Movie-related merchandise is big business. And it’s not all schawg. Now, thanks to “TRON: Legacy”, which opens in theaters on Friday, movie fans can shell out for high-end merchandise like a $2,600 Rotenier necklace and $795 spiked sandals from Rousseau.
With the haute-couture flourish, Disney’s marketing machine is reaching beyond the core science-fiction and fantasy fans who form the movie’s natural base.
“Tron” fits Burbank, California-based Disney’s business model of picking movie properties that can be spun off into its television, video-game and theme-park businesses, said Nelson Gayton, executive director of the Center for Management of Enterprise in Media, Entertainment & Sports at the University of California, Los Angeles.
“When you make these kinds of films you have to appeal to wider audiences, and if you don’t, you’re never going to make your money back,” Gayton said.
[via Bloomberg]