Summer Blockbusters Give Licensed Toys a Boost

By Justina Huddleston
August 2013

This Summer's major blockbusters are fueling the sale of licensed toys, according to a press release from The NPD Group.

Sales of licensed action figures have increased 20 percent, fueling a 4 percent increase in sales of licensed toys overall. Meanwhile, toys in all other categories are experiencing a decline of nearly 2 percent.

A rise in box office attendance is the reason behind the boost in sales of licensed toys, according to the press release:

"Summer box office is up 11 percent versus the same time period last year," said Russ Crupnick, senior vice president of industry analysis at The NPD Group. "Franchises such as Iron Man, which leads summer box office, and the 'Monsters' sequel have performed well at theaters, creating mass market appeal for the licensed toy lines. 'Planes', the spinoff of the wildly successful hit 'Cars' just reached theaters in time to drive back to school and holiday demand."

As analyst Lutz Muller predicted in a February 2013 article in TDmonthly Magazine, Monsters University, Iron Man and Man of Steel are among the biggest properties driving the increase in licensed toy sales.