Originally published August 1, 2017. This article preserves One Sixth Society’s original reporting and images; product availability, pricing, and opinions reflect the original publication period.
In 2009, The Walt Disney Company purchased Marvel Entertainment for four billion dollars. This was a significant deal for the entertainment and business world alike, and its repercussions are still discussed daily, years later. For sixth-scale collectibles there are some deeper implications at play, and as a collector I have been wondering lately: Will Disney Ever Buy Hot Toys?
In August 2017, Hot Toys was taking preorders for Belle from Beauty and the Beast, alongside many Marvel and Star Wars figures. Disney-owned properties occupied a noticeable part of the catalog, which prompted the question behind this article.
History Up To Now
Hot Toys’ apparent first encounter with Disney was in the early days of the Movie Masterpiece Series. Hot Toys did 7 figures from the third Pirates of the Caribbean film: At World’s End. Now, this was before the acquisition of Marvel by Disney. Later releases included characters from Tron: Legacy and Maleficent, Tonto from The Lone Ranger, and more Pirates of the Caribbean figures. This is of course not including the countless Star Wars and Marvel figures that are being announced every day. When Disney bought Marvel in 2009, we were around 100 in the MMS series, and we are now well over 400. A solid majority of these are Star Wars and Marvel, so it is fair to say that Disney’s licenses play a major role in the catalog.
By 2017, Hot Toys Star Wars figures were also being sold at Walt Disney World. Seeing high-end collectibles in the parks made the relationship interesting to me, even though licensed products on sale did not imply common ownership.
The Ultimate Question
I did not expect an acquisition in 2017, but that was a collector’s guess. Hot Toys also worked with properties outside Disney, including DC. Without access to the agreements or either company’s plans, I could not say how those licenses would affect a possible deal. What I did want was a Hot Toys figure of Emily Blunt as Mary Poppins.
For the actual releases rather than acquisition speculation, browse the Hot Toys preorder guides. Those pages identify the announced figure and edition; the existence of licensed Marvel or Star Wars products does not by itself establish an ownership deal.
A License Is Not an Ownership Announcement
Permission to make a Marvel figure, distribution through a retailer and ownership of the manufacturer are separate relationships. The product examples above establish why the question interested the writer, but they do not establish a proposed transaction. This article is best read as a dated collector opinion about the catalog, rather than business reporting that a purchase was underway.
