Entertainment Weekly's influential 'Summer Movie Preview' issue which hit the stands Monday, April 23 features a spectacular fold-out Planet of the Apes cover.  The coveted EW cover spot goes to the summer film with the most 'buzz' and Tim Burton's Planet of the Apes fits the bill for this highly competitive summer season.  Entertainment Weekly has a paid circulation of over 1.5  million, and the 'Summer Movie Preview' issue has the highest 'pass-along' factor of any of the magazine's 52 issues.  In addition to the spectacular gatefold cover, the issue contains lots of POTA coverage including behind-the-scenes photos as well as interviews with star Mark Wahlberg and director Tim Burton. The extensive Entertainment Weekly coverage is a real coup for Fox, which has designated Planet of the Apes as its number one film of the summer.  The full trailer for the film was released on the net last Friday night and is available for viewing at http://www.planetoftheapes.com/  (with Quicktime).

 

EW Front Cover

Planet of the Apes represents one of the biggest opportunities of the summer for specialty retailers simply because of the amount of POTA-related merchandise that will be available (see 'Planet of the Apes Licensing List').  Dark Horse Comics is providing comic adaptations as well as resin figures, wind-ups, pop-outs, and more (see 'Dark Horse Has Ambitious POTA Plans').  Many of the Dark Horse print items are solicited in the April issue of Diamond's Previews, so retailers must make up their minds now about the film which debuts in July.

 

The Topps Company is doing POTA trading cards, which will be solicited in the May Previews (see 'First Look At Topps POTA Promos').  Topps has not yet finalized all the details concerning the POTA cards, but some of the actors who will be providing autographed cards are known.  The list includes: Helena Bonham-Carter, Tim Roth, S.I. Swimsuit Supermodel Estella Warren, and Kris Kristofferson.  In addition to these actors from the current film, the series will also include autographs from two key original cast members who have also have roles in the new film, Charlton Heston and Linda Harrison.

 

Hasbro has the main toy license for the film, and rumor has it that, in spite of being burned on Star Wars, Episode 1, Hasbro is making a major commitment in the production of Apes toys, vehicles and figures.  Other licensees of special interest to retailers in our market include NECA, which is creating collectible lunch boxes, Changes, which is doing all sorts of apparel items,  Starmakers, which is producing posters (see the licensing list for details), and Rubies Costumes (POTA stuff should be big for Halloween this year).