Where the Wild Things Are, Maurice Sendak's 40-year-old classic picture book (7.5 million copies sold), is scaring up licensed products from 15 new licensees, including Stargate for apparel, Springs for bedding and bath, LeapFrog for Little Touch LeapPad books and Demco for educational product and classroom decor.
"It's completely unique among children's literary properties due to its very sophisticated, designer-like art style," said Cynthia Modders, senior v-p of the consumer products group at Universal Studios, which also licenses The Little Engine That Could and Curious George. Licensees have a choice of more than 20 pieces of scanned book art as well as almost 50 new illustrated character images.
The primary target market is preschoolers aged 2-5, with secondary markets of kids 6-11 and collectors. Sendak is involved in every aspect of the program, including licensee selection and design direction, even helping to create music for an animatronic plush line from licensee Gemmy Industries. Products will be sold in mid-tier department and specialty stores, including bookstores "where it's appropriate and where book retailers can take on that merchandise and display it properly," Modders said.
