The new Princesses being excluded from the lineup

[Disney Duster]

Oh yes, that's right Ariel was in it! Haha that video was funny and it's so clever the way you put what Cinderella says in the beginning.

[Redadoodles]

Haha... Thank you Dee Dee

[Thumper_93]

Who is they? The people who make these decisions are not the same as the people who make the films.

What I'm saying is that ultimately putting someone in the franchise is merely a financial decision, not based on who said what on her film. Personally I'm not really invested in the who's in it and why, I think people give this franchise too much importance, honestly I kind of wish it never existed.

You do realize that the people who handle the merchandising are involved in the film, right? The producers have several meetings over what sells and what doesn't sell. There are hundreds of meetings involving costumes, side kicks and other things like that. I remember one of my friends who was the screenwriters on the Princess Sissi animated show telling me that they had ten different meetings where the writers and the marketing team were violently arguing on the hair color of the princess. The story team wanted to follow the real story and have the heroine keep her brown hair but the marketing team wanted her blonde as back then blonde dolls would sell better. At the end, the marketing team ended up winning the case. The same thing happened with Pocahontas when Mattel demanded that the story team would include a scene of Meeko braiding Pocahontas's hair so they would release a doll pack that would do the same thing.
All that to say that it would be very naive to think that marketing is not a huge part of an animated film's production.

I'm a huge fan of Saban's Princess Sissi and what you said is very interesiting. I've saw that there's a collection of novels based on Sissis's life where She's blond and she looks so much like the animated one. I also collect dolls and it's incredible the ammount of models that Giochi Preziosi released (the peasant one, the grand ball, the wedding, Sissi goes in float, Sissi imperial ball....). They made a great job to be honest...

[DisneyFan09]

I'm a huge fan of Saban's Princess Sissi and what you said is very interesiting. I've saw that there's a collection of novels based on Sissis's life where She's blond and she looks so much like the animated one. I also collect dolls and it's incredible the ammount of models that Giochi Preziosi released (the peasant one, the grand ball, the wedding, Sissi goes in float, Sissi imperial ball....). They made a great job to be honest...

I`m glad to see more Princess Sissi fans here! I liked it, too. Even though I was a teenager when it aired, I still mesmerized by it.

[Redadoodles]

You do realize that the people who handle the merchandising are involved in the film, right? The producers have several meetings over what sells and what doesn't sell. There are hundreds of meetings involving costumes, side kicks and other things like that. I remember one of my friends who was the screenwriters on the Princess Sissi animated show telling me that they had ten different meetings where the writers and the marketing team were violently arguing on the hair color of the princess. The story team wanted to follow the real story and have the heroine keep her brown hair but the marketing team wanted her blonde as back then blonde dolls would sell better. At the end, the marketing team ended up winning the case. The same thing happened with Pocahontas when Mattel demanded that the story team would include a scene of Meeko braiding Pocahontas's hair so they would release a doll pack that would do the same thing.
All that to say that it would be very naive to think that marketing is not a huge part of an animated film's production.

I'm a huge fan of Saban's Princess Sissi and what you said is very interesiting. I've saw that there's a collection of novels based on Sissis's life where She's blond and she looks so much like the animated one. I also collect dolls and it's incredible the ammount of models that Giochi Preziosi released (the peasant one, the grand ball, the wedding, Sissi goes in float, Sissi imperial ball....). They made a great job to be honest...

Haha, I do have those dolls and I love them. Funny enough, two real princesses were used for fantasy themed properties in 1997, Anastasia and Sissi.

[Sotiris]

Jakks Pacific had their their earnings call and the CEO described the sales of Raya merch as "solid" and Raya as a property "great". Do you think there's a possibility Raya becomes its own brand like Frozen and won't be inducted into the Disney Princess franchise after all?

In girls, initial sales of Raya and the Last Dragon were solid and were combined with the positive trajectory of Disney Princess helped offset the expected decline of Frozen and Frozen II products.

Sales of our Disney Princess products nearly doubled over the first quarter of last year. With the introduction of Raya and the Last Dragon, Disney Princess and Raya more than offset the decline in Frozen and Frozen II products.

We expect to benefit from the continued retail distribution expansion in addition to increased demand in the marketplace with the ever growing strength of the Disney Princess universe. We will continue to also support the Frozen franchise with a diverse line of products that brings the magic of Arendelle to fans in a variety of scales and formats. Beyond the core Disney Princess business, we will continue driving the great performance of product lines based on Raya and the Last Dragon. In addition to launching a dynamic line of toy products inspired by Encanto, the upcoming November theatrical release from the Walt Disney Animation Studios, centered around an extraordinarily family who lives in a magical home in a vibrant town nestled in the hidden mountains of Colombia. The Encanto product line will feature fashion dolls, large dolls, playsets, dress-up and role play.

