The creator of the Star Wars franchise is getting the action figure treatment.
What Happened: George Lucas will be featured as part of the "Star Wars: The Black Series" action figure line. The action figures come from Hasbro Inc HAS and will celebrate the 50th anniversary of Lucasfilm.
“When the opportunity came to design the George Lucas figure, we were especially excited for this project,” Hasbro Director of Product Design Vickie Stratford said.
Lucas was previously turned into an action figure in 2002 and 2006. This marks his debut in the 6-inch format and his debut in the highly collectible Black Series.
Star Wars is one of the biggest movie franchises of all time with a worldwide box office gross of over $10 billion. The franchise also generates billions of dollars annually from licensing and collectibles like action figures for the Walt Disney Co DIS, which acquired LucasFilm in 2012.
Lucas famously gave up an additional $500,000 directing fee for the first Star Wars movie in exchange for keeping licensing and merchandising rights himself.
The decision paid off handsomely for Lucas, but not as well for Fox Corp FOX.
Related Link: Could Hasbro Stock Get A Boost From NFTs, Wizards Of The Coast Growth
What’s Next: Star Wars fans can pre-order the figure at Big Bad Toy Store and Entertainment Earth. Big Bad Toy Store lists a price of $27.99 and an estimated arrival time of December. Entertainment Earth has a $26.99 price point and an estimated delivery of March.
The George Lucas toy from Hasbro follows an announced collection of Droids from the Star Wars movie franchise. IGN called the launch one of the “most obscure line of Star Wars figures ever released.”
The Droids series of action figures was one of the last released by Kenner in 1985. Kenner later discontinued the Star Wars series. The Droid figures are rare to collectors according to IGN.
Kenner was acquired by Tonka in 1987. Tonka was then acquired by Hasbro in 1991, who brought the Star Wars action figure series back later with new movie releases.
Star Wars action figures were a success story for Kenner, who paid a flat fee of $100,000 to Lucasfilm to create the toys. The company couldn’t keep up with the toy demand and even offered “Early Bird Certificate Packages,” which acted as I.O.U.s later redeemed for action figures. Kenner sold over 40 million Star Wars figures by the end of 1978 generating over $100 million in sales.
© 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
Comments
Trade confidently with insights and alerts from analyst ratings, free reports and breaking news that affects the stocks you care about.