The July 7 debut of “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest” offered Disney’s consumer products group a second shot at working with a live action hit whose success “caught us off guard,” Mooney said.
“Prior to that movie, we had no experience with licensing live action. We were caught flat-footed. Not this time. We have a wide range of products,” Mooney said.
Disney plans to trade on an emerging fashion trend for skull-and-crossbones insignia to license apparel for tweens, children aged about 8 to 12, and on the heart-throb status of stars Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom by offering stationery featuring their likenesses, Mooney said.
The company’s publishing unit has initiated a series of books featuring young Jack Sparrow, the pirate character played by Depp in the films. Disney also is contemplating a TV spin-off.
Licensing of merchandise for “Cars,” the just-released Disney-Pixar animated film, “has taken on a life of its own” with retailers already clamoring for re-orders, Mooney said.
The division also plans an expanded range of products for the sequel to last fall’s “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,” Mooney said.
“There was more girl appeal than we interpreted in the product,” he said, adding that the character of the White Witch, played by Tilda Swinton, was one of the most widely ordered Halloween costumes in Britain.