On real growth, you'll see through – we have a lot of new licenses, we have Encanto, Raya is a great property that will continue.

Source: https://seekingalpha.com/article/442225 ... transcript

The big driver of the growth, the strong sales of Disney Princess and Raya merchandise anchored by the theatrical and streaming release in March, slightly offset by lower sales of Frozen.

Source: https://seekingalpha.com/article/442225 ... transcript

The big driver of the growth was the strong sales of Disney Princess and Raya merchandise slightly offset by lower sales of Frozen.

Source: https://seekingalpha.com/article/444233 ... transcript

Continued strength in our Disney Princess and Style Collection Lines, coupled with new Disney releases from Raya and the Last Dragon, ILY and Encanto, led the growth for the year.

Source: https://seekingalpha.com/article/448817 ... transcript

[blackcauldron85]

Do you know how Raya merch is selling to Moana? Raya is selling better than Moana did in 2016? If so, then maybe Raya will continue being her own brand, at least for a while, before entering the Princess Collection...

[Redadoodles]

Sadly, I am pretty sure that it is because Raya is thinner and has a more traditional beauty with a thinner nose and straight hair... At least, when it comes to the dolls.

[Disney's Divinity]

That’s a good question, bc85. I think even if they’re only on par with Moana, Raya will continue as its own franchise for the next year still regardless. But I do hope the Raya line could do more than Moana, although I wouldn’t expect it to match Frozen levels. Of course, if it actually did manage the latter, I’d take it. I just hope it’s doing well-enough for Disney to take that as justification enough to go forward with a sequel.

[DisneyBluLife]

I'm a huge fan of Saban's Princess Sissi and what you said is very interesiting. I've saw that there's a collection of novels based on Sissis's life where She's blond and she looks so much like the animated one. I also collect dolls and it's incredible the ammount of models that Giochi Preziosi released (the peasant one, the grand ball, the wedding, Sissi goes in float, Sissi imperial ball....). They made a great job to be honest...

I`m glad to see more Princess Sissi fans here! I liked it, too. Even though I was a teenager when it aired, I still mesmerized by it.

In the 2015 reboot version of Princess Sissi her hair is brown.
https://mondo-world.fandom.com/wiki/Sis ... ng_Empress

Ep 1
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5srHoJ2oL9U

[thedisneyspirit]

Sadly, I am pretty sure that it is because Raya is thinner and has a more traditional beauty with a thinner nose and straight hair... At least, when it comes to the dolls.

Hello. I agree that Raya is much prettier than Moana. I do not own any Moana merchandise but even though I have not seen Raya, I have been tempted to pick up her dolls because I think she is gorgeous so far from what little I've seen of her. She has a beautiful face with very distinguished features that resemble a model. Disney needs to keep creating gorgeous heroines like this to motivate the public in improving themselves physically.

[Sotiris]

Number of products available per character on the U.S. ShopDisney website as of December 2021. The mermaid still reigns supreme.

Ariel: 106 products
Belle: 98 products
Cinderella: 88 products
Elsa: 77 products
Jasmine: 72 products
Encanto: 50 products
Rapunzel: 48 products
Anna: 48 products
Tiana: 48 products
Snow White: 47 products
Raya and the Last Dragon: 44 products
Aurora: 42 products
Mulan: 31 products
Pocahontas: 29 products
Moana: 21 products
Merida: 18 products

[Disney's Divinity]

It's so weird how Moana can be doing so well on streaming, and Zootopia fairly well on streaming (plus really well at the box office back when), but neither can support much merchandise?

[Sotiris]

It just shows that a movie being popular on streaming doesn't always translate into merchandise power. By the way, Zootopia only has 13 products available on ShopDisney.

[Disney's Divinity]

Unfortunately, I expect Raya and Mirabel will both fall below Moana after the newness of the merch for their films has passed. At least Tiana is doing okay. Thanks for posting all the information you do, Sotiris.

And it's too bad the Mulan remake was a complete screwup on Disney's part--Mulan's sales could have been raised by it the way Jasmine's were by the Aladdin remake if they had focused on making it good for audiences instead of altering it beyond reason chasing critics who will never accept them. Menken really helped to breathe new life into Jasmine because of his involvement on "Speechless," imo. A new song for Mulan could've done the same for that character. In fact, I'd say the awful choices with that remake has hurt that character, since she's lower down the list now than she was. Good going, Disney.

[DisneyFan09]

Surprised to see that Encanto did so well. Considering that it perfomed below expectations, I never thought that it would do as well.

[Sotiris]

There are signs Encanto has found its audience in ways that are crucial to Disney’s bottom line: According to industry magazine Toy Insider, an $80 Encanto playset was one of the year’s top-selling toys.

