Why do some Pixar movies get so little merchandising?

I don’t think I’ve ever seen merchandise for WALL-E, Ratatouille, or Up (sans specific Ebay searches). Meanwhile, stores are crawling with Cars and Monsters U merchandise (and only MU, no MI), to the point where they make stuff up that wasn’t in the movie specifically to sell more. And yeah, MU is kind of new, but I don’t remember it being like this when any of the other movies were new, and Cars was apparently selling billions years after its first movie came out, so they must have been making billions worth of merchandise.

And as best as I can tell, none of the movies were box office bombs or anything. I thought maybe it was because cars and monsters are easier to market, but what’s wrong with robots and a dog?

So why do some Pixar movies seem to be so ignored when it comes to merchandise? Or, am I just being stupid and not looking hard enough?

Villainess, I’ve seen this happen before. Where I live, the retailers up here always seem to sell nothing but the same-old, typical characters. As a fan-girl myself who’s struggling to catch up, I have looked everywhere through secondhand stores plus rummage/garage/yard sales in my area, but none of them have ever been successful. This is why I always end up shopping online, where I do find the stuff I’m looking for.

Other than that, I have no other possible explanation at this time. Does anyone else here know of any other reasons behind this?

I know what you mean!

After a year or two, they stopped selling WALL-E merchandise!!! And even though it’s now being franchised, MU merchandise is starting to disappear as well. I figure if they’re gonna franchise it like they did Toy Story and Cars, they should at least release special edition toys of Mike and Sulley, periodically. I would also say Randall, given his popularity, but I don’t know how much Pixar would want to promote him as of right now. Then again, it seems as if he’s become the Anakin Skywalker of the Monsters series. (speaking of which, I’ve heard Randall be compared not only to Anakin/Vader, but also Severus Snape from Harry Potter and even Prince Zuko from Avatar: The Last Airbender, the latter of which I do see very strong similarities, since both of them had to capture important children in order to gain honor).

Anyways, back on topic. I guess for one-off movies it doesn’t really matter that much (except Merida, since she has joined the league of Disney Princesses), but yeah, the franchised movies need more marketing. In fact, they should release Mike/Sulley packs with some kind of random theme to them (sushi chefs, workout clothes, beach party, etc.) I say this because my brother actually used to have this Toy Story action figure that was a space cowboy (I think it was Woody in a space suit; I would need to see if he still has it).

JustSoWall-eCrazy - Hm, guess it never occurred to me that they get more merch because they’re franchises.

I really don’t think those need more marketing, though. They seem pretty covered to me. And MU merch doesn’t seem to be going away. Then again, maybe that’s just my general annoyance with Cars 2 and MU blurring my perception.

JustSoWall-eCrazy: Just because they stopped selling the merchandise doesn’t mean they’re gone. I mean, think about this: Shopping online is like trying to find something in the overstock. So obviously, whatever merchandise is leftover has been taken out of the stores and put in the warehouses as overstock. Although sometimes the overstock items do provide for a second chance!

Brave is still going strong with merchandising, and like some others have mentioned, it’s because of the popularity of Disney Princesses. Disney Princesses are practically a guaranteed profit! My local stores such as Toys R Us and Walmart have a lot of Merida and Elinor dolls with various themes, as well as some toys of the twins, the horse, and the bears.

Cars has always had a lot of merchandise, and it won’t go away any time soon, what with Cars 3 coming out plus it’s popularity with young boys in particular. I’ve even seen a lot of adult Cars collectors. Cars merchandise simply makes a lot of money! I attribute that to the fact that for a long time young boys have been encouraged to take up an interest in cars and other vehicles. It’ll stay popular for that reason.

Toy Story is probably the most beloved Pixar franchise, as A) many people have grown up on it, B) Toy Story was Pixar’s first film, C) It’s their most well-received series, D) There seem to be far more Toy Story collectors than collectors of any other Pixar movie/series, E) Toy Story 3 was one of the biggest animated movies of all time. So Toy Story merchandise has always been updated and rereleased. Right now, stores that sell toys have a new wave of Toy Story toys because it has an anniversary at the moment. Lotso seems to be a popular seller in my local stores, and his prices online sometimes get ridiculous.

