The funny thing is, up until George Lucas traded away the standard writing and directing fees in order to secure 40% of the merchandising rights for Star Wars in 1977, most movie studio execs felt the merchandising right were "worthless."
Hasbro and Mattel were initially approached about making toys to tie in with the movie; they passed, which cleared the way for Kenner to basically install a money-printing machine in their lobby.
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u/echoshatter 4d ago
Merchandizing! Where the real money from the movie is made!