Hasbro Sells Boulder Media, Studio Behind the G5 Movie

[CloudMistDragon 6,134]

It seems that Hasbro has no more need for the company that brought us Pony Life and My Little Pony: A New Generation. 

https://www.equestriadaily.com/2022/11/hasbro-sells-boulder-media-to.html

Not too surprising, since Hasbro always has MLP produced in Canada and Boulder Media is an Irish studio. Although it may feel strange at first, I don't feel there's any cause for shock to know that all of the G5 content we'll be getting here forth is likely to be animated by Canadian studios, as both G5 series already are. 

[flutterJackdash 218]

Wow, but what a lack of loyalty that is. The New Gen movie was visually great, it became the scale against which the follow-up series were measured and they didn't measure up. While MYM is doing better, has seen improvement that creates a better visual experience for fans, it still wasn't as good as the original movie.

It's nice to know that MYM and TYT can continue unhindered, but even so, what little respect I felt for Hasbro to begin with has been reduced that much more.

[Props Valroa 22,863]

Can't say Hasbro earns any more respect for this. I hope this can lead to some sort of improvement. 

[Splashee 28,471]

They also brought us MLP The Movie (2017) and Rainbow Road Trip special. So this is quite interesting news/development

[Megas 26,011]

That’s actually pretty worrying for the direction of Hasbro in the future given how much they invested only to sell it off so soon. 
 

Shame too because I liked a lot of the stuff they put out, ANG, Rainbow Roadtrip, Pony Life, and various shorts I really enjoyed. Not just the stuff for MLP either, they did Transformers Cyberverse which I thought was also great

[Kujamih 10,588]

There's a lot of things we don't know.... Who knows? This might be the same as Bayonetta 3 voice actress drama again ... 

[CloudMistDragon 6,134]

9 minutes ago, Kujamih said:

There's a lot of things we don't know.... Who knows? This might be the same as Bayonetta 3 voice actress drama again ... 

Well, in that case, it was a person making false accusations against a company with people making the folly of listening and believing, and this is just your typical case of people being disappointed in a company's decisions.  

In regards to being disappointed, eh, I'm really not. Boulder Media has given the MLP franchise some stellar animation, but it's Hasbro's decision, we don't know what's going on with the management of their costs and conveniences. And even though I believe that it's likely they'll stick with G5 being animated by Canadian studios from now on, it's not impossible for them to do business with Boulder Media again. They simply don't own the company anymore, the possibility of them being a client of them in the future still lingers. 

[Ganondorf8 10,836]

From a business perspective, Hasbro did this for reasons we may never learn about. Regarding Boulder Media, this does give them some new opportunities which were previously unavailable though this does get overshadowed by the fact that they were sold off to someone else.

[Kujamih 10,588]

8 hours ago, Ganondorf8 said:

From a business perspective, Hasbro did this for reasons we may never learn about. Regarding Boulder Media, this does give them some new opportunities which were previously unavailable though this does get overshadowed by the fact that they were sold off to someone else.

I mean if the price is right.... Why not sell it right? 

[RDDash 18,006]

ponies will go to the Adult Swim, no?

[Ganondorf8 10,836]

12 hours ago, Kujamih said:

I mean if the price is right.... Why not sell it right? 

You make a valid point. Besides, Hasbro already filled in the void that Boulder Media left with the team that's working on Tell Your Tale and Make Your Mark.

[Splashee 28,471]

Quote

In 2022, Hasbro sold Boulder Media to Australian media company Princess Pictures, known for producing adult animation series Smiling Friends, YOLO: Crystal Fantasy, and Koala Man under its Bento Box Entertainment joint venture Princess Bento

It saddens me that the G5 movie resulted in this. I wasn't very happy with Boulder Media to begin with, but the entire 3D G5 world was built up by them.

[J.J 908]

On 2022-11-03 at 3:36 AM, RDDash said:

ponies will go to the Adult Swim, no?

I actually had an idea for a fan made podcast called, "Pony Tonight" and it was going to be like a Space Ghost type theme of show hosted by Lyra and Bon Bon, but with ponies asking other ponies adult questions, questions with themes that are definitely intended for older viewers lol, like 14+ version of Pipps Podcast, I think that would be really cool it would just be hard to find fans that could do the VA for the weekly guests, and I'd love to see it animated to lol, had this idea years ago, and it was originally my intent to be able to allow Lyra and Bon Bon to be scripted lesbians on its face, but then I thought, what about crimes, sex life, gossip, grudges, tied in with some pop culture references it would be cool

[Jeric 46,765]

I’m always surprised by how little people know about corporate fiduciary law. No. It’s surprising that old and new media keep people ignorant of how the Corporation and Investor relationship works. I’ll explain later. 
 

The move to own a movie studio was Brian Goldner’s baby. As the former CEO he thought the success of Transformers would translate into other franchises. His stepping down and death changed the landscape. Hasbro’s movie studio has had limited success. It is a money pit. 
 

So that takes me to fiduciary law. In the United States, a corporate board only has one responsibility, to look out for the investors. It’s not to the customer base. That responsibility is actually codified into law. If a corporation doesn’t make changes to their assets that undervalue the company, they get taken to court by their investors to recoup their losses. 

 

Hasbro created a movie studio in hopes of making money. When their stated goals weren’t met, and after the leadership change, they were forced to sell it. Full stop. 

 

This isn’t about loyalty as some had said above. It’s about self preservation and keeping the investors from taking a pound of flesh from Hasbro causing further devaluation and even bankruptcy. 
 

 

[Kujamih 10,588]

1 hour ago, Jeric said:

I’m always surprised by how little people know about corporate fiduciary law. No. It’s surprising that old and new media keep people ignorant of how the Corporation and Investor relationship works. I’ll explain later. 
 

