ll wait and maybe get it in clearance, maybe.
    Hopefully Habro are now going in the right direction again after maybe being, forced?
    The consumer does have a voice!

  • February 20, 2018 at 2:26 pm
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    The Last Jedi Toy Line were crummy compared to The Force Awakens. line. I can say that they are cheap too as I collect the 3.75 Figures and even the Cardboard they used is cheaper and thinner. If anyone has TLJ and TFA 3.75 Carded Figures, just compare how good quality the TFA were, and then you have these chinzy TLJ carded figures. Plus the figures overall were nothing to shine about after Luke and Leia. Poe, Hux, and Finn were all in the same outfit at TFA, and there were no new figures in the 2nd line like Finn dressed up as a First Order General.

    Also, they were easy too easy to find which showed me they didn’t sell well. It took me months to find all of the TFA carded figures as I had to even go online to buy a few of them. I swiped up every TLJ carded figure by January as the inventory was overstocked. I thought the Leia would be tough to find, but there were 3 of them one day at Target.

    • February 20, 2018 at 9:31 pm
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      Theres a leia figure? I think we missed that one in the uk… we are usually a couple short on each wave

      • February 20, 2018 at 9:42 pm
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        3.75 Leia was in Wave 2 along with another Luke and Rey, and Benecio Del Toro’s character. I was worried Leia would be hard to find as I didn’t see it in my local Target or Walmart’s when TLJ was released. But right after the New Year, there were loads of them at Target as picked 2 Leia’s up and traded one to a local vintage toy store for some older Carded figures. Hasbro cancelled Wave 3 (not sure what figures were set for release), but that told me the TLJ line did not sell well, because TFA had 3 waves and they were tough to find.

        • February 20, 2018 at 11:45 pm
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          Sounds like they must’ve sold very badly. I dint think we had wave 2 at all in the uk, ive not seen them anyhow. I think these new vintage package figs hasbro announed might be a last attempt to revitalise the range. If they sell badly it might be a ling while before we get new 3.75′

  • February 20, 2018 at 4:51 pm
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    I think the biggest issue is that in trying to appease fans of OT the films havent had much new design yet. When I was a kid I wanted new Star Wars toys. New spaceships, new speeders, etc. TFA and TLJ didnt have much. Now I am hoping with time jump in Ep9 new designs will get introduced.

  • February 20, 2018 at 10:19 pm
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    TBAH I’ve found it a complete arse-ache to find figures out in the wild, when you did there were limited numbers of desired figures & when did find a figure that you wanted the price is beyond stupid (on fleabay too)
    I’m not just on about the newer movies but characters from the OT can be difficult to get hold of, now they’ve started bringing back figures in that 5POA format getting the Super Articulated figures is as hard as ever.
    Now days I only seem to be able to get the SA & 6″ figures I want through tip offs via collectors forums.
    Make them easier to find, price them sensibly & I’m sure they’ll sell more.

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