Lego Movie Success Boosts Toy Sales; Inspires New Legoland Movie Experience

>With the Lego Movie, starring Chris Pratt, earning the top spot at the box office once again this past weekend, it seems the little toy company that could has finally catapulted into the mainstream. And based on reports, the Lego Movie‘s popularity could not have come at a better time for the Danish toy makers who have seen sales prior to its release drop after astronomical gains the past decade.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Lego will publish its 2013 financial results Thursday, but was expected to announce a slowdown in its U.S. business after several years of positive gains. This was of course before the Lego Movie, starring Chris Pratt as Emmet Brickowoski, smashed into theaters changing everything with its broad commercial appeal. As the Wall Street Journal reports, “Lego, which gets a share of the film’s take, has said it expects the movie to boost sales in 2014, both in North America and in other markets, such as Europe.”

Lego had seen steady sales gains over the past decade after aligning itself with popular movie franchises. Gone were the days of Legos as mere toys for kids. Instead, Lego could now transport consumers into imaginative story worlds built block by block. An article on Haaretz.com traces that alignment:

“Beginning in 2004 the company began to focus on new content worlds, the main ones surrounding the plots of films that were box-office hits for the whole family: “Star Wars,” “Harry Potter,” “Pirates of the Caribbean.” In the past 10 years almost no hit has emerged from the Disney studios without a matching Lego set.”

The article continues:

“[Lego] once again soared to great heights. In the past year Lego acquired its new status as the largest toy company in the world, with annual sales of over $1 billion and a value of about $15 billion.”

Meanwhile, the Lego Movie’s popularity has not just extended into the toy market, but also impacted the California based amusement park known as Legoland. According to the New York Times, the park is capitalizing on the success of the film by unveiling a new Lego Movie Experience for consumers:

“With assistance from filmmakers, the park’s master model builder team has recreated Middle Zealand, the Old West, Cloud Cuckooland, the Octane Tower and more than a thousand other models that inspired the story of the animated movie, in which Emmet, an average Lego figure, is mistakenly drafted to help save the world from an evil tyrant.”