Hasbro Inc. HAS recently announced a deal with Viacom, Inc.’s VIAB Paramount Pictures to work on feature films surrounding five of its most popular brands. These include G.I. Joe, Micronauts, Visionaries, M.A.S.K. (Mobile Armored Strike Kommand) and ROM. Per the agreement, Paramount will team up with Allspark Pictures – Hasbro’s film brand – to establish an interconnected cinematic universe, featuring these brands.
Allspark Pictures will produce the films while Hasbro’s top management would collaborate with Paramount to create the interconnected series of films. To develop these films, Hasbro and Paramount will bring in some of Hollywood’s best creative writers.
Paramount and Hasbro had earlier partnered on the immensely successful ‘Transformers’ movie franchise, which has to-date grossed $3.8 billion. With the recent deal, the toy maker is looking to replicate the same success with its G.I. JOE franchise, which has earned around $675 million globally. Hasbro will benefit immensely from the deal as the cinematic universe would not only sell movie tickets and DVDs but also toy lines associated with each film.
In the recent times, toys by themselves seem to have lost their charm, and need a story to appear relevant to kids. With the success of the brands involved in the deal, Hasbro would be able to gradually build interest for the movies and merchandise related to it. Additionally, with children’s shift toward video games and personal electronic devices, toys and video games related to popular movie and gaming franchisees are doing well.
Hasbro currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
A couple of better-ranked stocks in the same industry are Activision Blizzard, Inc. ATVI and Electronic Arts Inc. EA. Both the stocks sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).
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