Monsters University did have a lot of merchandise, but it’s fading from my local stores. All that’s left is a few of the “outcast” toys on clearance. Randall’s scare student figure, for instance, has been long gone from all my local stores, and listings online have amped up the price on it, claiming it to be “rare.” It’s similar to Vanellope merchandise from Wreck-it-Ralph: she was so popular that her stuff was all bought up, and now the online prices are jacked up like crazy. Disney Store still has some MU merch left over, but most of it is sold out (primarily the good stuff). As time marches on, MU merch of certain characters like Johnny and Randy will probably get harder and harder to find (it already seems to be). There’s such an abundance of Mike and Sulley that they’re probably excluded.

Wall-E only had a little bit of merchandise when it was released, apparently. Wall-E is one out of two surprising instances when a Pixar movie was underrepresented in toys and products. The only things I personally know that Wall-E had upon its release were interactive toy robots and the “art of” book. Recently, there have been Wall-E themed mugs and Funko pop figures released. Still surprisingly little, considering its success though.

Up is the second case of surprisingly little merchandise. They must not have seen much potential for it at all. I do know that plushes of the main talking dogs were released, but apparently not a lot. There were also Kevin plushes. Japan had a few figures of Carl and Russel. The Disney store also released a figure pack of the characters. Recently, the Disney store has released a Dug pillow and mini Dug and Kevin plushes.

Bug’s Life had a decent amount of merchandise upon its release, its just harder to find now because of how long ago the movie was made. There were plushes of most of the characters (even Hopper), various kinds of figures for all the main characters as well as Hopper and Molt, large talking figures of Flik and Hopper, and a bank with Flik and Hopper on top.

Monsters Inc had very little merchandise compared to Monsters University. There was a set of action figures for the main characters (including Mike, Sulley, Randall, Waternoose, and packs that included George and Fungus), various Boo dolls, some plushes of Mike and Sulley, one plush of Randall (though different plushes of Randall made it to different countries), McDonald’s toys, and some packs of mini figures. Not sure how plentiful the merchandise was, though.

ConteRomo: That there is another good explanation on the whole merchandising thing. But if I must say this again, it may be gone from stores, but that doesn’t mean we don’t still have a chance to try and get it. And this is why I spend a lot of time on the Internet these days, mostly to shop online. And I do find the stuff there. Because while the product is still being sold online, whatever items were leftover in stores when the sales came to an end would most likely have been collected and then put in the warehouses with many other products as “overstock”. And since most of the merchandise is gone from stores and put in this overstock I’m referring to…well, I’m pretty sure you would know what I mean. (Thank goodness I finally have a prepaid to use for that–I’m just waiting to refill it right now.)

ConteRemo - Aw, man. There was Randy stuff at a relatively local Wal-Mart like a week ago, I should have stocked up on a couple things for the sake of future Ebay cash raking.

…That sounded way less jerkish in my head. :confused:

Randy stuff, you say? I have a Pez dispenser of him, actually.

To be honest, I would not be struggling to catch up right now if only I had looked further in the toys section from back when I was collecting Littlest Pet Shop years ago. (Although it may have something to do with the fact that, back then, I wasn’t really paying that much attention to the Pixar stuff because I was probably too focused on collecting LPS.) But now that I’m into Pixar stuff, I’m really struggling to catch up now.

Again, this is why I shop online because I can find the Pixar stuff I’m looking for right there! So what I’m saying is, for those of us who decided to become Pixar fanatics after the phase of collecting such things has all but faded away–and especially when you’ve just decided on a favorite Pixar film in particular, one that was released just years ago–that’s who would most likely face the lack of merchandise in such retailers while searching for it.

You know what I mean by having to face these problems with the lack of merchandise when you’ve just become a Pixar fan and already chosen a favorite Pixar film, of which you like it so much that you want the stuff for it yet you can’t seem to find it?

