For nearly two years, it felt impossible to escape Wicked.

The licensing campaign began long before the first film hit theaters in November 2024 and continued through the release of Wicked: For Good in November 2025. Everywhere you looked, there was another collaboration: apparel, cosmetics, home décor — even reusable grocery bags.

Devoted fans created crowdsourced guides on Reddit's r/Wicked to track merchandise drops, retailer exclusives, and limited-edition collaborations as demand continued to grow. Following the commercial success of the first installment, Universal expanded the program to more than 300 licensing partners ahead of the release of Wicked: For Good.

Beyond the sheer volume of branded merchandise, Wicked is a prime example of a multi-year licensing cycle with diversified product categories, sustained fan engagement, and an IP that continued building momentum between releases.

For manufacturers, betting on the right IP is only half the equation. Entering at the right moment is where the opportunity lies: too early and demand may not exist yet, but too late and the moment may have already passed. 

This is Negosh's guide to feature film licensing lifecycles, including how demand builds, when product categories reach their peak, and the upcoming releases manufacturers should be watching.

The Film Release Lifecycle

Every category has a different entry point. Apparel manufacturers often benefit from having products available during the anticipation phase before a film launches. Collectibles companies frequently see stronger opportunities after fandom communities mature. Meanwhile, video games and experiential activations typically emerge after a property has proven it can sustain long-term consumer demand.

Don't Wait for Opening Weekend

The phases outlined in this guide reflect when products are reaching consumers, not when manufacturers should begin licensing conversations.

In entertainment licensing, it's common for discussions to begin while projects are still in development or production. Manufacturers that wait for a trailer, release date, or opening weekend are often entering the market much later than they realize.

By the time a product appears on shelves, months of work have already taken place: partner discovery, deal negotiations, creative approvals, product development, manufacturing, and retail planning.

Pre-Release: Announcement & Hype Cycle

12–24 Months Before Release

The licensing opportunity often begins long before a film reaches theaters.

As studios reveal trailers, casting announcements, teaser artwork, and early marketing campaigns, audiences begin forming emotional connections with a property. At this stage, fans are looking for ways to participate in the conversation.

These categories allow fans to show their excitement before a film arrives, making them especially valuable during the buildup to a major release. For manufacturers, the goal is to have products ready when awareness and interest begin accelerating before opening weekend arrives.

Best Categories

• Apparel
• Fashion collaborations
• Posters and wall art
• Collectibles
• Trading cards
• Accessories

Chiikawa is a world of adorable, fuzzy characters navigating everyday challenges, small victories, and relatable moments. That combination of charm and emotional storytelling has created a deep connection with fans, turning simple illustrations into a global fandom.

For manufacturers, this early phase represents an opportunity to create products that help fans bring that connection into their everyday lives. Plush, apparel, accessories, stationery, and collectibles allow fans to celebrate the characters they love while the brand continues building global momentum.

Although the film's release is imminent, Chiikawa remains an early-stage opportunity from a licensing perspective. The brand's growing international audience, expanding entertainment footprint, and passionate fan community suggest there is still significant room for category expansion in the years ahead.

Connect with Chiikawa's licensing team through Negosh.

Theatrical Release: Opening Weekend

Launch Through 6 Months

The theatrical release window is when awareness reaches its peak.

Marketing campaigns are everywhere, characters are top-of-mind, and families are actively looking for ways to engage with the story beyond the screen. For manufacturers, this is often the moment when broad consumer demand translates into retail opportunity.

This stage is especially valuable for brands with an established audience. A major release gives existing fans a new reason to engage, while also creating opportunities to reach new consumers.

Best Categories

• Toys
• Plush
• Apparel
• Accessories
• Home goods
• Food & beverage

CoComelon is already one of the most recognizable children's entertainment brands in the world. For millions of families, the characters and songs are part of everyday routines, creating a level of familiarity that few properties achieve. 

The move from streaming sensation to feature film creates a new opportunity to bring that connection into new product categories. Toys, plush, apparel, accessories, publishing, and family-focused products can build on an existing emotional connection while reaching consumers at a moment of heightened excitement.

Connect with CoComelon's licensing team through Negosh

Fan Community: Becoming a Cult Favorite

6–18 Months After Release

After the theatrical moment fades, the strongest fan communities begin to emerge.

This is the stage where casual viewers become dedicated fans. Streaming, social media, fan communities, and repeat viewing keep a property relevant long after its initial release, creating opportunities for products that go beyond the mass-market launch.

The opportunity shifts from reaching everyone to deepening the connection with the fans who remain. These audiences are often more engaged, more invested, and more likely to seek out products that allow them to celebrate the worlds and characters they love.

Best Categories

• Premium collectibles
• Plush
• Art prints
• Publishing
• Specialty apparel
• Hobby products

Originally released as an animated film in 1982, The Last Unicorn has remained a beloved fantasy classic for generations of fans. The story, characters, and themes have created a lasting emotional connection with audiences who continue to discover and revisit the film decades later.

For manufacturers, this type of moment creates opportunities to create premium collectibles, apparel, home goods, publishing, and specialty products that can celebrate the legacy of the original while building excitement around the new adaptation.

Connect with The Last Unicorn's licensing team through Negosh

Franchise: Transcending Categories

1–3 Years After Release

The most valuable entertainment properties don't stay in one format.

