Success Seems to Be in the Cards

Like the characters in the wildly popular Nintendo video games, “Pokemon: The First Movie” evolved into something much more powerful.

The Japanese-made animated film that Warner Bros. will release Wednesday was to have complemented the cartoon show that now airs 11 times each week and has been a bonanza for its WB network.

But that was before Pokemon became its own multibillion-dollar industry, with kids standing in line for hours at stores to buy Pokemon trading cards and school principals banning the cards from schools as if they were some sort of contraband. Entrepreneurs are getting eye-popping sums selling Pokemon cards on Internet auction sites, and the venerable New Yorker even got into the Pokemania act with a Halloween cover playing off the trend. Seemingly every kid from age 6 to 12 now speaks a language foreign to their parents about Pokemon trainers, Pokemon masters, Charmander, Snorlax and Raichu.

“Pokemon: The First Movie,” which Warner picked up in June, started as a small, 76-minute animated Japanese import that cost less than $5 million to make. It carried with it relatively modest expectations and barely received mentions in magazine holiday film preview articles. What’s more, its graphics paled in comparison to expensive animated efforts such as “Tarzan” or high-tech animated films such as Pixar’s “A Bug’s Life.”

Now, the “Pokemon” movie is shaping up potentially to be the 800-pound Pikachu of the holiday season.

“Every studio wishes they had this movie,” said DreamWorks SKG marketing chief Terry Press.

Kid movies based on toy or TV fads are nothing new. The trick is in the timing. Releasing the film when parents are still lining up for toys, or packing malls for stage shows, isn’t easy, because for kids the hottest fad on Monday can be the most un-hip one by Friday.

New Line Cinema’s “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” caught the wave at the right time, shocking Hollywood in 1990 with a spectacular opening weekend and proving a huge financial success.

But “The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers” film shows how the fickle nature of kids can turn a film with big expectations into a relative disappointment. The film was released in May 1995 by 20th Century Fox less than six months after parents were scrambling to find the toys for their kids for Christmas. But that was enough time for the hysteria to have peaked, with a lot of kids already having moved on to other fads.

Then there was “Barney’s Great Adventure.” Back in 1993, Barney was the Ricky Martin of the preschool set. Smelling a bonanza, Hollywood fell over itself to get the film rights. When a movie finally came out last year, Barney was a fossil in the minds of Hollywood executives. The film grossed a mere $2.2 million its opening weekend and just $11 million domestically altogether, according to Exhibitor Relations Inc.

Which is why “Pokemon” is unique for Hollywood if for no other reason than it seems to be catching a trend that may well be right at its crest. Indeed, a second film is planned for next summer, and some Hollywood executives believe the Pokemon hysteria may be easing by then.

Needless to say, rival studios are watching closely to see how long “Pokemon” lives on the big screen through the holiday season.

Seemingly most at risk would be Walt Disney’s “Toy Story 2,” which will be released about two weeks after “Pokemon.” Competitors differ on whether they believe “Pokemon” will hurt the sequel to the hugely popular 1995 film. Some believe that the Pokemon juggernaut is so strong that it inevitably will at least take away some business from “Toy Story 2” on its opening weekend.

Most, however, believe that “Toy Story 2” will draw a broader, older audience, especially with the voices of such stars as Tom Hanks and Tim Allen, and that favorable buzz on the movie portends it will be highly successful as well. For their part, Disney executives insist that “Toy Story 2 “ won’t be hurt. They note that there is sufficient distance between the opening of the two films for both to be successful, adding that “A Bug’s Life” last year wasn’t hurt by the successful “The Rugrats Movie.”

Exactly how much Hollywood executives believe “Pokemon” will gross varies as well, partly dependent on whether the executive has kids who are obsessed with the trend. On the lower end, some believe $75 million is likely, but others believe it should easily top $100 million.

Pokemon started as “Pocket Monsters” in Japan, a game for Nintendo’s Game Boy involving finding, capturing and training 150 unique Pokemon characters. Players use those characters in battles, although no characters get killed.

The TV show, as well as the film, center on the adventures of a young man, Ash Ketchum (whose dubbed English-language voice is actually a woman’s), and two fellow Pokemon trainers, Misty and Brock.

Already a huge hit in Japan, the video game first went on sale in the U.S. in September of last year, triggering what would become one of the biggest fads ever. What really took off was the U.S. introduction of trading cards in the spring, which sent Pokemon from a popular game and TV show into the category of social phenomenon and gave school officials everywhere headaches.