I…just wanted to clarify that. Okay?

evspixarfan2012

There was a lot of merchandise of The Incredibles when it came out, and then it just stopped. This has always annoyed me. As for Wall-E and Up, I only see stuff from them on Disney movie rewards. It is really annoying. Less popular Disney films, like Hercules and Tarzan, are the same. They only seem interested in princesses and block busters.

IV: I have never seen any WALL-E stuff or Up stuff on Disney Movie Rewards, other than the double-sided Up poster. And from where you mentioned their only being interested in princesses and blockbusters, I get the point that you’re probably referring to the fact that, in such stores these days, they always seem to sell nothing but the same old, typical characters–as I would prefer to say that.

It’s not just Cars and Toy Story they always seem to sell–there are other (non-Pixar) franchises they always seem to want, which is why the stores keep selling those characters while the others only come in for a limited period of time and then they’re gone–like whatever’s left over is usually taken out and then put in with other overstock items.

Again, this is why I would much rather prefer to shop online!

I love the franchises and princess movies, and I’m glad they merchandise them. But the other movies need some love too.

I completely agree with you, IV! It’s sooooo hard for me to find WALL-E stuff! Seriously, he needs more attention.

EDIT: Just bumped this topic to clarify something. I finally got my prepaid refilled (on account of my pet-sitting 2 cats recently and then getting a paycheck), but I looked at my main online sources for finding Pixar stuff (which is Amazon and eBay) and found the WALL-E stuff very high-priced due to rarity. Also, because of my situation in trying to get an ornament related to that, Mom suggested I should write a letter telling them to bring some of the stuff back and I told her of your concerns here. I may have some ideas to come up with, too…but I’m really not so sure on what to do.

But someday I hope to see merchandise for all Pixar films return to the stores once more (and that they shall have their sales again).

Use this situation as an example:
[url]Disney making Princess Leia doll after British mother's Twitter campaign | Daily Mail Online

What I’m trying to say is that in order to bring more Pixar merchandise back into the stores, we as fans must contact retailers like Disney Store and ToysRus to become aware of our interest in these certain products. As they continue to receive e-mails from hardcore fans regarding their interest, they’ll get the idea and start supplying enough merchandise to meet demand.

[spoil]Really, I just want more Toy Story Collection toys…[/spoil]

Thanks for sharing the article, SpaceSheriff. I just read this to my mom.

So you’re telling me if we Pixar fans worked together on a similar campaign, they’ll bring that hard-to-find merchandise back?

^
In theory. Unless, manufacturers lose interest.

Okay…

The first (and easily the hardest) step is to have other fans participate. Take the Toy Story Collection line for example, there are two threads that have fans posting their interest in the line and hopes for future waves. Unfortunately, the Toy Story 3 “hype” didn’t last long and retailers didn’t see the point in ordering more toys after kids lost interest. Cars’s longevity is due to the constant demand by kids and collectors alike which keeps the production rate high.

The hardest step in the process evspixarfan2012, is getting more fans aware of the situation. Either they may not care as much or they simply lost interest with the idea. Unless there is a large fan outcry for more The Incredibles toys (or any other movie that deserved better merchandise), retailers and manufactures won’t bat an eye.

Well, thanks for the tip, SpaceSheriff. But I must tell you that in terms of this, it’s mainly the WALL-E stuff I’m after. And I do not know why, but in terms of what I found on my searches, most of this stuff I find online but they are marked at very high prices. (Probably due to rarity, I presume?) And besides, what I really need right now is a Keepsake ornament plus a Disney Store mug (in terms of both of which I have an EVE but no WALL-E). Oh, if only they would just bring that stuff back–along with a bunch of others–because, let’s face it: This is my favorite Pixar character I’m referring to now…and I really love him because he’s just too cute!

Update for you avid Pixar toy collectors. Thinkway updated their website and added a Disney-Pixar Collection for other Pixar films like The Incredibles, Finding Nemo, Wall-E, Up, and A Bug’s Life. I hope more gets made! :smiley:

[url]http://www.thinkwaytoys.com/MccOurToysV2b-zoom.asp?SelectMainCat=1&SelectSubCat=63[/url]