It is no secret that since Mattel decided not to renew their license with Warner Bros., specifically the DC license, things have changed. At the end of 2018, it was announced that Mattel would no longer hold the DC license for any action figures or toys outside of the preschool age range past 2019. At the time, Spin Master was announced to take over the license for the action figures intended for children at the beginning of 2020. Two years later, Spin Master has announced a four-year extension to their DC license deal with Warner Bros.
Spin Master has released a variety of two options for the DC Universe which includes multiple toys featuring the Batman Universe. We have reviewed a bunch of the items over the past year and with The Batman releasing, there are no signs of slowing with a whole new line of toys for the film.
It is also important to note that while Mattel tried various evergreen lines for the children’s category, none of them took off or had the success that warranted them continuing to produce them. Even for the larger blockbuster releases, Mattel was overly cautious with producing larger figure lines for any of the license categories they held. Most of this was due to past failures. One of them was overproducing figures for the failed Green Lantern film in 2011 that were sitting on clearance shelves for years. This caused them to underproduce when it came to some of the toy lines connected to animated television series that ultimately had a negative effect on the series themselves such as Young Justice being canceled for supposedly not selling enough merchandise.
This has changed in the past few years with multiple lines of action figures on store shelves representing the DC Universe. Spin Master has utilized the DC license in a way that they feel is successful whereas Mattel just didn’t feel it was. The new deal takes place from 2023 through 2026. So needless to say, there should be a lot more Spin Master DC toys on shelves for years to come.
“It’s been an honour to work with Warner Bros. Consumer Products on this heroic and innovative line of action figures, vehicles and playsets, bringing the adventures and stories of Batman, DC Super Heroes and Super-Villains into fans’ homes around the world,” said Chris Beardall, Spin Master’s President, Toys and Chief Commercial Officer. “The timing of this renewal is perfect as we head into a blockbuster year for DC, with its incredible slate of feature films hitting the big screen in 2022 coinciding with custom toy collections for each. Our innovative approach to toy design combined with our meticulous attention to detail has helped to achieve record-setting sales for Spin Master’s DC toy line.”
“DC is one of the most iconic brands in the world, and we’re excited to continue our partnership with Spin Master to bring the characters and stories to life through inspired toy collections,” said Sam Bushy, senior vice president and general manager North America and head of e-Commerce for Warner Bros. Consumer Products.
