Hasbro is launching a new division called Hasbro Entertainment, which will unify the company’s film, television, animation, and digital media businesses. Olivier Dumont will serve as presiden…
This sort of thing could work if they stopped trying to make money on the movies themselves and treated them like what they are: advertisements for merchandise. Let the creatives cook, give them the money and mandate to make things that actually appeal to specific audiences, then make money selling toys and lunchboxes on the back of the movie hype. We get good movies, they make money.
How this is probably going to go, though, is that they’ll sit there trying to figure out how to squeeze an extra dollar of profit out of selling content, meddle endlessly in the creative process, then wonder why their shitty movies are losing them money while not improving toy sales. This sort of thing is a defining feature of late stage capitalism. Overoptimization and compartmentalization ends up making everything shittier, and they don’t even end up making more money as a result. What good is capitalism doing for anyone if they can’t even make the slop right?
This sort of thing could work if they stopped trying to make money on the movies themselves and treated them like what they are: advertisements for merchandise. Let the creatives cook, give them the money and mandate to make things that actually appeal to specific audiences, then make money selling toys and lunchboxes on the back of the movie hype. We get good movies, they make money.
How this is probably going to go, though, is that they’ll sit there trying to figure out how to squeeze an extra dollar of profit out of selling content, meddle endlessly in the creative process, then wonder why their shitty movies are losing them money while not improving toy sales. This sort of thing is a defining feature of late stage capitalism. Overoptimization and compartmentalization ends up making everything shittier, and they don’t even end up making more money as a result. What good is capitalism doing for anyone if they can’t even make the slop right?
But barbie made a billion dollars! Playdoh should be able to do the same. And if it can’t it’s the fault of those lazy writers.