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Talkin'<br />
<strong>Toy</strong>s<br />
GEARING UP<br />
FOR GHOSTBUSTERS<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Toy</strong> <strong>Book</strong> chats with Sony Pictures Consumer Products’ (SPCP) Mark Caplan, senior<br />
vice president, Global Consumer Products about <strong>2016</strong> plans.<br />
Congratulations on your recent promotion!<br />
What is your vision for the consumer products<br />
division? What are your long-term and<br />
short-term plans?<br />
It’s a benefit to our consumer products<br />
business to have a studio behind us that is a<br />
leader in filmed entertainment. We collectively<br />
have a long-term mentality in developing<br />
our consumer products business in concert<br />
with many other areas of Sony Pictures Entertainment.<br />
Ghostbusters is certainly one of the<br />
keys to building our business in the coming<br />
years ahead. We will introduce more content<br />
during the North American International <strong>Toy</strong><br />
Fair in New York City, which will enable our<br />
ongoing efforts in consumer products.<br />
You’ve managed the Ghostbusters brand<br />
for more than 10 years. What are your<br />
plans for the franchise as we gear up for<br />
the new film to hit theaters this summer?<br />
We have a strong group of consumer<br />
products partners and retailers getting<br />
behind our efforts. Categories such as toys,<br />
apparel, publishing, mobile games, and backto-school<br />
are all going to be available in the<br />
weeks leading up to the film’s release in July.<br />
How are you addressing fans both new and<br />
old with Ghostbusters consumer products?<br />
Our consumer base is quite expansive. It<br />
originally started with fans that grew up with<br />
the films and the animated TV shows. Product<br />
was developed with them in mind. Companies<br />
such as Lego, Mattel, Funko, and Atari<br />
have created product perfectly suited for<br />
those uber fans and collectors alike.<br />
With the upcoming <strong>2016</strong> film, we are now<br />
moving the product into the mass market,<br />
targeting the younger generation, who probably<br />
have heard about it from their parents or<br />
have seen it running the dozens of times per<br />
year on TV.<br />
How important is the international box<br />
office to the film launch?<br />
This will be a key to our success as we<br />
continue to build Ghostbusters into an ongoing<br />
licensing business. We have high hopes<br />
for the property in many countries where the<br />
overall film box office strength will help propel<br />
the success of the property. This will allow<br />
for many more opportunities to grow our<br />
consumer products business.<br />
What is your strategy for identifying and<br />
expanding in key areas of growth internationally<br />
for SPCP overall?<br />
As a global company, we have theatrical<br />
marketing offices in all major markets. This<br />
allows us to work cooperatively with our local<br />
staff. In terms of growth, we have a strong<br />
network of international agents that is helping<br />
us build consumer products programs<br />
and identify new opportunities.<br />
What’s new in the area of location-based<br />
entertainment for SPCP?<br />
This is certainly a growing<br />
area of our business. In<br />
fact, we have a couple of<br />
parks underway in Dubai<br />
and Russia, and are in<br />
discussions for China.<br />
In October of this year,<br />
Dubai <strong>The</strong>me and Resorts<br />
will open Motiongate, a<br />
massive theme park that will<br />
house our Sony Pictures<br />
Studio location with<br />
seven themed attractions based on Ghostbusters,<br />
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs,<br />
Hotel Transylvania, and <strong>The</strong> Smurfs, to name<br />
a few.<br />
How important is the growth and relevancy<br />
of an interactive gaming strategy for your<br />
franchises?<br />
It’s been an important area to our group<br />
for many years. It’s where I cut my teeth in<br />
the licensing business, going all the way back<br />
to the 16-bit era, when licensed games really<br />
started to impact the console business.<br />
We’ve traveled a long way since that time,<br />
and we are very involved in PlayStation 4 and<br />
the next generation consoles, in addition to<br />
mobile and virtual reality platforms.<br />
What is planned for <strong>The</strong> Smurfs?<br />
<strong>The</strong> Smurfs are an important ongoing<br />
business for SPCP. With another movie<br />
releasing in March 2017, we continue to<br />
develop new licensing partnerships. Jakks<br />
Pacific, Simon and Schuster, Rubie’s Costume<br />
Co., and Ubisoft are just some of the partners<br />
we have in our stable of licensees for the<br />
upcoming movie. »<br />
122 THE <strong>TOY</strong> BOOK | FEBRUARY <strong>2016</strong> | <strong>TOY</strong>BOOK.COM<br />
Ghostbusters figures, from Mattel
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