Once an IP has proven it can build and sustain an audience, the opportunity expands beyond the original release and a property begins to transform into a franchise. At this stage, licensing is no longer tied to a single release window, as the focus shifts toward building a long-term ecosystem around the IP.

This is where larger investments begin to make sense. A successful franchise creates more confidence around product development, retail partnerships, and category expansion because demand has already been proven.

Best Categories

• Video games
• Experiential entertainment
• Food & beverage
• Theme park attractions
• Location-based experiences
• Long-term consumer products

What began as a comic book series in 1941 has grown into one of the most recognizable character franchises in entertainment. For more than 85 years, Archie Comics has expanded beyond publishing through television, streaming, consumer products, and adaptations that continue introducing the characters to new generations of fans.

The upcoming live-action Archie film creates another entry point into the Archie universe. Combined with an extensive library of stories, iconic characters, and decades of cultural relevance, the franchise has the opportunity to engage longtime fans while reaching entirely new audiences.

Connect with Archie Comics licensing team through Negosh

Nostalgia: Anniversary & Retro Opportunities

5–20+ Years Later

Nostalgia creates a unique opportunity because the audience connection already exists. Fans aren't discovering the IP for the first time; they're reconnecting with characters, stories, and memories that have stayed with them over the years.

When a legacy property returns through a new film, anniversary celebration, or cultural moment, manufacturers have the opportunity to reach multiple generations at once. Longtime fans bring the emotional connection, while new audiences discover the franchise for the first time.

Best Categories

• Retro apparel
• Premium collectibles
• Home décor
• Publishing
• Fan experiences
• Anniversary collections

The upcoming King Conan film represents a rare opportunity: a legacy property with built-in fan recognition returning at a moment when nostalgia-driven entertainment continues to resonate with consumers.

For manufacturers, nostalgia cycles create opportunities across retro-inspired apparel, premium collectibles, accessories, publishing, and fan-focused products that celebrate both the history of the franchise and its next chapter.

Connect with Conan the Barbarian's licensing team through Negosh

Knowing the Window Is Only the Beginning

Understanding the licensing lifecycle is the easy part.

The manufacture's challenge is knowing which rights holders are actively looking for partners and starting those conversations early enough to bring products to market when demand peaks.

The manufacturers that consistently winidentify promising IP early, build relationships with rights holders, and position themselves before the broader market catches up.

That's what Negosh is built for. With more than 800 licensors actively exploring licensing opportunities, Negosh gives manufacturers direct access to the brands, characters, and entertainment properties shaping future consumer demand — including the five feature film opportunities highlighted in this article.

As the world's trusted IP marketplace, Negosh is where licensors go to share brand news, announce upcoming initiatives, and source new licensing partners. Manufacturers gain visibility into projects in development, films in production, anniversary programs, category expansions, and emerging opportunities long before they reach consumers.

Sora is being sunsetted, and with it, a billion-dollar deal with The Walt Disney Company.

While OpenAI hasn’t publicly explained why it is stepping away from video generation, the economics tell the story. The initial excitement around Sora has cooled, and the financial reality is clear: building a best-in-class generative video engine is extraordinarily expensive and impossible to justify without a clear path to profitability.

Unlike traditional software, where scale drives margins up, generative AI flips the model: every additional user, render, or second of video increases cost. Growth is no longer inherently good; it only speeds up the rate of burn for companies that haven’t solved the monetization equation.

As OpenAI shifts its focus to agentic technology, Disney is exploring partnerships with alternative AI companies – and there is no shortage of folks eager to bring its characters to life through short-form, AI-generated content. Consumer demand for character-based imagery remains one of the most popular prompts.

Which brings us back to a lesson as old as time: IP is where the value is. Generative models are increasingly interchangeable and high-quality, meaningful content cannot come free. ByteDance’s Seedance 2.0 demonstrated this with hyper-realistic viral clips of Deadpool and Spider-Man. 

Users may start with limited free credits, but regular video generation requires paid credits or subscriptions. With outputs that rival Hollywood movies and advertising productions, the cost is justifiable.

It was only last September that OpenAI launched the latest Sora iteration. Today comes the wakeup call: AI platforms must justify development costs and find ways to monetize consumer usage before doubling down on generative video technology.

Meanwhile, IP rights holders now have leverage to command value in generative outputs. Similar to selecting a limited-edition Disney-licensed item in-store, users will need to pay a premium (be it credits, subscriptions, or something else) to access copyrighted materials in their creations in generative environments.

IP is where the value is and AI platforms should reflect that. If you’re an IP rights holder, don’t let your creations fuel generative AI for free. Monetize your IP. Charge for access. Protect the value you’ve built, because in this new era of AI, content without control is content without worth.

With Warner Bros. Discovery set to become part of the Paramount empire and last week’s news that All3Media and Banijay are merging, what impact is this likely to have for licensing?

For studios with fewer properties that generate licensing opportunities, it could be a good thing. The new combined Banijay will have the Banijay Entertainment and All3Media libraries and will represent properties such as The Traitors, Big Brother, Survivor, Peaky Blinders, Gogglebox, House of Guinness, The Assassin and Oscar-nominated Hamnet, plus theatre productions such as multi-award winning The Lehman Trilogy, as well as animated kids properties Mr Bean and Totally Spies. This still feels like a robust and manageable sized portfolio covering mainly TV properties, across all ages and demographics, as well as a mix of evergreens as well as newer hits. 