Source: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movie ... 235076391/

“Our 2022 is off to an exceptional start,” said Stephen Berman, JAKKS Chairman and CEO. [...] As the year begins, we are starting to see strong results as more consumers discover and embrace films like Sonic the Hedgehog® 2 and Disney’s Encanto™, and want to deepen their relationships with the characters by engaging with a broad array of our toys, Halloween Costumes, day-to-day role play and many other related products.

Source: https://jakkspacificinc.gcs-web.com/new ... al-results

We are thrilled with the excitement around Disney's Encanto. [...] Although some of our pre-holiday on-shelf presence was impacted by logistic delays, we have seen tremendous velocity since the film debuted on Disney+ on Christmas Eve. [...] We are seeing great sell-through across all accounts in the month of January in the U.S. and Europe, and are locked in to maximize the opportunity throughout 2022 and beyond, more to come on Encanto. [...] Disney's newest theatrical release, Encanto, provided incremental shipping. [...] Continued strength in our Disney Princess and Style Collection Lines, coupled with new Disney releases from Raya and The Last Dragon, ILY and Encanto, led the growth for the year. [...] In 2022, we will be extending the product line to build on the fans' favorite scenes as well as incorporating even more music in the toys, which we'll be bringing to market later this year.

Source: https://seekingalpha.com/article/448817 ... transcript

We continue to see fantastic demand for our Encanto Disney products. Retail inventory of Encanto at our top three U.S. accounts at the end of the quarter was only 4 million. The team has been laser-focused on fulfilling the existing demand and broadening the product line with some great new items in time for this holiday season. [...] And then the enhancement grew -- growth was Encanto, Sonic, and Disguise. [...] What we're trying to communicate is certainly we had a lot of great success with both Sonic and Encanto in the quarter on the Toy side. [...] We have some really strong successes currently, even without the formidable Encanto and Sonic. [...] We had only $4 million of inventory of retail and Encanto at the end of the quarter. [...] And then the excitement is going great with the licensing of Encanto and all the different categories.

Source: https://seekingalpha.com/article/450533 ... transcript

To name a few, toys developed for the Disney animated film Encanto and the live action and CGI film, Sonic The Hedgehog 2 are having exceptional years. [...] When it comes to Disney's Encanto, we have been scrambling since January to keep up with demand and make sure that this will be a magical holiday season when it comes to Encanto toys. The Magical Madrigal House has been the hot hard-to-find toy and we're on track to ship nearly 0.5 million units. Our largest customers are planning meaningful out-of-aisle real estate in Q3 and Q4 as much anticipated Encanto inventory makes its way to retail shelves. [...] Encanto on its own had a successful launch in last year in fall and also continues this year from first quarter onward. But Encanto has also, I believe, helped the enhancement of the overall Princess business as Princess, the Doll Role Play and Dress Up category, inclusive of Encanto has grown tremendously, with the overall just general Princess properties as well as our Style Collection. [...] Encanto has been growing double-digit for years.

Source: https://seekingalpha.com/article/452672 ... transcript

That's in addition to ramping up more production for ranges like Disney Encanto, we already had planned for the spring and summer and autumn and winter seasons. [...] Encanto still has been doing tremendous throughout the world. We see some great excitement with that.

Source: https://seekingalpha.com/article/455020 ... transcript

[Disney's Divinity]

I hope that's true. It would be nice for Disney to find another franchise that can stand on its own legs the way Frozen did and I did like Encanto even if I wish this was happening for Raya. I'm still skeptical though. Merchandise for a film will do best when the film is fresh anyway; the real judge will be how it's doing a year or two from now. After all, Moana is one of the most streamed films and yet it doesn't seem to be able to push merchandise the way other films do...

[Thumper_93]

I think that Encanto will stop selling so well soon. Today tastes changes a lot like trends so soon or later this movie is going to be forgotten. This movie had so much popularity thanks to TikTok and this social media is an example that things can ve very popular today and in a few weeks this same things can be old fashioned.
About Moana and Raya I don't know what to think. Moana appears in almost all the Disney Princess merchandise here in Spain and She seems to be very popular but not enough to sell under her own franchise.
Raya seems very complicated. Her film was released in the middle of the pandemic and in a few theaters. In Spain the film was not released in the most important theaters only in the small one so the movie lost a big chance to be known. No many people here know Raya and I think that it would be a great mistake include her in the Princess franchise because She wouldn't be known and soon or later She would be excluded from the franchise.

[Sotiris]

This might be an indication Disney plans to launch Encanto as its own franchise like Frozen.


Source: https://d23.com/disney-on-ice-enters-th ... d-encanto/