Bloomberg article: Hasbro potentially reevaluating Hollywood strategy

Discussion in 'Transformers News and Rumors' started by General Tekno, Aug 22, 2022.

  1. PredaconElder

    PredaconElder Well-Known Member

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    I think this idea needs to be emphasized more. Even if Hasbro wanted to become a media company licensing their IP portfolios to studios, their corporate attitudes and culture and thinking is still that of a toy company. Unless they spinoff everything involved into the toy creation side to a separate company or fire everyone involved in making thei toys, how they do things is still colored by the toys.
     
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  2. Autobot Burnout

    Autobot Burnout ...and I'll whisper "No."

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    Yes, but you make it sound like Hasbro is desperate when in reality it's the other way around. Paramount's the one that stands to lose the franchise rights because the contract for those rights hasn't been renewed. It all rides on ROTB and if the performance suffers in Hasbro's eyes for any reason, which includes low toy sales in conjunction with a shitty movie, then why would Hasbro want to stick with Paramount, if wanting to stay in hollywood at all?

    This. Goldner's lofty goals amounted to trying to make Hasbro into a Pseduo-Disney, what with the Transformers Cinematic Universe, the Hasbro Cinematic Universe (essentially what I believe Unit-E would have led into had it not been canibalized so Transformers Prime would have enough money to keep being made). Ultimately this would have looped back into making the brands even more popular and translated back into even greater toy sales.
     
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  3. AcademyofDrX

    AcademyofDrX BM & IDW2 Apologist, "Hasbro bootlicker"

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    Except that isn't true. Hasbro didn't just want to license their IP, they wanted to make media. They own media production divisions. As it stands today, they have a lot of employees whose performance is not based on toy sales. Their most profitable division makes a computer game! A lot of people want "Hasbro is a toy company through and through" to be true, but it isn't. Or at least, that's a significant oversimplification.
    First: Hasbro definitely wants to stay in Hollywood. Remember that successful movies drive a TON of their toy sales, for both their own IP and their licenses. Hasbro definitely wants Transformers movies.

    And that folds into the relationship with Paramount--they have one. Generally speaking, it works, and it's gotten tighter over time. Hasbro has tried to make other movies with other studios, and they don't work. They were supposed to make five movies with Universal, and after Battleship, they backed out. (Wonder why, right?) There is no guarantee that any other studio is going to roll up and be as good a partner as Paramount has been for them, and there really aren't any obvious studio candidates. I mean, maybe Sony, but most of the other major players are focused on their own IP. There's lots of risk in changing teams, and I'm not sure how many people want to take that right now.
     
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  4. AcademyofDrX

    AcademyofDrX BM & IDW2 Apologist, "Hasbro bootlicker"

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    Right, this is what they were trying to do, and now they're backing away from that approach. And that does mean that media performance is less important for their bottom lines, because other companies are going to be assuming more of the responsibility and risk for that production. But that's also why these partnerships are so critical. If Hasbro could fund everything independently, they'd have more decision-making power, but if they're just going to license and produce as part of pacts, they need those other companies to execute.
     
  5. Autobot Burnout

    Autobot Burnout ...and I'll whisper "No."

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    They don't want Transformers movies that are terrible, lest you forget how poorly the AoE and TLK lines did.

    It's not working. Look at the absolute disconnect between what Hasbro was saying and what Paramount was saying about Bumblebee being a reboot or a prequel in the months following that film's release. Lorenzo himself had to be publicly censored just to shut him up about Bumblebee being a bayverse prequel well after Hasbro said it was the start of a 'new storytelling universe' or whatever.

    Battleship was a stupid movie fueled by an attempt to make a Michael Bay movie without Michael Bay and a completely pointless plot about aliens which the board game isn't even about. It should have been something like a secret terrorist fleet during the 60s using stolen US Navy ship designs so you can have the USS Iowa vs the USS Nemesis Iowa or something. That at least would actually resemble the game more than just chucking stupid looking 'peg missiles' at ships.

    You seem convinced that Hasbro sees the movies as anything other than a losing proposition.

    Look at the last five years. TLK? Massive disaster. Bumblebee was profitable, sure, but Hasbro also had to save Paramount's ass on that one because they lost the HuaHua media contract after TLK and didn't have enough money. And now there's ROTB which ultimately will have been in development hell for five years by the time it comes out and has been nothing but a loss for Hasbro because of the need to delay toy releases. Delays that Hasbro can't control because it's all Paramount's doing.

    Plus, the one guy who believed in them movies more than anything is DEAD.

    Movies are just a bad idea - Paramount is completely unreliable at this point when it comes to Transformers movies and of course Lorenzo is still involved so that automatically means there's going to be shit in ROTB that's intentionally modeled after the Bayverse because Lorenzo never seemed to understand why TLK failed in the first place (plus I'm pretty sure he's the reason why Knight wasn't brought on in any capacity for the sequel to his own film even in script outlining).
     
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  6. AcademyofDrX

    AcademyofDrX BM & IDW2 Apologist, "Hasbro bootlicker"

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    Simple question: do the movies make more money for Hasbro than no movies? Obviously yes. I doubt anyone is losing sleep over continuity questions that don't matter to anyone outside of message boards.
     