For the likes of the Paramount and Warner Bros. merger however the number of licensing IPs that will be brought together is going to be huge. Just looking at the biggest properties the joint company will manage, and we have a list that includes SpongeBob SquarePants, Harry Potter, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, DC, PAW Patrol, Friends, Star Trek, Looney Tunes, South Park, Scooby-Doo, Emily in Paris, Hanna Barnera and MTV. Once you also add in all the shows from Cartoon Network and HBO as well as the full movie library of both studios, which includes everything from Grease, The Goonies, The Wizard of Oz, The Godfather, Dune & Breakfast at Tiffany’s, you’re looking at 100s of IP that have proven licensing potential.

The combined portfolio will be enormous and there is scope to say that there are already under utilised IP in both portfolios ,as focus is kept on the tier A brands. Once combined the number of IPs that won’t get the attention they deserve will likely only grow.

Disney does a very good job with their vast portfolio, they are the world’s biggest licensor for a reason after all. They manage the Disney animation library, Pixar, Star Wars and Marvel and no one could claim that these aren’t fully maximised. But when you remember that they also own the Fox film and TV library including the likes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the Alien and Predator franchises and The Sound of Music, then they also have plenty of properties that could use more attention.

Sadly the combined Paramount/WB licensing team will likely be consolidated which will see the priority list of the combined portfolio further truncated. With such a mix of properties, likely with different approval flows and rules, deal timelines will extend, minimum guarantees will increase and smaller licensees will be frozen out.

New licensees are the lifeblood of the industry, bringing new categories, ways of working and innovation. With fewer, bigger licensors, with a narrow focus on just the proven franchise-led licensing hits, along with higher minimum guarantees and long lead times, the barriers of entry to the licensing industry will only get more and more insurmountable. 

This is where new ways of working will be needed more than ever. AI matching of IP with licensees and marketplaces like Negosh - anything that reduces friction in the match making and deal facilitation process - will be key in making sure that the industry maximises the potential of existing IP as well as giving new IP and manufacturers the chance to innovate and uncover new opportunities.

For many licensed brands alcohol very clearly sits on the ‘no’ list. And this is not surprising given how many brands sit in the kids space or look to appeal to the wider family audience. 

However for adult-targeted brands, alcohol collaborations can make a lot of sense, especially if it feels authentic to the IP. The recent collaboration between Banijay and Barrel Global for Peaky Blinders is a great example as are alcohol partnerships with Game of Thrones, Star Trek and The Godfather, all IP where alcohol features in the content itself. 

The alcohol market is a crowded space, dominated by large players such as Diageo and smaller brands focused squarely on quality and the high end market. 

What licensing always does is allow smaller players to punch above their weight by tapping into specific fandoms. Game of Thrones and its spin-off shows have delivered huge audiences, Star Trek is a 60 year old IP with a dedicated fanbase and The Godfather is considered one of the best films of all time. By working with these brands alcohol manufacturers are gaining access to built in and engaged audiences and more likely to be able to unlock retail listings. 

Many celebrities have also gotten into the alcohol space. Although not all of them put their names to the product itself, so as to keep some distance between their name and the product itself, such as Kendall Jenner and 818 Tequila, George Clooney and Casamigos and Wild Turkey Longbranch Whiskey with Matthew McConaughey. Others such as Kylie Minogue and Graham Norton though are more than happy to have their names front and center on the bottle.

Alcohol consumption behaviour may be changing, particularly with younger generations but when it comes to licensed alcohol, its not always being purchased to be consumed. As  with many licensed FMCG partnerships it's the packaging and collectability that is the real sell. Fans want to collect and display the bottles probably more than they are interested in how they taste. If they taste great and are reasonably priced then they may become a regular purchase but that is not the main incentive for buying them in the first place.

This leaves a lot of scope for the right brands to find great partners in the alcohol space. For brands like South Park, Ru Paul’s Drag Race, Bridgerton and The Traitors, alcoholic partnerships offer fun and lucrative opportunities to engage their fanbases in authentic and new ways.

Last week it was announced that a Game of Thrones prequel will be coming to London’s West End. When you look at the West End and Broadway over recent years, there definitely seems to be a trend for film and TV IP being translated to the stage, or getting new spin-off stories.

So many IPS, such as Harry Potter, Stranger Things, Bettlejuice, Paddington, The Hunger Games, SpongeBob Squarepants, Mean Girls, Clueless, Elf, Shrek and even Paranormal Activity have made their way to the stage over recent years.

Stage shows allow fans to engage with their favourite IPs in a new way, and this can bring new audiences to live entertainment venues still struggling from the effects of the pandemic and high inflation. And when done well these shows absolutely do this, Harry Potter & the Cursed Child has been running for nearly 10 years in the UK and almost as long onBroadway with productions in several other countries. Based on a completely original story, set nearly two decades after the original narrative ended, the show offered fans something new and exciting in lieu of any new books or films.

Similarly, and as is the plan for Game of Thrones, Stranger Things based their stage production on a story not seen in the TV show but that fits into the narrative and helps explain it in more detail, giving fans a real reason to go.

In the case of Mean Girls, the musical stage show version was so successful that a new movie was made of it, returning the IP to its original medium but in a new form appealing to new audiences. And some stage shows get really creative, the musical based on SpongeBob side stepped the obvious costume character route to have the characters portrayed by regular actors, and bring a whole new dynamic to the IP.

