The past 12 months have seen an array of movies and TV shows that were big business for the licensing industry. Returning franchises definitely dominated, with the likes of Inside Out 2, Deadpool & Wolverine, Moana 2, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire and Kung Fu Panda 4 driving licensed product sales as well as box office receipts. And the current ‘golden age of television’ saw TV shows, either part of wider franchises, like Agatha All Along, The Penguin and X-Men 97 or standalone hits like Bridgerton & The Traitors, kept critics happy as well as help drive new licensing deals. Licensing is based on confidence and big returning franchises and TV shows with a couple of seasons already under their belt inspire confidence in licensees, who want to make sure they’re backing a winner.
The release schedules for 2025 are looking jam packed with films and TV shows that are likely to see some hefty licensing programs around them.
Live action remakes have been hit or miss over the past few years. Snow White & The Seven Dwarves already has run into a fair amount of controversy but as with other Disney live-action remakes we will likely see an overall lift for product sales of the wider Snow White franchise. It would be very surprising if we didn’t see fashion collaborations and mass market apparel lines using artwork from the original animated film, as a bare minimum.
The live action How To Train Your Dragon will be one to watch, with it being only 15 years since the original animated film came out it will be interesting to see what the audience make-up looks like, but it will undoubtedly see a surge in popularity for the overall franchise and products alike.
Hopes will be high for the newly retitled ‘Superman’ to bring a resurgence for all DC superheroes, with Green Lantern, Hawk Girl and Mister Terrific all showcased in the teaser trailer. Can James Gunn kick start a new DC cinematic universe and with it give a boost to all DC licensed products? If nothing else we should expect to see a lot of Superman logo tees being worn this summer.
Marvel will be looking to get the MCU back on track with Fantastic Four: First Steps, Captain America: Brave New World and Thunderbolts all helping build up to Avengers Doomsday in 2026. With a lot of new characters being introduced, those action figure lines are set to expand even further.
Wicked Part 2, now known as Wicked: For Good, will be looking to recreate the magic of the past few months and the first film’s release, not just at the box office but across the huge array of licensed products and promotions as well. It will be interesting to see how they mix up the creative to bring newness to the product offerings for the sequel.
With five seasons of Jurassic Park: Camp Cretaceous keeping fans happy and creating new ones, the franchise is roaring back onto the big screen in 2025 with Jurassic Park: Rebirth. With the likes of Jonathan Bailey and Scarlett Johansson in the cast we're sure to see a huge boost for the whole franchise. With dinosaurs never going out of fashion with younger boys and a fanbase built up over 30+ years we should expect this to be hit on retail shelves as well as at theatres.
Other films to watch include A Minecraft Movie - can this huge IP successfully make the leap to the big screen? And with it supercharge its licensed offering?
The Michael Jackson biopic - Michael - will be hoping to rehabilitate the singer’s reputation and no doubt drive merchandise sales.
Avatar Fire & Ash will be looking to replicate its predecessors' box office sales and further grow the licensing program for the franchise.
And finally F1, the Brad Pitt starring film, has been created in collaboration with the FIA, F1’s governing body and will no doubt have a positive impact across all F1 branded products and collaborations.
Moving to the small screen and 2025 will be another great year for licensing following some great successes in 2024.
Standout hits like Andor, Wednesday and The Last of Us will make a welcome return, as will the Disney+ backed Doctor Who. All of these will likely see strong licensed product programs. The biggest TV hit of the year, for licensing at least, is likely to be Stranger Things Season 5. The licensing program around the show has been growing with each subsequent season and Netflix will no doubt be wanting to go out with a bang for the final season.
Can A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms replicate the success of House of the Dragon and drive sales of all Game of Thrones universe products?
And of course Marvel has a raft of new TV content for all ages, from an Animated Spider-Man series - Your Friendly Neighborhood Spiderman, to Daredevil moving into the Disney+ stable with Daredevil: Born Again as well as new shows Ironheart and Eyes on Wakanda,also coming out in 2025.
We’ll also likely see the fourth season of The Witcher, with Liam Hemsworth taking on the title role from Henry Cavil who is off to play in the Warhammer 40,000 universe. With a new video game also in the works, The Witcher franchise is likely to keep going from strength to strength.
And let’s not forget the US and UK return of The Traitors - both versions have been hits in their respective territories and led to some fantastic licensed products and promotions.
So what do you think? What films and TV shows will be the hits for the licensing industry? And have we missed any? Have your say in the comments.