Brian Goldner's earnings report offers some G.I. Joe tidbits
With thanks to the guys at Hisstank for digging it out, and big thanks to SeekingAlpha.com for offering a transcript of Brian Goldner’s Earnings report, which we spoke a bit about yesterday. Mixed in amongst the call transcript were some very interesting bits of information:
- “In motion pictures, with more than $1.1 billion in box office revenue between Transformers and G.I. Joe, and strong product sales in 2009, we are working with Paramount on Transformers 3 and G.I. Joe 2. In addition, we are pleased to add Sony as a studio partner as we reached an agreement to develop Risk as a major motion picture.”
- “The total brand performance of Transformers, G.I. Joe, and Nerf delivered double digit growth in 2009 across multiple product categories. Transformers had a record year posting $592 million in revenues, a 23% increase from our last movie year in 2007. G.I. Joe recorded revenue in excess of $125 million and Nerf continued its growth, increasing 25% driven by continued growth in the US and the expansion of the brand internationally.”
- “We are working on Transformers animation and would certainly see some Transformers both the opportunity for the classic Transformers as well as some new Transformers episodes to get out some time this year. I will tell you we’re also working on G.I. Joe the second movie and looking at animation whether that’s for late ’10 or ’11, we’ll make some decisions on that. Transformers 3 as a motion picture we’re well underway and working on a script, working with Michael Bay and Paramount.”
- “I think one of the big mistakes we made on G.I. Joe was really just in the price point. It really had less to do with the enjoyment of property. In fact if you look at the DVD sales they were quite strong and property performed really well. At the lower price points G.I. Joe has performed very well, in fact we shipped G.I. Joe product in the fourth quarter and feel very good about, we did some research with consumers and see great consumer appetite for the brand.We’ve begun work on the second film as well as looking at television. For us it was more a matter of probably ignoring some of the price point challenges that are out there from a consumer spending standpoint as we developed the line 18 months ahead of the movie launch.”
So, it sounds like we’re full steam ahead on the G.I. Joe animated series, and may even see something late this year (but more likely early next year). Also, G.I. Joe 2 is on target for 2012. Very interesting to see that the Hasbro CEO recognized the price point difficulties with the Rise of Cobra line, which is hopefully an indication that prices will remain competitive for the next installment of G.I. Joe later this year.
Hopefully we’ll get even more great information Saturday at Toy Fair. Rest assured, GeneralsJoes will be there in the thick of it.