Others though are not so successful, and don’t resonate with existing fans or bring in new audiences. Stage productions such as Pretty Woman and The Devil Wears Prada haven’t translated the IP to the new medium as successfully and despite the addition of new music have often relied too much on nostalgia and affection for the original movies to drive ticket sales rather than offering a fresh take.

The new The Hunger Games stage show in London had a custom theater built for it and although the staging is impressive, so far fans claim it hasn’t been able to recreate the emotional pull of the books or movies.

Other productions such as Shrek and Elf have very much tried to follow in the tradition of British pantomimes, camp and interactive interpretations of well known stories, usually fairytales, that the whole family can enjoy together during the holidays. And they’ve been successful, why shouldn’t Elf or Shrek sit alongside the likes of Jack and the Beanstalk, Cinderella or Sleeping Beauty as festive days out for the whole family?

So yes movie and film IPs have been taking over stages around the world, and many of them absolutely deserve to, not only because they bring new engaged audiences but because they have creatively reinterpreted the IP for a new medium. However when they are done with little regard to bringing something new to the brand and simply a new avenue for generating revenue then they show little respect for the fans and take up space that could be given to new stories and creativity. 

As ever, audiences vote with their feet so these less well thought out productions don’t tend to last long, so the lesson here is to absolutely look at how your IP could translate to the stage but make sure you're bringing something new and creative for existing fans as well as something easily accessible for new audiences.

KPop Demon Hunters truly is a phenomenon, and one that no one really saw coming. But even though in licensing almost everyone has been a little late to the party, retailers are now beginning to see the start of the product avalanche.

Some retailers were able to get clothing and dress-up out in time for Christmas, and all of it pretty much sold through immediately which demonstrates the high demand for products. As does the number of online searches for KPop Demon Hunters merchandise. Toys of course take a little longer but recent toy fairs have been full of what will be soon hitting toy shelves.

As well as being Netflix’s most watched movie ever, with to date over 500 million streams, the music has been a phenomenon, and basically launched the hottest new girl group in HUNTR/X. The most popular song from the movie, Golden, was the number one streamed song globally in 2025 (via Nielsen/ Luminate). The song also remains the top streamed song in 2026 so far, approaching 4 billion total streams. 

It also had an extraordinary run at the top of the Billboard Hot 100, where it held the #1 position for eight consecutive weeks. It made history as the first female K-Pop song ever to reach #1 on the chart, as well as securing the longest #1 reign of the 21st century by a female group. 

The film’s soundtrack was nominated for five Grammy Awards, including “Song of the Year”. “Golden” went on to win the Grammy for best song for visual media – the first K-Pop song ever to win a Grammy.

But as toys prepare to hit shelves nearly a year after the film’s release, and so far only rumours of what new content could look like, can the momentum continue and drive toy sales?

Netflix has three out of the four biggest toy companies on board - Hasbro, Mattel & LEGO, quite a feat in itself. And sometimes you don’t need new content to sell products, if the products themselves are driving the story and excitement. 

Toys give fans the opportunity to tell their own stories with the characters, and in particular LEGO allows them to engage in a deeper way through building and problem solving. Dolls will of course do incredibly well, basically Barbie versions of the most popular characters and girl group on the planet. But it is likely to be the collectibles, from Funko, Sideshow and Hot Toys, along with pins and bag clips that will help maintain the cultural presence until new content arrives.

And until then there will be tie-in versions of Uno, Monopoly, Furby, Polly Pocket and Little People to sate the appetite for everything KPop Demon Hunters. 

And with social media, Netflix won’t have to make all the content themselves. Once the toys hit shelves, fans will have everything they need to make their own new shorts and content. How long until we see Furbies taught to sing along to the soundtrack? or new stories being created with the dolls and LEGO?

There may be a wait for new content but KPop Demon Hunters will likely be the biggest new IP in toys this year and there are very few movie IPs that can boast that accolade so long after the launch of the film. 

As we well know, the Super Bowl is so much more than just the game itself; the half time show and the movie trailers and ads shown in the breaks are often as much of a draw. A 30 second spot this year cost anything between $8-10 million so only for those advertisers with big budgets to play with.

It's likely over 135 million people tuned in last night to watch the game, half time show and ads, but this year many movie studios decided that the NFL game was not the place to launch their summer movie marketing campaign. This could be cost related, or perhaps marketers have found more efficient ways of getting their messaging out.

Marvel was completely absent, with Disney passing on promoting Avengers: Doomsday and Sony following suit for Spiderman Brand New Day. Disney did lean in a little bit elsewhere with a mostly seen before trailer for Hoppers and a, giving nothing away, trailor for The Mandalorian and Grogu. Fans hoping to see more of Toy Story 5 though were left disappointed, although Woody did appear in a new Levi’s ad that paid homage to many pop-culture denim moments. 

Many of the other big releases also had little new to show, trailers for Scream 7, Super Mario Galaxy and Super Girl recut mainly already seen footage, leaving fans underwhelmed.

Some movies though did make the Super Bowl a big moment with Disclosure Day, Minions & Monsters and Project Hail Mary all going with traditional full trailers packed with new footage to excite fans.  

And Hollywood star power was also present in lots of other Super Bowl ads, showing how the power of well known IP, across film, TV and music can help create impactful marketing moments.

