Summer is the season for blockbuster movies and their related licensing. We used E-Score Character to gauge consumer sentiments toward the main characters of several huge movies. These are the characters you will be seeing on apparel, consumer products, video games and more throughout the summer and beyond.

In coming weeks, we will also look at this summer’s hottest celebrities, TV programs and music.

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Driving Nostalgia

Some movie franchises are able to transcend age and create nostalgia with a generation throughout their lives. With its strong Appeal and interest among young millennials (ages 20-26), the Cars franchise holds pole position with this generation that has literally grown up with this property. We measured this group’s sentiments toward two of the movie’s main characters, and compared them to the same group’s feelings after the 2011 release of Cars 2.

• Lightning McQueen’s score for very Appealing is higher now than in 2011 among this group. However, Mater has seen his very Appealing score dip since then.
• Young millennials are still as interested in seeing Lightning McQueen in the new Cars movie, as his score for Very Interested in a Movie has remained high among this group.
• Lightning McQueen and Mater will find continued success with young millennials outside of movies as well. For McQueen, young millennials are Very Interested in a: Video Game (21%), Book (8%), and Comic Book (9%). Mater also has extendability power, as young millennials are Very Interested in a: Video Game (23%), Toy (18%), Book (16%), and Comic Book (11%). Scores for both characters were improvements over previous fieldings.

The Wonder of Wonder Woman

The new Wonder Woman film will be the first time we see the heroine on the big screen. We wanted to see how this character stacked up against another DC character following their big screen debut, so we used E-Score Character to see how Wonder Woman compares to the Green Lantern after the 2011 release of his movie.

• Based on character sentiments the movie is more promising than The Green Lantern’s movie was, as Wonder Woman’s 64% Appeal is 14 points higher than The Green Lantern’s was before the release of his movie. The character also transcends gender with 68% Appeal among males, and 60% among females aware of the character.
• Wonder Woman is a hero fans were clamoring for as 47% said they were Very Interested in a Movie about the character.
• The extendability of Wonder Woman exceeds The Green Lantern’s in 2011. She scores higher for Very Interested in a: TV Show (31% vs. 27%), Toy (24% vs. 19%), and Clothing (21% vs. 15%).

A Galaxy of Licensing Opportunities

While the first Guardians of the Galaxy was a surprise hit in 2015, the second installment does not appear to be slowing the momentum of the breakout franchise. We used E-Score Character to see how moviegoers feel about several of the movie’s main characters.

• Baby Groot is the Guardian most people Would Like to See More He is slightly more extendable than Groot was last year as audiences are Very Interested in a: TV Show (30% now vs. 26% last year), Toy (29% vs. 22%), and Book (19% vs. 16%).
• Peter Quill, also known as Star Lord, has seen an increase in Awareness and Appeal since the release of the first Guardians movie.
• Rocket has seen his Awareness increase but his Appeal has remained the same. His Cool attribute has also increased from the first movie.

Takeaway

With the growing cost of film and TV production, extending popular characters beyond the screen is essential. E-Score Character is the tool to help brands involved in licensing understand the components of character equity and which characters extend best into verticals including TV shows, toys, books, apparel and more.

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Methodology

Cars

Data Source: E-Score Character. 2011 data fielded between 1/1/2011 and 1/31/11. 2017 data fielded between 5/1/17 and 5/24/17. Respondents aged 13-19 in 2011 and 20-26 in 2017. *Appeal represents Top Box-Like A Lot.

Wonder Woman

Data Source: E-Score Character. Data fielded on 4/19/2017 among respondents ages 13-49. Appeal represents Top 2 Box – Like A Lot/ Like

Guardians of the Galaxy

Data Source: E-Score Character. Data fielded on 4/19/2017 among respondents ages 13-49. Appeal represents Top 2 Box – Like A Lot/ Like

Resources

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