Posted in: Movies | Tagged: action figures, bandai, films, movies, power rangers, saban, toys

Could Action Figures Save The Power Rangers?

Published Thu, 01 Jun 2017 22:15:58 -0500

In one of the first big box office failures of this year, and a quite undeserved one frankly, the Power Rangers movie just seemed to fail to light up the global box office and connect with cinema goers for ticket sales. With such dire sales compared to the film and its marketing costs, a sequel seemed unlikely, and the grand plans that the studio had for the franchise seemed doomed to fail before they really began.

However, a possible ray of hope has emerged: according to the NPD market research group, Power Rangers ranks as the number one action figure brand.

Their data suggests the actions figures have shown a growth of 122.8% year to date, and saw April sales in particular shoot up 185.9% against 2016. Tess Parsons-Broome, the marketing manager of Bandai who produce the Power Rangers toys, stated that at the end of April Power Rangers ranked 11th across all toy properties.

"Power Rangers has proven its position not only as a classic brand but as a must-have toy in such a competitive market place."

Bandai obviously have a vested interest in the Power Rangers brand, and will continue to promote and push the property into the future.

But could such success lead to renewed hope for the continuation of the fledgling franchise? Is it possible that sales of the toys and action figures that came out form the first movie, and the larger Power Rangers brand as a whole, lead to a stay of execution for the films so that we may get those sequels to what was critically one of the most promising fresh superhero movie franchises of the year? Only time will tell.

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