Here are our picks for the best Super Bowl trailers ads from this past weekend:

What’s Your Favourite Pokemon?

Disclosure Day

Good Will Dunkin’

Minions & Monsters

Chris Hemsworth and Alexa+

Bradley Cooper & Matthew McConnahay x Uber Eats

Project Hail Mary

Ken x Expedia

Jurassic Park x Xfinity

Will Shat Here for Raisin Bran

Levi’s Back Story

Mofusand (もふさんど) is a whimsical world of irresistibly cute cats created by popular illustrator Juno (ぢゅの) from Japan. Originating on social media in 2017, and with a now 750k+ following on Instagram, Mofusand (pronounced “mo-fu-sand”) captures the playful and mischievous spirit of cats through endearing illustrations where they dress up, explore, and engage in delightfully human-like adventures. You’ll find cats dressed up as sharks, sushi rolls, desserts, and other quirky costumes which embodies the ‘sophisti-cute’ style; soft, stylish, and quietly charming. Mofusand most definitely delivers an “adorable meets absurd” experience which connects with both cat lovers as well as enthusiasts of kawaii culture, wherever in the world they live.

The brand’s name comes from a combination of the Japanese onomatopoeia “mofu mofu,” meaning fluffy, and “sand” from sandwich, hinting at cute, fluffy combinations. It quickly resonated with fans who quickly shared and celebrated the playful artwork with cute stamps and stickers being widely used on popular messaging apps.

Mofusand quickly became a staple in Japanese pop culture and took off in licensing and partnerships with product offerings across plushies and stationery to home décor and apparel, many in limited edition drops driving collectibility. There have been pop-up cafes in Tokyo, Osaka, and Nagoya, serving up themed food and drinks, surrounded by decor based on their favorite fluffy friends. Excitement has also been driven by and channeled to special exhibitions, featuring giant Mofusand figures and exclusive art pieces, such as the limited-edition “Teddy Bear Meow” cat.

All of this has led to major brands like Sanrio, Monster Hunter, Uniqlo, and KFC also partnering with Mofusand to expand the licensed offering even further. 

With ugly-cute collectibles continuing to drive licensed product sales in multiple categories around the world, Mofusand is perfectly positioned to ride this wave with it’s blend of cuteness, clever humor, and dash of Japanese pop culture magic. 

Looking at this past week’s tabloid fallout between Brooklyn Beckham and his famous parents, one of his claims for the animosity was that, ahead of his wedding, his parents ‘repeatedly pressured and attempted to bribe me into signing away the rights to my name’.

It’s not an issue most families find themselves in, but when your surname is your brand and livelihood, balancing protection of it alongside maintaining cordial familial relations can prove to be difficult. 

According to the UK Intellectual Property Office (IPO) Brooklyn, and his three siblings, Romeo, Cruz and Harper Beckham, all had their birth names registered with them by their mother in 2017, with the trade mark covering a wide range of categories, including cosmetics, books, clothing and toys. Meaning should they want to use their names on those products, they need to go through their mom first, as she owns the rights.

This is not unusual with celebrity children, often as a pre-emptive move to stop anyone else trying to do so. Kim Kardashian has had active trademarks in place for her eldest child with Kanye West, North West, and most likely her other children as well.

‘Brand Beckham’ has been built up over 3 decades, from pop star and professional footballer origins, to fashion brand moguls and MLS franchise owners. As well as a slew of brand partnerships covering multiple categories; high fashion with Emporio Armani and then BOSS, cars with Maserati, watches with Tudor and most recently a range of SharkNinja products homeware products, the Beckham brand has also been on licensed clothing (H&M), aftershave and beauty (L’Oreal and Coty) and eyewear (Safilo). 

With a net worth of over $670m its a brand most definitely worth protecting and recent self-exec produced Netflix documentaries on both David and Victoria have helped control the brand image and smooth over past scandals such as reported infidelities, sport-washing deals and bad business management.

It is perhaps unsurprising then that with relations with their eldest child deteriorating they tried to maintain control of the Beckham name by trying to gain, or maintain, legal ownership of ‘Brooklyn Beckham’ to stop the potential launch of products that they feel could rival or damage the ‘brand’.

When your family name is also your brand, business and family relationships can get very muddled. Another good example being the other British wayward son - Prince Harry, when objections were raised to him using ‘Sussex Royal’ commercially for products and partnerships. Despite being both a member of the British royal family and the Duke of Sussex. 

It is possible though to successfully create family sub-brands, distinct from the master brand that can compliment rather than detract. One example is Paris Hilton, the great-grand-daughter of the Hilton hotel founder. Paris Hilton became a personal brand around pop culture, nightlife, and fashion, outside the corporate constraints of the Hilton brand. The Hilton hotel chain brand feels very distinct from the huge range of licensed products that have been launched using Paris Hilton’s name - from a massive fragrance empire with Parlux, skincare with Parívie, apparel and accessories with both IHL Group and Claire's, and even wellness drinks with Vitapod. By creating a very distinct brand image and in separate categories, the Paris Hilton brand sits distinctly apart from the Hilton hotel name.

Likewise Stella McCartney was able to create a brand distinct from both her father’s iconic music career and her mother’s vegan and vegetarian food label, creating a fashion brand focused on sustainability and cruelty-free practices. 

