Corgi has signed a new and enhanced three-year deal for the Dr Who licence with BBC Worldwide on the strength of a highly successful period which saw the toy company sell more than £1 million of its die-cast offer in 18 months.
With filming of the Dr Who Christmas special and a second series for BBC One underway, demand for quality merchandise celebrating the cult sci-fi property is at an all time high. The new deal sees Corgi covering UK, Eire, Australia and New Zealand.
Corgi’s offer celebrates the classic period when the long-running series most popular Dr Who, Tom Baker, was the eponymous hero. Favourite heroes and villains Bessie, Dr Who, Dalek, K-9, Davros, Cyberman and the Tardis feature singly and in sets and a special
40th anniversary gift set comes packaged in a film canister.Stock is available immediately at £6.99 for singles, £13.99 for the sets and £27.99 for the gift set.
The Wallace and Gromit license has also been extended to incorporate additional worldwide territories in response to a massive surge in demand as interest builds in the run up to the cult clay duo’s first full length feature film in October 2005.
Corgi will be releasing a die-cast replica model of the Anti Pesto van used by the intrepid duo in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit to battle the invaders sabotaging the annual village giant vegetable growing contest together with Wallace and Gromit figures in P.P.E. outfits and a model of Gromit’s newest invention – the Bun-vac.
The products will be packaged as a set priced at £9.99. A Limited Edition run featuring an animation film cell from Aardman has been increased to 5,000 to meet the clamour for the license and will also be released to coincide with the film, priced at £19.99.
Corgi has also signed a three-year worldwide deal with licensors of The Koala Brothers, Spellbound Entertainment, an exciting new property with all the ingredients to become a global children’s classic. Set in the Australian outback, it is currently airing on Cbeebies and follows the adventures of Koalas, Frank and Buster, Ned the little wombat Ned and Mitzi the possum.
With its emphasis on respect for others, kindness and emotional support, the TV series of 78 x 10 minute episodes currently in production in the UK has already attracted an expansive list of blue chip broadcasters. The series recently won Best Pre-school Series at the British Animation Awards and was nominated for a BAFTA award.
Detailed die-cast characters will appear packaged with play mats and play scenes. The launch range will be available from November and includes a Koala Brothers plane with rotating wheels and propeller with Frank and Buster figures fixed in the cockpit (£4.99); Ned’s caravan with standalone figure (£4.99)
and Sammy in his truck (£4.99). A second wave of product is scheduled for 2006.
Corgi’s marketing director s aid: “We were approached by Spellbound as the company was impressed by the attractive product offer we created for the evergreen Noddy license. We’re excited to be working on its debut property as we’re confident the antipodean characters will soon become household names. With our expertise in creating high quality pre-school toys, we believe this is an excellent addition to our portfolio of classic and new toy licenses.”