The move to own a movie studio was Brian Goldner’s baby. As the former CEO he thought the success of Transformers would translate into other franchises. His stepping down and death changed the landscape. Hasbro’s movie studio has had limited success. It is a money pit. 
 

So that takes me to fiduciary law. In the United States, a corporate board only has one responsibility, to look out for the investors. It’s not to the customer base. That responsibility is actually codified into law. If a corporation doesn’t make changes to their assets that undervalue the company, they get taken to court by their investors to recoup their losses. 

 

Hasbro created a movie studio in hopes of making money. When their stated goals weren’t met, and after the leadership change, they were forced to sell it. Full stop. 

 

This isn’t about loyalty as some had said above. It’s about self preservation and keeping the investors from taking a pound of flesh from Hasbro causing further devaluation and even bankruptcy. 
 

 

Thats why i hate the fandom ( most of it) they dont know what they're saying and are quite selfish. And they're focus IS money...  Why cant they understand that and whats wrong with it? And its our fault why they're like that to begin with. They're trying to survive while we stomp on them. World aint easy.

[CloudMistDragon 6,134]

4 hours ago, Jeric said:

I’m always surprised by how little people know about corporate fiduciary law. No. It’s surprising that old and new media keep people ignorant of how the Corporation and Investor relationship works. I’ll explain later. 
 

The move to own a movie studio was Brian Goldner’s baby. As the former CEO he thought the success of Transformers would translate into other franchises. His stepping down and death changed the landscape. Hasbro’s movie studio has had limited success. It is a money pit. 
 

So that takes me to fiduciary law. In the United States, a corporate board only has one responsibility, to look out for the investors. It’s not to the customer base. That responsibility is actually codified into law. If a corporation doesn’t make changes to their assets that undervalue the company, they get taken to court by their investors to recoup their losses. 

 

Hasbro created a movie studio in hopes of making money. When their stated goals weren’t met, and after the leadership change, they were forced to sell it. Full stop. 

 

This isn’t about loyalty as some had said above. It’s about self preservation and keeping the investors from taking a pound of flesh from Hasbro causing further devaluation and even bankruptcy. 
 

 

This is why I always do my best to be as objective as possible when it comes to stuff like this. It's easy to misjudge what a company is doing as being stupid...when they're actually being smart. 

[AlbaTross 1,517]

On 2022-12-16 at 10:32 AM, Jeric said:

Hasbro created a movie studio in hopes of making money. When their stated goals weren’t met, and after the leadership change, they were forced to sell it. Full stop. 

 

This isn’t about loyalty as some had said above. It’s about self preservation and keeping the investors from taking a pound of flesh from Hasbro causing further devaluation and even bankruptcy. 
 

 

So, I take it the movie wasn't the success they were hoping for.  Heck, G5 as a whole must not be bringing in the revenue they're hoping for either, if the investors aren't happy.  

[Winter Storm 61]

I can't say I have the highest opinion of the people in charge of Hasbro. But if they went under I fear whoever bought the MLP license would probably be worse.

[CloudMistDragon 6,134]

4 hours ago, AlbaTross said:

So, I take it the movie wasn't the success they were hoping for.  Heck, G5 as a whole must not be bringing in the revenue they're hoping for either, if the investors aren't happy.  

The G5 movie was actually very successful, it was the most watched movie on Netflix the month after it came out. I don't think their projections for G5's revenue are that high, considering that it was made because of a downward trend in the popularity of MLP G4 content. Hasbro is not just "the My Little Pony company". If you look at their finances, you can actually see that their revenue as a whole has decreased because it's been a rough year for many companies thanks to mass economic decline everywhere. 

https://investor.hasbro.com/news-releases/news-release-details/hasbro-reports-third-quarter-financial-results

[Megas 26,011]

1 hour ago, CloudMistDragon said:

The G5 movie was actually very successful, it was the most watched movie on Netflix the month after it came out. I don't think their projections for G5's revenue are that high, considering that it was made because of a downward trend in the popularity of MLP G4 content. Hasbro is not just "the My Little Pony company". If you look at their finances, you can actually see that their revenue as a whole has decreased because it's been a rough year for many companies thanks to mass economic decline everywhere. 

https://investor.hasbro.com/news-releases/news-release-details/hasbro-reports-third-quarter-financial-results

Iirc, there was a recent GI Joe movie that fell off pretty hard

[Jeric 46,765]

2 hours ago, CloudMistDragon said:

The G5 movie was actually very successful, it was the most watched movie on Netflix the month after it came out. I don't think their projections for G5's revenue are that high, considering that it was made because of a downward trend in the popularity of MLP G4 content. Hasbro is not just "the My Little Pony company". If you look at their finances, you can actually see that their revenue as a whole has decreased because it's been a rough year for many companies thanks to mass economic decline everywhere. 

https://investor.hasbro.com/news-releases/news-release-details/hasbro-reports-third-quarter-financial-results

Success for them translates to sales of product. That was the case earlier in the year riding off a fairly popular movie, but this always has diminishing returns. Amusingly Hasbro themselves mentioned this in that release. 
 

Quote

• Family Brands revenue declined 78% primarily due to the delivery of My Little Pony: A New Generation film in third quarter 2021 which did not have a comparable film release this year.

So G5 was immensely popular and very profitable. While there is still G5 content, it’s not in the same league as the movie so it didn’t translate into merch sales. Going forward things should be better for their bottom line and adjusted revenues. 
 

I will say that I’m not a huge fan of some of Hasbro’s decisions on its licensed IP like Marvel and Star Wars, but that’s another topic for another day.