With Brooklyn Beckham seemingly keen to regain legal control of his name for commercial purposes, it will be interesting to see if, and how, he looks to exploit his part of ‘Brand Beckham’ in the future. He has the opportunity to define who he is, rather than what has been pre-ordained by others.

His forays into photography and cooking open up potential avenues for authentic brand extensions. And, if familial relations stay as they are, not only will it be easier to make his brand distinct from that of the rest of the family but will also likely generate a lot of interest.

And so far there doesn’t seem to be any negative effect on Brand Beckham, if anything the interest has created a campaign to drive streams and sales of Victoria Beckham’s solo single, ‘Not Such an Innocent Girl’. Victoria is the only Spice Girl not to ever have their own #1 UK single so perhaps the old adage, there’s no such thing as bad publicity could in this case be true.

By Ari Zebersky

On March 25, 2025, Grant Slatton tweeted “tremendous alpha right now in sending your wife photos of yall converted to studio ghibli anime” and suddenly, Studio Ghibli–inspired images flooded timelines everywhere.

Family photos reimagined in soft watercolor palettes, memes rendered with gentle expressions, and iconic moments in pop culture transformed into scenes that felt like they belonged beside Spirited Away or My Neighbor Totoro.  

For decades, the studio has represented something rare in modern media: quiet reflection, heartwarming moments, and rich storytelling. To “Ghibli-fy” an image wasn’t about trend hopping; it was an act of belonging.

“The GPUs Are Melting”

Across ChatGPT, Midjourney, and other image-generation tools, users generated over 700 million Ghibli-style images. To put it in perspective, the entire Studio Ghibli catalog is made up of approximately 3,456,000 frames across 24 films.

The surge was so extreme that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman publicly remarked that their “GPUs are melting,” prompting temporary rate limits on image generation. The message was received: users don’t just want generative images; they want immersion in known, familiar universes with decades of brand meaning behind them.

Gen AI can generate in seconds, but what makes people share their images is the desire to belong and connect – and here, it was Studio Ghibli’s 40 years of IP building that prompted a global wave. However, when viral demand hits something recognizable without rights-holder participation, platforms take on recurring brand, legal, and reputational risk and IP holders must manage against copyright infringement.

Separating the Art from the Artist

While creating Ghibli-style images brought joy to millions, it also surfaced a harder truth. The platforms enabling this creativity did not own the rights to the source material and the artists who shaped the Ghibli aesthetic were never credited, compensated, or consulted.

In turn, LLMs made the general public complicit in the unfair extraction of value from Studio Ghibli and its artists. They inadvertently made pirates of us all.

Even if “style” itself exists in a legal gray zone, artistry does not. When millions of outputs converge on a singular, identifiable creative legacy, the absence of permission becomes impossible to ignore. What looks like harmless fandom at small scale starts to resemble extraction at platform scale.

Case in point: the growing list of lawsuits filed against AI companies for copyright infringement.

The Myth of the Trade-Off

Too often, the industry responds by framing a false binary: protect intellectual property or enable creative AI. For LLM platforms, moments like the Studio Ghibli trend function as stress tests.

They expose growing legal risk, as rights holders seek clarity and precedent. They invite regulatory scrutiny, as policymakers confront systems that scale faster than existing IP frameworks. And they create brand risk, particularly among creators who increasingly view generative AI with suspicion rather than curiosity.

But the republic of consumers have already voted: they want generative tools that feel culturally grounded and emotionally resonant. Creators, meanwhile, want recognition, participation, and compensation. What’s missing isn’t demand or a willingness to coexist. It’s the infrastructure to support both the tools and the creators.

Building the Bridge

To meet this moment, generative AI needs an enablement layer that connects creativity with consent.

This is the problem space Negosh is addressing: building infrastructure that connects LLMs with licensors, manages and stores “smart assets,” and establishes guardrails for proper IP use. Rather than blocking prompts or retroactively policing outputs, this layer makes licensing, attribution, and monetization part of the system itself.

In this model:

• LLMs can identify when a prompt references a protected style or universe
• Demand signals can be captured and surfaced to rights holders
• Licensors can define terms, pricing, and usage permissions
• Attribution and revenue sharing can happen automatically

Viral moments no longer trigger emergency rate limits or legal panic. They become opportunities that can be structured, measurable, and monetized.

What the Studio Ghibli Moment Really Taught Us

It showed how deeply people want to participate in beloved creative worlds, ones that have been built over decades through film, music, and books. It demonstrated the cultural power of generative tools at scale. And it exposed the cost and risk of operating without a bridge between innovation and intellectual property.

The next era of generative AI will belong to platforms that can honor that legacy while scaling responsibly — where artists are credited, IP is licensed, and fans can create without guilt or gray zones. Negosh will be leading that era and we invite you to join our beta.

Negosh, the fastest-growing global marketplace for licensing brand IP, has announced it has hired Yoav Naveh as it prepares to launch a full-tech solution that will facilitate licensing deals between IP owners and AI developers. 

Yoav brings with him years of experience as a product management lead in the AI space, successfully building AI products across multiple industries. Yoav is the perfect person to support the creation of our AI licensing solution, enabling licensors to monetize and govern the use of their digital assets within advanced AI frameworks.

With Yoav on board we will be accelerating the delivery of our full-service solution that will encompass IP protection and guardrails, smart asset management and delivery, as well as monetization through usage tracking and reporting.

