Maybe they could have realized earlier, but they were probably going by the original amount of orders they got from retailers, which (probably) wasn't that much more than any other TF line. Stores were burned by several movie toy lines tanking in a row (Spider Man 3, Pirates 3, and others from earlier) so they were cautious with their ordering. Hasbro sets the size and schedule of production runs based on these orders, and probably figured the movie line only needed half a year or so, bridging between theatrical and DVD releases. Universe started when it was always scheduled to start, so probably Movie toys were intended to be on shelves in a reduced way alongside Animated thru the first few months of 2008 until Universe could take over, much like it still shows in many places alongside them both now. Once the movie came out, the toys flew off the shelves, totally outstripping the established supply chain, so stores ordered more and had to wait until new production runs could arranged and rushed out. It's hard to blame the retailers for wanting the movie line to last longer, to keep up the higher sales, as well as make up for what may have been missed during the TF toy drought.

Again, part of the pattern. It might not have made any difference to Animated if retailers ordered more movie toys in the first place, but it's still food for thought (maybe just a snack).

 

i think that there will be less of an explosion of rotf flying off the shelves than there was the first time and not just because i hate the movie line and my ass hurts from buying the first ones in droves, a lot of parents won't buy them again because of the automorph features which you can bet have been stripped and damaged on all their kids toys, making them not function, and the movie has a darker tone therefore less kids in the choice demographic will likely be as impressed by it. a lot of the sales went to 20 something year olds, whether they started collecting or not, at my work every guy my age bought movie toys just to have them, none will this year