Crayola Going To Make Big Budget Movies About Crayons Because Of Barbie?
Comic Book reports that Crayola plans to enter the entertainment industry through the formation of Crayola Studios, and will soon be producing movies and TV shows geared toward children. Given the popularity of films like 2014’s The Lego Movie, and Mattel’s most recent box office-breaking Barbie, it’s clear that there is plenty of untapped revenue to be made off of entertainment properties related to children’s toys and properties.
Crayola is following the lead of Hasbro and Mattel by tapping into their own intellectual property for movies based around crayons and creativity.
And by the looks of it, it doesn’t seem like Crayola wants to entertain our children on a basic level but rather enlighten and empower them to pursue their own creativity.
Crayola Studios will make its debut under the guidance of executive vice president of marketing Victoria Lozano, and she’s excited about the potential of taking the brand in this new direction.
Though we don’t currently know much about the upcoming production slate, we do know that the first property they’re going to release to the public will be an adaptation of The Alien Adventures of Finn Caspian podcast, which was originally created by Jonathan Messinger under the MIMO Studios banner. It seems that this upcoming project will do justice to the source material, as MIMO Studios will be co-developing the Crayola Studios adaptation of the property.
The Alien Adventures of Finn Caspian podcast follows the adventures of its titular character, who explores outer space with his friends while helping aliens in need. Elaborating on why this series is the logical starting point for Crayola Studios, Lozano suggests that the combination of “characters, creativity, and adventure” are exactly on brand for what kind of creativity-nurturing properties Crayola wants to develop with their exciting new production company.
Crayola’s first adaptation will be The Alien Adventures of Finn Caspian, a podcast for children, that proves they have more to offer than just 64-packs of crayons.
One of the difficulties that Crayola might run into while developing their content slate is the fact that unlike Mattel or Hasbro, they don’t have an entire line of toys and characters to lean into organically. But it looks like they’re ready to hit the ground running by picking up existing properties that have aligning values with the Crayola brand.
In other words, there are plenty of podcasts, short stories, and even comic book series that they could secure the rights to, and inject their own unique animation and production style to make something entirely new.
For many of us, we fondly remember exploring our artistic side through the use of Crayola products. Though a healthy swath of us have gotten in trouble as children for microwaving a bunch of different colors together, much to the dissatisfaction of our parents, there’s no denying the impact that Crayola has had on our creative aspirations as well.
We can only imagine what kind of innovative and educational shows and movies will be created by Crayola Studios once they firmly establish their footing in the entertainment industry.
Though a healthy swath of us have gotten in trouble as children for microwaving a bunch of different colors together, much to the dissatisfaction of our parents, there’s no denying the impact that Crayola has had on our creative aspirations as well.
And we are truly excited to see their mission statement come to life over the coming years as they lean into the idea of creating children’s entertainment that is not only fun and engaging for the whole family, but also puts a strong emphasis on developing curious mindsets in children who want a little more color in their lives.
