News
Mattel achieve an 80% jump in profits
Cost cutting helped toymaker Mattel achieve an 80% jump in profits in the April to June quarter, despite a drop in sales and a strong US dollar. Net profit was $21.5m (£13.3m), up from $11.8m a year earlier. Revenue fell by 19% to $898.2m, down from $1.1bn. The results at the company, best known for its Barbie doll, were much better than analysts had expected. The results come at the end of a week in which a number of major US companies reported strong quarterly results.
“If the company can grow earnings on a sales decline by cost-cutting, then what can they do when sales actually stop falling?” said Chris White at Wedbush Securities.
Mattel boss Robert Eckert said the decline in sales was caused by slowing demand during the economic downturn and the fact that fewer toys were geared towards summer film releases. He also said the strong US dollar affected international sales. Sales of Barbie dolls fell by 15%, while those of Hot Wheels, another of the company’s best-known and most popular toys, fell by 10%. Despite the rise in profits, Mattel said trading conditions in the second half of the year would remain challenging.
Celebration Europe could be held every 2 years
Tickets for Star Wars Celebration Europe II could be available soon if plans to hold the galactic event every 2 years go ahead. Star Wars Celebration Europe ran from July 13 2007 through to July 15, 2007 and was held at London’s ExCeL exhibition centre. Celebration Europe was produced by Lucasfilm Limited and The Cards Inc. Group which together celebrated the 30th Anniversary of the Star Wars saga holding Europe’s largest Star Wars party ever. The event actually sold out within 6 months of taking place with fans able to choose from one-day and three-day tickets for adults and children. Children under eight years of age were admitted free when accompanied by a paying adult.
Star Wars Celebration Europe was filled with live entertainment, celebrities from all six movies, special film and video presentations, an exhibit of original movie props and costumes, exclusive merchandise, pop culture tributes, interactive events, a costume contest and much much more. Star Wars Celebration Europe partnered with several accommodation providers located near ExCeL London to offer rooms at special rates exclusive to attendees. All budgets are accommodated for, with rooms ranging from budget through to premium. Members of Hyperspace the Official Star Wars Fan Club and Official International Star Wars Fan Clubs enjoy special benefits at Star Wars Celebration Europe, including expanded opening hours, a fan club lounge and special programming etc.
Stay tuned to actiontoyinternational.com for further updates!
Heroes villain lands Spock role
Heroes villain Zachary Quinto is to star as Mr Spock in the latest Star Trek film.
The Paramount Pictures film, whose working title is Star Trek XI, revolves around the first encounters between a young Spock and James T Kirk.
Leonard Nimoy, who played the original Mr Spock, will play an older version of the character in the new film. Quinto plays Sylar in the hit US TV drama, which recently made its terrestrial UK debut on BBC Two. The new Star Trek film will be directed by JJ Abrams, who created hit TV drama Lost and directed Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible III. Quinto (left) joins Star Trek veteran Leonard Nimoy in the film
“We have a great director, a wonderful actor playing the young Spock… the answer is, it was logical,” said Nimoy, explaining his decision to return to the role.
“This is really going to be a great movie. And I don’t say things like that lightly,” he told a gathering of 6,500 fans at San Diego’s Comic-Con.
The latest movie, the 11th in the series, will be released in the US on Christmas Day 2008. The lead role of Captain Kirk has yet to be cast.
The original Star Trek TV series, created by Gene Roddenberry, ran from 1966 to 1969.
It went on to spawn 10 feature films, numerous spin-offs and a billion-dollar industry of books, computer games and consumer products.
Heroes, which was recently named programme of the year by US television critics, captured an audience of 4.3m when it debuted on BBC Two on Wednesday. It has previously run on the UK’s Sci-Fi channel and in the US, on NBC. It follows the story of a group of ordinary people with superhuman abilities who are brought together to prevent a catastrophe.
Indiana Jones IV on DVD this autumn
Shot by director Steven Spielberg and starring Harrison Ford, wearing his character’s trademark fedora hat for the first time in 18 years, is a tribute to Saturday morning B-movies. The first trilogy made more than $1.1bn (£560m) at the box office in the 1980s.
The fourth film, co-starring John Hurt, is due for release on DVD November 2008.
Back in business
The franchise began in 1981 with Raiders of the Lost Ark, in which archaeologist Jones raced around the world to find the Ark of the Covenant before it fell into the hands of the Nazis. Rumours of a fourth chapter in the saga circulated for several years, before the film was finally announced in December 2006.
“I’m delighted to be back in business with my old friends,” said Harrison Ford earlier this year. “I don’t know if the pants still fit, but I know the hat will.”
Co-starring Ray Winstone, John Hurt, Jim Broadbent and Shia LaBeouf.
Lucas to shoot Star Wars TV series
Film director George Lucas has begun work on a live action TV spin-off from the Star Wars movies.
However, the project does not include any Skywalkers or other familiar characters from the six hit films.
“The Skywalkers aren’t in it, and it’s about minor characters,” Mr Lucas said in an interview.
“It has nothing to do with Luke Skywalker or Darth Vader or any of those people. It’s completely different. But it’s a good idea, it’s going to be a lot of fun to do and we’re probably not going to start that for about a year,”
The new TV series will focus on minor characters, rather than the heroes of the six hit movies. Mr Lucas told the Celebration III convention that the live action TV series would be similar to Raiders of the Lost Ark spin-off The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. “Like on The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, we want to write all the stories for the entire first season all at once,” he said. “I’m going to get it started, and hire the show runners and all of that, then I’ll probably step away.” He said the live action series would feature stories taking place between movie episodes three and four - Revenge of the Sith and the original 1977 Star Wars movie.
Lucas said he “never considered” extending the Stars Wars story beyond episode six - Return of the Jedi. “To be very honest with you, I never ever thought of anything that happened beyond episode six,” he said. “It’s the Darth Vader story. It starts with him being a young boy and it ends with him dying. I never ever really considered ever taking that particular story further.” Mr Lucas said the live action series would feature some existing Star Wars characters - but would not elaborate. “There’s a lot of issues that are connected, but you won’t necessarily see a lot of the people that are connected,” he said. No broadcast dates for either series have been announced yet.
The Animated show The Clone Wars, currently broadcast as three-minute episodes, will also become “a 3D animated” series of 30-minute shows, George Lucas said.
It will feature stories between movie episodes three and four.
