Hasbro Tapping Out of Movie Business

Hasbro's CEO Chris Cocks has revealed that Hasbro is completely tapping out of making movies. With the commercial failure of Transformers One and under performance of Rise of the Beasts and Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, the company is no longer going to co-finance films. “We want to reach fans where they want to play, and increasingly that is through digital expressions of their favorite brands,” Cocks said to Bloomberg. Studios can still make movies and TV shows on Hasbro properties, but it will now be licensed instead of having the cost partially taken on by Hasbro.

The money instead will be shifted to invest in video games with upcoming projects that include Exodus from Baldur's Gate veterans, D&D, and G.I. Joe video games in the works. Plan is also to expand Magic: The Gathering Arena video game with the Commander format. “What makes Magic so successful is what will drive Hasbro’s future success. It’s grounded in play, " Cocks said.

Under the previous CEO Brian Goldner, Hasbro bet big on Hollywood co-financing films based on their properties. By co-financing, lets say a movie costs $200 million. That would more or less get split between the studio and Hasbro. The co-financing deal made it so Paramount was more willing to gamble on then unproven properties and continue to gamble on future films even as the rate of return declined. 

Goldner love of the Hollywood side led to the purchase of Entertainment One in 2019. After Goldner died in 2022, Hasbro basically immediately sold off Entertainment One to Lionsgate as the company was not performing well in Hollywood by this point. In addition Hasbro is also suffering in toy aisles with across the board drop in sales that include Transformers toys. This has led to the layoff of more than 1000 employees including long time Transformers veterans.

Can't say surprised by the drop in toy sales considering Hasbro has long had a problem with getting new product on to toy shelves and prices continue to shock. Good example is Optimus Prime '86 Studio Series toy which can't be found on store shelves yet can find from sellers online. Even if find it, the retail price of $90 is going to give sticker shock to many.

So what does this mean for Transformers? Honestly I think it means no more movies for awhile. Paramount is fine with gambling on Transformers if the cost to them is say around $40 million like it was for Transformers One or around $100M for Rise of the Beasts. Now that the cost to them is 100% and recent evidence is mainstream audiences are tired of the franchise,  I just don't see them taking the gamble as they are also currently attempting to rebuild their financials. Its something the new owners of Paramount will have to decide but they don't take over until late 2025.

If a fan of Transformers animated efforts on TV/streaming, I think that too will take a backseat considering how poorly supported Transformers: Earthspark and last few animated efforts have been. In short, I suspect Transformers is going to hibernate for awhile entertainment wise. Not sure what that means for the toys after 2025 with no new projects to support the line.