TOY INDUSTRY Superhero movies to the rescue

Spiderman and Catwoman action figures will soon be hitting shelves.
THE RECORD
NEW YORK -- The toy world is counting on a movie superhero to rescue it from last year's slump and send sales soaring in 2004.
"Spider-Man 2," the sequel to 2002's top-grossing movie, hits the theaters July 2. But Spider-Man toys are already swinging into stores as dozens of manufacturers try to tap into the power of the Spider-Man brand.
"The toy industry can expect to see a much more profitable year in 2004 thanks, in part, to the release of major movie properties and entertainment vehicles specifically geared toward kids," predicted market research firm The NPD group, in a toy industry report issued Monday.
Upbeat mood
The mood at the American International Toy Fair, which opened in New York on Sunday, is considerably more upbeat than it was a year ago, despite the recent bankruptcies of FAO Schwarz and KB Toys.
Last year, a Code Orange homeland security alert and a snowstorm kept many buyers from the fair, where manufacturers hawk their wares to retailers. This year's fair is expected to draw 40,000 visitors by the time it ends Wednesday.
This is the first February toy fair since the Toy Industry Association decided to split the event into two shows -- a mass market fair in the fall, for the major stores, and a February show for smaller retailers.
More than three dozen of the companies with exhibits plan to produce licensed products tied to the Spider-Man movie and to the classic Spider-Man property created by the original comic books.
The first Spider-Man film, starring Tobey Maguire, triggered more than $1 billion worth of sales of licensed merchandise, according to Marvel Enterprises and Sony Pictures, the partners behind the Spider-Man blitz.
Movie tie-ins
Having a "Spider-Man 2" on the movie horizon, along with a half-dozen other films with toy tie-in prospects, is good news for the industry, said Charles Riotto, executive director of the International Licensing Industry Merchandisers Association. "This year, there's definitely lots more films with really big hit potential that have licensing tie-ins than in 2003."
The movies expected to be the biggest sales boosters for toy makers, Riotto said, are "Spider-Man 2," "Catwoman" starring Halle Berry, "Shrek 2," the new Harry Potter movie, and "Van Helsing," the story of the Bram Stoker-created monster slayer.
Last year, retail sales fell 3 percent, to $20.7 billion, according to sales data collected by The NPD Group. Learning toys and miniature dolls and play sets had strong sales in 2003, but the action figure, building set, infant/preschool and vehicles categories had double-digit declines, according to NPD.