LEGO after Star Wars

[Spongey]

LEGO's contract with Lucasfilms expires in 2011. Currently, four of the top five best selling sets are Star Wars sets. I was just wondering what your thoughts are on how LEGO can maintain their income level when they lose this lucrative asset.

[Athos]

They could always renew it for a third time and continue to make rereleases.

I imagine there is a good possibility for this, especially if the TV shows are hits.

Or they could take on other licenses, like Indy and Batman. Or Spongebob and Avatar... Though how successful has Batman been?

Steve

[davee123]

LEGO's contract with Lucasfilms expires in 2011. Currently, four of the top five best selling sets are Star Wars sets. I was just wondering what your thoughts are on how LEGO can maintain their income level when they lose this lucrative asset.

Well, they've already extended the license once-- I expect they'll try and extend it again, assuming it's still lucrative. AFAIK, the Lego deal isn't doing anything negative for Lucasfilm (they don't have all that much to DO to participate at this point), and they're getting a pretty penny from it. And Lego's clearly having great success themselves. So it seems that the license will be around until it simply stops being profitable.

It has been doing pretty well though-- I've been tracking the top 25 since March 12th, and the best that it's been since then was back in early April (4th, 5th, & 6th) when Star Wars had 16 of the top 25. They've had a few times when they've taken the #1, #2, #3, and #4 spots, but they've never had *all* top 5 that I've seen. Actually, they've only got 5 of the top 25 at the moment (all within the top 6), which is tied for the lowest ever! Star Wars has *always* had 5 or more on the top 25 list since March (unlike a lot of other themes that've been off the list entirely at times).

It's too bad the top 25 is such an inaccurate metric. I'm pretty sure it only gauges web purchases, and doesn't really tell you *how* well a set is doing, just how it's doing relative to the other sets on the list. It might be a neck-and-neck race, or one set might be left in the dust-- all we can see are a few place differences. But oh well, it's better than nothing!

DaveE

[Chrislad77]

Or they could take on other licenses, like Indy and Batman. Or Spongebob and Avatar... Though how successful has Batman been?

Steve

It was sucessful enough to merit two new sets this year. That's usually a good sign. The license is for the comic book so TLG has alot of options with regard to future sets. Personally though I have never seen or heard alot of excitement from the batman sets. My Lego store always has them in stock and retail stores always seem to have them on sale.

[RichardAM]

I think there's going to be an incredible reliance on future licenses should the renewal of Star Wars be passed on. Already that's happening with "Lego Batman" and "Lego Indiana Jones" being made into major franchises with the help of the accompanying videogames.

Batman may not be as popular as Star wars (but then, what could ever be more popular than Star Wars?), but I think they are really trying to mold these new licenses into far bigger things to burden the loss of the SW line.

[Donut]

I think there's going to be an incredible reliance on future licenses should the renewal of Star Wars be passed on.

I agree, it seems like generic theme ideas are running low or is it kids nowadays want their favorite shows converted to LEGO?

[Escape The Fate]

The only thing that i could think of that could be bigger than SW would be Pirates of the Caribbean. Imagine a pirate theme...

PS. Indy is part of Lucasfilm

[Rusty Brick]

I could see a Lord of the Rings Licence doing well--particularly when The Hobbit movie comes out (assuming that will happen eventually). Those movies were very succesful, and there would be plenty of set options.

[imperialshadows]

I could see a Lord of the Rings Licence doing well--particularly when The Hobbit movie comes out (assuming that will happen eventually). Those movies were very succesful, and there would be plenty of set options.

That would be like throwing money away. No matter how popular LotR is, they can just as easily make the exact same things in a slightly more generic form and simply call it ... Castle! Of course, then we'd have to put up with evil undead and ... hey, wait a minute here!

[JPinoy]

If LEGO gets out of the StarWars thing, they can contract with Star Trek, or the current running sci-fi show out there... the STARGATE franchise.

Working with StarGate would be like mashing up several LEGO themes such Studios (Batman, Spiderman and others), Castle, Pirates, Wild West, Town, Alpha Team, and Space into one. If you've ever seen the StarGate TV series, you'll know why.

[Count Blacktron]

If LEGO gets out of the StarWars thing, they can contract with Star Trek, or the current running sci-fi show out there... the STARGATE franchise.

Working with StarGate would be like mashing up several LEGO themes such Studios (Batman, Spiderman and others), Castle, Pirates, Wild West, Town, Alpha Team, and Space into one. If you've ever seen the StarGate TV series, you'll know why.

Stargate was cancelled and is due to run out too soon to make a profitable toy tie in licence. And Star Trek is currently beating a dead horse at Paramount.


And speaking of dead horses, I'd be all in for a G.I. Joe vs COBRA licence using the standard minifigure.

[Chrislad77]

I could see a Lord of the Rings Licence doing well--particularly when The Hobbit movie comes out (assuming that will happen eventually). Those movies were very succesful, and there would be plenty of set options.

That would be like throwing money away. No matter how popular LotR is, they can just as easily make the exact same things in a slightly more generic form and simply call it ... Castle! Of course, then we'd have to put up with evil undead and ... hey, wait a minute here!

I'm having a hard time picking out your sarcasm here. LOTRs would be profitable, Lego refused the license because of the "violent" nature of the movies

[Littlebrick]

Well, if they continue Star Wars, they could always do a line of Extended Universe sets.

[imperialshadows]

I could see a Lord of the Rings Licence doing well--particularly when The Hobbit movie comes out (assuming that will happen eventually). Those movies were very succesful, and there would be plenty of set options.

That would be like throwing money away. No matter how popular LotR is, they can just as easily make the exact same things in a slightly more generic form and simply call it ... Castle! Of course, then we'd have to put up with evil undead and ... hey, wait a minute here!

I'm having a hard time picking out your sarcasm here. LOTRs would be profitable, Lego refused the license because of the "violent" nature of the movies

Almost no sarcasm, actually. My natural writing style is just a bit ... well, it's something that takes a bit of adjustment to get used to.

My point is that the difference in an official LotR series and what LEGO could simply make without a license is minimal and having the license will cost them a lot more money in the long run. Basically you'd see what we put up with in Star Wars ... no cheap sets, fewer figures than non-licensed sets, reissues of the same things over and over, reuse of the same basic lineup of figures with few new additions, etc.

As for the "violent" excuse: They like to trot out that pony (Athos almost had a pony once, you know...) occasionally, but truth is, how many non-violent successful themes do we have? City and trains, and I'm not sure how well trains are really doing for LEGO.

Funny thing is, a lot of us are screaming for something peaceful, like a medieval town setting with farms and shoppes, but do you see that happening? Not likely.

Even the new Mars sets are just the basic good humans vs bad aliens bit all over again (with much worse alien figures). Classic Space was peaceful, it's long gone.

So no, they didn't turn it down over violence, it would be the expensive licensing and the fact that they're 3 movies too late for that one to be really profitable. I don't blame them a bit.

If I was them, I'd simply keep up the current Castle line and consider adding some more races to the minifig lineup. That alone would make it possible for you to create your own line without it ever having to be official.

That's what LEGO is really about anyway.

[Count Blacktron]

After much thought on the topic between Zs, I believe LEGO would have a real hit on their hands if they'd pursue a license based on the classic Wizard of Oz. I believe I'd be one of many who would be happy to see that given the kind of attention Star Wars has gotten (or at least a small fraction of that attention).