Disney celebrates Toy triumph

A cross-business marketing push helped Toy Story 3 become one of the biggest movies and games this summer, says Disney.

The publisher is understandably delighted at scoring its first All Formats No.1 since 2007’s Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End.

Toy Story 3 shot up the UK box office charts when it hit cinemas in July, and is already the highest grossing animated movie of all time.

Meanwhile, its video game tie-in has taken the No.1 spot in the UK All Formats Charts three times in five weeks – becoming Disney’s best chart performer yet.

We’re extremely proud to be back at the number one spot,” commented Disney Interactive’s marketing manager Steve Woodward. It’s testament to the amazing job done by the team here, the quality of the game and the public’s affection for the Toy Story brand.

With Toy Story 3, we worked extremely closely with all areas of the business to develop a fully integrated campaign, more so than we’ve previously done before.

This is still, from a franchise perspective, a relatively new way of working for us, but the results have been fantastic and speak for themselves with us having the game right alongside the movie at a No.1.”

Movie tie-ins typically have a reputation for poor quality. However Toy Story 3 enjoyed positive reviews upon release, with critics hailing the game’s Toy Box mode. Woodward says that being innovative with movie tie-ins is something Disney will endeavour to do with future games.

Toy Story 3 was a critical release for Disney and is indicative of the ever increasing quality of our games and our drive to innovate and create a title that will appeal to everyone and be more than just the game of the movie,” added Woodward.

Disney’s other big games due this year include Wii title Epic Mickey and a game based on the upcoming Christmas movie, Tron: Legacy.