An old-school toymaker went Hollywood in a big way this year, as “The Lego Movie” racked up more than $468 million in global ticket sales.
And the Carlsbad theme park that carries the licensed Lego brand — but had nothing to do with making the film — is among those reaping benefits in what operators describe as bigger, more engaged crowds and a newly heightened marketing profile.
“The thing is, the movie was not our product at all, but it’s brought us all of these halo effects,” said Peter Ronchetti, general manager of Legoland California Resort.
The park’s owner, U.K.-based Merlin Entertainments Plc, does not divulge individual attendance figures for its more than 100 attractions worldwide. But Ronchetti said the movie’s popularity brought an unexpected “cool factor” to the family-oriented Carlsbad park, raising attendance since its February debut and giving young visitors reference and interaction points like Legoland California had never seen in its 15-year history.
Legoland California hosted a celebrity-studded press junket before the film’s premiere, and the park is now home to a giant set that was used in the movie — a mash-up of villages built with Lego bricks in the basement of the film’s lead character. Life-size versions of characters from the movie now greet the park’s target visitors — those ages 2 to 12, accompanied by their parents.
Adding Attractions
The Carlsbad park is now making preparations to capitalize further on recent successes of The Lego Group, a Danish toymaker with a history dating back to 1932 and which carefully scrutinized planning for the movie produced by Warner Animation Group and Village Roadshow Pictures.
Over the past two years, Lego Group — which is not involved in Legoland park operations, though its founding family holds a minority stake in Merlin — has shot to the top of the global toy industry, boosted by the success of several new building-block sets with characters depicted in popular TV cartoon shows, capped off by the movie’s blockbuster performance.
Lego Group’s U.S. consumer sales rose 1 percent in 2013 to reach $1.35 billion, and the company said global sales for the first half of 2014 were up 11 percent from a year ago, reaching nearly $2 billion. This came as overall U.S. toy sales declined over the past year, according to research firm NPD Group.
New to Legoland California Resort in summer 2015 will be Heartlake City, based on Lego Friends, the first Lego building set geared specifically to girls. Ronchetti said the interactive attraction will let visitors sing songs with the characters, stroll through horse stables and go for a horseback ride on a working carousel.
Legoland is also doubling down on the Star Wars franchise, which Ronchetti said has been a popular draw for youngsters and their parents over the past three years. Set to debut in March, the Lego Star Wars Miniland Death Star will include film scenes made of Lego bricks, combined with lights, music, video, and building stations where visitors can construct their own spaceships.
Long before the movie came out, Legoland California had invested in significant improvements over the past three years, adding new water play areas, an aquarium, a 250-room Lego-themed hotel and, most recently, a new waterpark based on Lego’s Legends of Chima building set and cartoon show.
Ronchetti said the hotel has been sold out throughout the peak summer months since it opened last year, and is close to fully booked in most weeks outside of peak season. To meet rising demand, the park’s operators are in talks with the city and other entities on ways to build another hotel somewhere at or near the park, with the goal of adding another 250 guest rooms by 2020.
Growing the Brand
Merlin Entertainments currently operates six Legoland parks in five countries, with openings set for 2016 in Dubai and 2017 in Japan. The Carlsbad Legoland opened in 1999, as the company’s first location outside of Europe, and it was joined by Legoland Florida in 2011.
While the two U.S. Legoland locations did not score in the top 20 for North America, the England and Denmark Legoland parks placed 10th and 12th respectively among the 20 most visited European theme parks in 2013, attracting a total of nearly 4 million visitors, according to a report by the Themed Entertainment Association and consulting firm AECOM.
That report noted that Merlin Entertainments attracted 59.8 million to its parks worldwide in 2013, up 10.7 percent from the prior year and second only to Walt Disney Attractions’ 132.5 million.
Researchers said Merlin’s growth drivers have included the transformation of its stand-alone theme parks into destination resorts, continued capital investment in new attractions and the “exploitation of synergies between attractions.”
In Europe and North America, researchers said, branding has been a big factor for park attractions. For instance, Merlin in the past year began a new strategic partnership with Kellogg’s, offering discount vouchers to attractions on the back of cereal packages.
“This is just one of many key brands linked to Merlin-operated attractions,” AECOM researchers said. “Companies are able to sponsor events, experiences, rides, soft programming and even hotel rooms.”
The Lego Movie’s distributor, Warner Bros., has announced plans for more Lego-themed films, and Ronchetti said Legoland California Resort plans not to be taken by surprise next time around.
“Now that we’ve seen the impact, we’re going to be better prepared,” he said. “We’re really layering on what we’ve always been doing. The challenge is to make this an educational and interactive experience for young people, and engage them in constructive ways.”