After the cartoon show--which some critics complained was akin to a half-hour plug for the Nintendo game--did well airing a year ago in syndication, WB chief Jamie Kellner in January bought the show for the network from 4Kids Entertainment, a New York company that handles the licensing of Pokemon rights outside Asia.

WB beat out Haim Saban of Fox Family Worldwide, who has since come up with what clearly is a knockoff in “Digimon: Digital Monsters.” Getting the TV show gave Warner Bros. the inside track on the film, even though rival studios, particularly Fox, were interested in it.

Exactly how much Warner paid is unknown. 4Kids Chief Executive Al Kahn will only say that the studio made an upfront payment, and pays a flat percentage for the movie and video grosses. Sources close to the studio said that Warner stands to make a fortune on the film, having paid less than $10 million for the rights in the U.S. and foreign territories outside of Asia.

Warner executives still didn’t realize the depth of Pokemania until this past summer, when Bruce Rosenblum, a Warner Bros. senior vice president, informed studio executives what happened at the birthday for his 8-year-old son.

“We used to give away $20, $10, $15 party favors,” he said. “My wife gave away two packs of cards that cost about $6. The party came to an immediate halt as the kids started playing cards. We had cake, ice cream, Rollerblades--but the party came to a dead stop.”

Adds Sandy Reisenbach, Warner executive vice president for planning and marketing: “He told me that story, and I said: ‘We got to get the cards for the movie. This is synergy at work.’ ”

Any parent who thinks he or she has seen enough Pokemon hype in the past few weeks hasn’t seen anything yet. Part of the expected appeal to kids will be seeing three characters--Marill, Snubbull and Donphan--being introduced in the U.S. for first time. The film also highlights a mysterious, powerful Pokemon named Mew. Appealing to boys will be action in the form of a huge battle of Pokemon characters with their clones. Before the film shows, a new 22-minute short film, “Pikachu’s Vacation,” featuring the most popular Pokemon character, will run.

With the hottest kids property on its hands, Warner Bros. is in high gear. Tapping into the collectible trading card frenzy, it is giving away 10 million cards--one of four different cards--with each admission of a child or adult. If your kids want another card, they have to go back to the theater. It’s all about repeat business.

A $22-million promotional tie-in with Burger King is also planned starting Monday that will feature 57 toys--a different toy each day--some 97 million soft-drink cups featuring a movie plug and the ever-valuable trading cards. “We hope we clean McDonald’s clock,” said Richard Taylor, Burger King vice president of marketing. McDonald’s, which has an exclusive, long-term relationship with Disney, will have “Toy Story” items.

Hoping to expand the audience above the age of 12, Warner arranged for a soundtrack featuring new songs from virtually every artist one can find these days on the posters of a typical 14-year-old’s bedroom wall. Among them: non-Warner acts such as ‘N Sync, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera and 98 Degrees.

“Clearly, the goal was to get the creme de la creme of teen artists. Pokemon is so big and is so saturating our culture in the youth market that everybody wanted to be part of this vehicle to reach that market,” said Ron Shapiro, executive vice president and general manager of Atlantic Records, which is releasing the soundtrack.

For Warner Bros. parent Time Warner Inc., “Pokesynergy” might as well be the operative word. Atlantic is one of Time Warner’s key record labels. A promotion with Clorox and Time Warner’s People magazine will give away screening tickets.

A massive video release of “Pokemon” is planned for spring. And its Warner Bros. stores are loaded with Pokemon merchandise.

In the spirit of an old-fashioned Hollywood publicity stunt, All Nippon Airways is painting 747s to look like Pokemon characters. Warner arranged for one plane to land at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, where it will be greeted by a Brinks truck and armed guards, who will then transport Pokemon cards to a distribution center.

“We’ll make it very clear you can’t escape this thing at all,” said Brad Ball, Warner Bros. president of domestic marketing.

One of Warner’s key strategies is what Ball calls “the kid tug factor.” With what Warner partner Burger King has planned, expect a lot of sore shoulders.

Nonetheless, Warner executives realize they have to be careful in marketing something in which one of the main appeals to kids is that adults don’t exactly get it. As such, Nintendo nixed a poster Warner wanted to have showing the characters with a more three-dimensional look, insisting kids were used to the flatter, animated look of the show.

“Kids are so familiar with these characters,” said new Warner Bros. president and chief operating officer Alan Horn. “If they see we are being untrue to them, or being cute with them, it would be disastrous.”