Disney rumored to be in negotiations to buy Hasbro

[Eternia Burning]

Saw this on MTVGeek earlier: http://geek-news.mtv.com/2012/11/05/...buying-hasbro/

What does everyone think? I personally quit collecting Hasbro products a few years ago over the fury of trying to track down all of the McQuarrie SW figures, only to have Hasbro turn around and release them in boxsets. So Hasbro can only be improved in my eyes. This would give Disney control over Marvel, Star Wars, Transformers, GI Joe, a heck of a lot of popular properties.

[diosoth]

Hasbro pretty much let GI Joe die, Battleship lost them a fortune and Brian Goldner has been poison for the company. 2012 has been a bad year for Hasbro all around. I hope they do buy Hasbro, kick Goldner out and put in someone who won't spit on their brands anymore. Maybe now we can get Bay, Orci & Kurtzman, Don Murphy and the rest of those clowns off the Transformers movies and reboot them with decent writing and robot designs that look good.

Of course, if this does happen, then you can kiss Mattel Disney princess dolls, Mattel Cars and lots of other stuff goodbye.

[Sandman]

While I won't deny Hasbro is in a slump right now, a few points here need to be adressed.

Hasbro pretty much let GI Joe die,

Without opening up a can of political worms here, GI Joe has been on slippery slope downwards for at least the last decade because of the changing climate in the US regarding the view on the military. The extreme bad press and general public opinion today towards military actions means "soldier" action figures and toys are out of favor. They may rise again, but right now it's just not a time for that kinda thing.

Maybe now we can get Bay, Orci & Kurtzman, Don Murphy and the rest of those clowns off the Transformers movies and reboot them with decent writing and robot designs that look good.

But the live-action movies did enormously well at the box office and the movie toylines were enormously profitable. Why change something that's doing great? Hell, Transformers and Transformers 2 were either the or among the biggest-scoring movies at the box office in their years!

Overall, I don't think anything bad could happen by a Disney-Hasbro merger. Huge corporations already own everything, we just don't have a name and corporate identity to put on them usually. Disney buying something is just exchanging one multi-million dollar owner for another.

[ICER]

Makes since since they bought Lucas Films.

[Dr Kain]

Meh, they may be the only thing able to save Transformers from becoming utter crap entirely.

[krosfyah]

Actually the last movie line tanked. Hasbro was extremely disappoi ted that the good box office
for tf3 didnt equal toy sales.

While I won't deny Hasbro is in a slump right now, a few points here need to be adressed.



Without opening up a can of political worms here, GI Joe has been on slippery slope downwards for at least the last decade because of the changing climate in the US regarding the view on the military. The extreme bad press and general public opinion today towards military actions means "soldier" action figures and toys are out of favor. They may rise again, but right now it's just not a time for that kinda thing.



But the live-action movies did enormously well at the box office and the movie toylines were enormously profitable. Why change something that's doing great? Hell, Transformers and Transformers 2 were either the or among the biggest-scoring movies at the box office in their years!

Overall, I don't think anything bad could happen by a Disney-Hasbro merger. Huge corporations already own everything, we just don't have a name and corporate identity to put on them usually. Disney buying something is just exchanging one multi-million dollar owner for another.

[Sandman]

Actually the last movie line tanked. Hasbro was extremely disappoi ted that the good box office
for tf3 didnt equal toy sales.

It was outweighed by the movie being the fifth-highest grossing movies of all time.

The reason they want TF4 to have a new cast of characters is they finally discovered it's hard to sell the same movie characters over and over again.

[Burtonnut]

It doesn't feel right that it will own My Little Pony.

[Melfis]

Hasbro pretty much let GI Joe die, Battleship lost them a fortune and Brian Goldner has been poison for the company. 2012 has been a bad year for Hasbro all around.

Why exactly did Hasbro lose a fortune with Battleship?

[JonWes]

Why exactly did Hasbro lose a fortune with Battleship?