Yoav has also joined our newly created AI & IP Rights Committee, alongside industry leaders from major studios, networks, agencies and labels, to ensure the Negosh solution delivers for your business and services all of your needs. Be the first to hear about the development and launch of the tech solution that will safeguard your IP in the AI space alongside generating a constant flow of licensing royalty revenue for your business.

On joining Negosh Naveh said “AI has the potential to be a huge opportunity for the licensing industry but only as long as IP is used and monetized responsibly. Negosh is committed to tackling this challenge head-on, and I’m excited to help build solutions that truly work for both IP owners and AI developers. I’m thrilled to be joining such a hungry, creative, and forward-thinking team that’s supporting the industry to maximize these new opportunities.”

“Yoav is the perfect person to be joining Negosh at this moment in our development” said Ari Zebersky, CEO of Negosh “His experience and expertise will help support the creation of THE licensing solution for IP owners to both monetize and govern the use of their digital assets within the fast-moving AI landscape.”

Licensors and AI developers seeking early access to a breakthrough solution that protects IP in the AI ecosystem while unlocking a recurring stream of licensing royalties are invited to register at Negosh.ai. 

Video gaming has long since overtaken other entertainment industries in terms of revenue generation, with Newzoo projecting the industry to have been worth $189bn in 2025.

The Game Awards, the video game industry's year-end celebration, broke viewership records with an estimated 171 million global livestreams of the full broadcast, up 11% on 2024. Video gaming is projected to only get bigger and drive even broader and deeper engagement with fans.

The industry is now nearly 50 years old and has built its enduring success by making games for all ages and interests and by being available on multiple platforms, the most lucrative now being mobile phones - worth $100bn+, over 50% of the market.

Licensing has always had a place in video gaming, but not one as established or lucrative as movies or TV. But as gaming IPs become bigger, this year's Grand Theft Auto VI launch could well be the biggest entertainment launch of all time, and become well embedded in popular culture through film and TV shows, as well as longevity, video game IPs could well be the next big licensing opportunity.

As gaming has become more social and games are played for longer, through constant updates, expansion packs and new downloadable content, the window for selling licensed products based on them has been elongated. This is even more important when you consider games are much more likely than movies to have their release dates pushed back, sometimes multiple times. GTA VI has been delayed twice, now slated to come out in November this year, but fans are not optimistic there won’t be a third delay. These regular moves in release dates have often put off potential licensees, however, with games now having more longevity there is a much longer window to sell licensed products than the average theatrical movie release. This means it's not as important, as it is with films, to have products on shelf weeks before the release.

So there are potentially huge incremental opportunities for licensed products and partnerships in the video games space. 

In 2026 alone there are opportunities around: 

1. Brand anniversaries such as Zelda, Castlevania, Quake, Sonic, Pokemon and Animal Crossing 
2. New game releases such as Grand Theft Auto VI, 007 First Light and a new Resident Evil game. 
3. Movie releases based on gaming IPs such as Street Fighter, Roblox, Super Mario Galaxy and Mortal Kombat 2.

And looking forward to 2027:

1. There is a second Minecraft movie, a third Angry Birds movie, a fourth Sonic movie, and the first Zelda movie as well
2. The 30th anniversary of Grand Theft Auto and the 40th anniversary of Final Fantasy.
3. New game releases will hopefully include The Witcher 4, Tomb Raider Catalyst, Exodus and a new Call of Duty.

So if video games aren’t currently part of your licensing mix, its probably time to start taking a look at some of these great opportunities.

US based movie studios have understandably always focused on the domestic box office as its key market, however as we look at the 2025 global box office we can see that the importance of the North American market is beginning to decrease.

The best example of this is the #1 movie (by far) of 2025 at the global box office, Ne Zha 2, which took $1.9bn, $600m ahead of the #2 movie. $1.86bn of this take was all from its home nation of China, but this specific example aside, the Chinese market is becoming increasingly important to global box office success.

Zootopia 2 currently stands as the #2 film of 2025 at the global box office with 78% of its nearly $1.3bn take coming from international markets, domestically it is the #6 movie of the year. The international take, specifically that in China (which accounts for $502m of the $990m international figure) is what has made it such a hit.

The latest Avatar movie, Fire & Ash just opened this weekend and took $88m domestically but nearly 3 times this amount, £257 internationally, showing just how important international markets are to film makers.

Looking at the top 10 global movies of 2025 and all but one made more than 50% of its take from international markets. That’s not to say you can’t have a huge hit without wide global appeal - Sinners was one of the biggest critical and commercial hits in the US in 2025. It sits as the #7 film at the domestic box office, ahead of huge franchise films such as The Fantastic Four, How to Train Your Dragon, Captain America & Mission: Impossible. It only took 24% of its global take from international markets but it clearly resonated well with domestic audiences.

The flip side to this though is that the big franchise movies, with huge budgets that need to have wide global appeal, have seen a number of under performers this year. Especially when we look at superhero films. Superman and The Fantastic Four took less than 50% of their global take from international markets and Captain America: Brave New World and Thunderbolts only managed 51% and 50% respectively. When you compare this to the likes of Avengers; Endgame that took 69% and Spider-Man: No Way Home that took 58% its clear that in the period of big budget blockbusters international markets are key to being successful.

And this success is not only limited to the box office. Licensing as well as being great advertising for a film is a huge downstream revenue driver and if not many people see your film internationally they’re also not going to buy any products. Licensing, like film making, benefits from scale, although we have seen huge growth of niche and loyal audiences for specific IPs, when it comes to movies - the bigger and more global you can make the potential audience the better.

