HISSTANK Coverage Of 49th J.P. Morgan Conference

Hasbro and eOne participated at J.P. Morgan 49th Annual Global Technology, Media, and Communications Conference to give a brief highlight on several projects both companies are working on.

Regarding upcoming Transformers entertainment content, eOne CEO Darren Throop stated the following:

“Another one that’s going into production very soon is Transformer 7. The script is in great shape, casting, that’s all in pre-production. Another one that we are working on is a Transformers animated [movie].”

He did not forget to mention Power Rangers as well:

“Power Rangers is being worked on now with a creative steward and a big streaming partner. We haven’t brought that to an announcement stage yet.”

Additionally, Hasbro mentioned that the company is working on their own video games based on their toy properties. During Hasbro’s Investor Day, the toy giant mentioned that Wizards of the Coast is working on video games such as Transformers and G.I. Joe. Today, Hasbro’s Chief Financial Officer Deb Thomas elaborated more on the matter. She emphasized that we won’t see the games at least for another 2 or 3 years.

“We have been investing over the last 5 years and we’ve invested over $200 million in developing games and as you think about going forward, we’ve not taken our foot off the gas [pedal] in this pandemic period and developing games that you’re not going to see until 2 to 3 years out. We’ll continue to develop those.”

“We are really excited about the investments that we’re making around Dungeons & Dragons, Magic: The Gathering, and other games that are based on brands in the Hasbro portfolio by this really terrific team at Wizards of the Coast.”

Finally, Hasbro CEO Brian Goldner praised Michael Bay’s Transformers (2007) live-action movie for enhancing and sustaining the brand:

“If you go back to 2006 before Transformers was a ‘theatrical brand, let’s call the value of that brand during that time ‘1X’. Once we went into the world of theatrical-storytelling, that brand, on average in any given year, probably went to ‘3X’ value. That brand’s 3X value has been sustainable since the first movie in 2007. Now in big theatrical years, like we have for D&D after 2023, it could be even bigger than that in that given year. But then as we go to streaming content, it could be a bit smaller but it always will be elevated versus what the value of that brand was before it was activated around entertainment.”

Mr. Goldner did not forget to mention that Transformers 7 will arrive in summer 2022 and the animated Transformers movie will hit theaters in the years that follow. Therefore, it is likely that we won’t see the Josh Cooley-directed Transformers animated feature film until after 2022.