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  7. Autobot Burnout

    Autobot Burnout ...and I'll whisper "No."

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    It's not just about money, its about reputation. Thanks to the films, the idea of Transformers generally is associated with 'brainless popcorn movie' to the point this is literally the only reason the Bumblebee movie doesn't have 'Transformers' attached on the title as a prefix.

    And again, right now ROTB has probably cost Hasbro millions of dollars over the past four, soon five years, and they haven't seen a single cent returned on that investment because of Paramount pissing around on a film they're apparently scared to even show off. So, no, the movies really aren't making Hasbro money right now.
     
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  8. Bass X0

    Bass X0 Captain Commando

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    Actual 80s Bumblebee did it better than movie Bumblebee without having to lose his voice or be damaged.
     
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  9. AcademyofDrX

    AcademyofDrX BM & IDW2 Apologist, "Hasbro bootlicker"

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    I think this is fundamentally off-base and is a misunderstanding of how these things work, but we may just have to agree to disagree.
     
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  10. Autobot Burnout

    Autobot Burnout ...and I'll whisper "No."

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    Very well then.
     
  11. T-Hybrid

    T-Hybrid Gnodab Kidult (He/Him)

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    I think it's already too late for Paramount. Retalliation got pushed back at the last minute and left them with a huge line of toys in stores with no tie-in at theaters. Then Snake Eyes got boned by COVID, and now RotB got pushed back at the last minute.

    Hasbro relies on the movies to help sell the toys. But that relationship breaks if the toys are on shelves with no film. There's a whole line of RotB toys that were already in plan and on their way to stores when this went down. They're not gonna be happy. The difference, though, between this and all the Marvel stuff getting out of alignment with the media is Hasbro can control their licenses while they're at the mercy of Disney for stuff like Marvel/Star Wars.
     
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  12. GrimLocke

    GrimLocke Cultus Volcanicus

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    I think the choice they're making, and not at all without warrant, is that they can't trust that a Trigger TF wouldn't be a second coming of Kiss Players, pun intended.

    Still, let's see how Gridman x Dynazenon fares, and if it further includes even more TF easter eggs.

    And, at the very least, Gridman and Dynazenon got some good productions from Good Smile Company and, oh, yeah, this little company that some of you might know called Takara Tomy, among many others.
     
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  13. Rodimal Rodimus

    Rodimal Rodimus Agent of Unit:E

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    This, This right here.
     
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  14. Rocka5438

    Rocka5438 why yes i can deal with that right now

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    maybe just make a really good glorified toy commerical again if thats all hasbro are willing to do. i know most cartoons nowadays have a limited cast, but it doesnt even have to be 3d
     
  15. Autobot Burnout

    Autobot Burnout ...and I'll whisper "No."

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    How the hell would Trigger lead to Kiss Players?

    Kiss Players was Takara trying to appeal to an unusual market with Binaltech/Alternators molds. It comprised like, four figures, a manga, and a radio program.

    Trigger meanwhile is absurdly obsessed with Transformers. SSSS Gridman was literally populated by Shattered Glass figures and the Gridman upgrade people were the AOE Dinobots. They're essentially BEGGING to get a series.
     
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  16. GrimLocke

    GrimLocke Cultus Volcanicus

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    I was referring to the possibility of whatever Trigger would do with a Transformers license would be too lewd for Hasbro.

    I do think it's a risk worth taking, so long as the guy who did DitF is not directing. That may be a fate worse than Bay.
     
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  17. SillyMcGilly

    SillyMcGilly Well-Known Member

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    3D is cheaper to make look decent.

    Well, that's not encouraging if they are scared to show it off, lol

    I am pretty concerned for the Transformers franchise in general, right now. If Hasbro did sever ties with Paramount, I really hope they join with Sony or something for some movies, maybe animated or something like Spiderverse, rather than Disney. I hate Disney. And IMO live action Transformers is a lost cause right now in general. We really need some new good animated Transformers media or something to get it going, or even a good larger video game project rather than some useless mobile thing that dies in a couple of years.
     
    Last edited: Aug 24, 2022
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  18. Neko-bot77

    Neko-bot77 Face it, we're doomed.

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    Hopefully the Netflix wfc shows didn't scare them off of trying more "100% animated, no humans" movies. If they fixed the issues wfc had they could potentially have something worth watching
     
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  19. AcademyofDrX

    AcademyofDrX BM & IDW2 Apologist, "Hasbro bootlicker"

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    Did everyone hate Bumblebee? It was only four years ago. Even if RotB isn't good, there haven't been two good Transformers movies in a row ... ever. TF doesn't have Marvel or Star Wars output or quality, and the highs can't compete with something like Batman, but I don't understand the level of bedwetting here.

    "We need help from the guys who made Morbius" lol
     
  20. Rojixus

    Rojixus Celebrating 40 Years of Transformers!

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    I have been saying that for years, I knew that live action crap would drive the franchise over a cliff eventually. Live action Transformers inherently places too much importance on the human characters, thus making it an inferior medium for the brand by default.
     
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