It cost $209m to make and only made $65m domestically. It did better overseas and made $302m worldwide, but it's still considered a flop because typically movies have to make 2-3X it's budget because of marketing expenses.

[Melfis]

Well... but you have to consider all the additional profit they generate from selling DVD's as well as TV rights worldwide. I don't think you can really say they lost "a fortune".

[MegaGearMax]

It was outweighed by the movie being the fifth-highest grossing movies of all time.

The reason they want TF4 to have a new cast of characters is they finally discovered it's hard to sell the same movie characters over and over again.

Too many Bumblebees with both Bayformers AND TF Prime. I had a feeling that Hasbro would be next on the mouse's list. Makes sense since Hasbro makes both Star Wars and Marvel toys. I guess Disney Princesses will eventually move to Hasbro, after the Mattel license is over.

So will Kingdom Hearts now have Star Wars and Bayformers in it now?

[Dr Kain]

Why exactly did Hasbro lose a fortune with Battleship?

Because they thought people were going to go for crap on a stick just because it worked with the Transformers movies. I hope GI Joe bombs and they lose even more money on it.

[JonWes]

Well... but you have to consider all the additional profit they generate from selling DVD's as well as TV rights worldwide. I don't think you can really say they lost "a fortune".

Sometimes not making a fortune is the same thing as losing a fortune for studios, though. No one puts that much effort and money into something for it to break even.

[Sorceress]

Will this ever end. Guess those Mayans were right about the world ending soon with Disney buying up all and sundry as a sign.

[Whiplash7]

Will this ever end. Guess those Mayans were right about the world ending soon with Disney buying up all and sundry as a sign.

I know. Disney was disturbing back before they owned half of what they do now. At this point it's mind boggling that it's even legal.

In other news, Disney is in talks to buy the moon, which will be carved into a Mickey Mouse head.

[NikeBoyRM]

We have already a crossover Disney-Mattel-Hasbro, Voltron-Disney:

[krosfyah]

Will this ever end. Guess those Mayans were right about the world ending soon with Disney buying up all and sundry as a sign.

yeah i'm not a big fan of too few companies. I like there being competition, looking in the toy stores now it just shows how competition was better. yeah the landscape is different now too, but I loved it when we were kids and there was Sectaurs, He-Man, Thundercats, Inhumanoids, Visionaries, Secret Wars, Super Powers, GI Joe, Transformers, Power Lords, Gobots etc all competing for shelf space and out affection and money. it made trips to the store so interesting.

[Dynamo of Eternia]

Will this ever end.

Nope! There's a new rumor circulating that Disney is planning to buy all of our moms!

[Thatman]

It'd be kind of weird to see Transformers and G.I. Joe as Disney, but other than that, it's not a shocking development, if it turns out to be true.

[Dragon78]

I hope beyond hope this isn't true.

[Zodach]

Just to clarify it was Universal Studios that financed the production of the Transformers and Battleship movies. I'm sure Hasbro received some sort of licensing fee or had a small stake in the success or failure of both properties, but they are not in the business to make movies. The majority of the proceeds or losses from those movies were absorbed by Universal.

[wyldman11]

I would be curious what this would do for The Hub.

Also this would answer the question of what Disney plans to do with Star Wars action figures.

also this disturbs me on another level, bigger companies buying up not as small companies like this isn't a good sign for the economy getting better.

[Dynamo of Eternia]

Just to clarify it was Universal Studios that financed the production of the Transformers and Battleship movies. I'm sure Hasbro received some sort of licensing fee or had a small stake in the success or failure of both properties, but they are not in the business to make movies. The majority of the proceeds or losses from those movies were absorbed by Universal.

Paramount released the Transformers movie. Battleship was Universal.

[Zodach]

Paramount released the Transformers movie. Battleship was Universal.

Thanks for the clarification. Hasbro doesn't have the required capital to be tied up in movie production. Those two studios were definitely footing the bill and therefore reaping the rewards or taking the loss based on the box office proceeds.