With 2025 coming to a close we’re looking ahead to some of the events that we think will not only draw eyeballs but will also be big for licensing and brand partnerships too.

Take a look at our list and let us know any you think we’ve forgotten in here.

Star Trek 60

Although Star Trek Day on September 8th marks the official date, all of 2026 will see notable partnerships, new launches and memorable moments. The 60th anniversary celebrates "Space for Everybody," extending an open invitation to celebrate the future that Star Trek aspires to – a future of HOPE, a future of EXPLORATION and a future where we rise to the challenge to BE BOLD. And the just released LEGO set of The Next Generation Enterprise marks the first time Star Trek and LEGO have partnered up - a great way to kick off the year long celebrations.

Super Mario World

The first movie took over $1.3BN at the global box office and saw a raft of licensed products and partnerships. Expectations will be high for the sequel and with Nintendo riding high after the biggest console launch ever for the Switch 2 Mario is sure to be dominating the box office and retail in the spring.

Michael Jackson Biopic

Always a controversial figure Michael Jackson still has legions of loyal fans. It will be interesting to see what effect this biopic, being made in partnership with his estate, could potentially have on the IP. Could we see new interest and resurgence? Or have audiences decided that its best to move on?

Masters of the Universe

This big swing by Mattel and Amazon Studios looks to resurrect this iconic 1980s toy IP, tapping into the original fans, those recruited by the recent Netflix animation as well as newcomers, potentially brought in by the star-studded cast. Can He-Man ‘do a Barbie’?

FIFA World Cup

The 2026 FIFA World Cup will be the biggest ever with 48 participating teams and matches played across 3 countries - Canada, Mexico and the US. The world’s biggest sport has never quite reached the same heights in the US, but could this be the year American finally falls in love with soccer? 

Toy Story 5

Pixar’s original hit is back with its fifth installment, and already a licensing juggernaut, and with it having been 7 years since the last film there’s a whole new generation of kids to add to the ever-growing fandom.

Grand Theft Auto VI

The huge game series has sold over 460 million units, with the last game Grand Theft Auto V, selling over 200 million copies and becoming the fastest entertainment product to earn $1 billion in sales. The sixth installment has been delayed more than once and expectations are at fever pitch. The game has the potential to be the biggest entertainment launch of the year and to have all the accompanying partnerships and products to go along with that status.

Spider-Man Brand New Day/Avengers Doomsday

The MCU and TV projects have taken a bit of a beating since Avengers: Endgame in 2019 with fan reactions and box office performances not quite living up to expectations. One exception to this is Spider-Man, and so 2026 will be a big year for the MCU with both a brand new Spider-Man film, Brand New Day, in the summer and then a brand new Avenger movie, Doomsday, in December. The latter sees the return of Robert Downey Jr. in the new role of Dr Doom and the coming together of many of the new characters introduced since Endgame, such as The Fantastic Four as well as some returning favourites from pre-MCU movies like the X-Men series. So expect 2026 to be the year Marvel comes roaring back to rule the box office, and retailer shelves.

Last month Disney announced a next-generation robotic character representing Olaf, the beloved snowman from  Frozen. And it wasn't a ‘coming in the distant future' innovation, the character will appear at Arendelle Bay Show in World of Frozen, the new immersive world at Disneyland Paris early next year as well as in limited-time special appearances at Hong Kong Disneyland Resort.

Olaf marks a new stage in costume character development, with the way he moves and looks crafted to reflect the curious character from the films. He even has iridescent fibers to replicate the snow-like shimmer of fresh snow catching the light.

Although the BDX droids from the Star Wars have been free roaming robotic characters and interacting with park guests for a while now, the Olaf character presents a far greater advancement. One that was acheived by using a branch of artificial intelligence called reinforcement learning. Reinforcement learning is a form of AI that allows the robot to practice thousands of movements inside a computer simulation. So instead of the time consuming task of engineers having to manually program every step, Olaf instead “learns” how to walk, balance, and gesture through trial and error until his motions replicate those seen on screen.

So we are now in a place where the speed at which theme parks can create new robotic characters and launch them is unprecedented. So does this mean the days of the traditional, person in a costume, character are numbered?

For non-human characters, like Olaf, and others such as Mickey, Donald, Sully, Winnie the Pooh and Stitch the new robotic characters arguably offer a much better experience, many of these characters are ‘mute’ in the parks unable to speak, whereas this new technology will bring them to life in an even more realistic way. For Olaf they also allow the moving character to be at the relative scale he is seen in the films, much smaller than humans, rather than the larger size he has to be as a traditional costume character.

For human based characters like the Disney Princesses, Peter Pan or Hercules, it's difficult to see how an animatronic could beat a real person dressed up, particularly as these characters are allowed to speak and interact openly with guests. However the pace of technology is such that it could be just a matter of time.

Outside of theme parks, and the revenue generated from ticket sales though, the much cheaper traditional costume character is likely to be around for a long time to come. At retailers, shopping malls and film screening events the cost of non-human characters is likely to always be prohibitive. Which could lead to a much bigger difference being created between the in and outside theme park costume character experience.

So what do you think? Do traditional costume characters have a natural charm that is difficult to replicate? Or are animatronic costumes they way forward?