GRIMES LLC Founder and Managing Partner Chuck Grimes was recently interviewed by Reuters with respect to character licensing in view of the upcoming “Peanuts” feature film, starring such famous characters as Charlie Brown, Snoopy and Lucy, which is due in theaters next year.
Chuck is renown in character licensing and has authored more than twenty books on intellectual property and licensing matters, including The Law of Merchandise & Character Licensing. He has worked with licensors and licensees in connection with some of the most iconic and successfully exploited character properties of the past twenty years – such as the properties of Archie Comics and Hearst Entertainment, GOOSEBUMPS, GARFIELD, SONIC THE HEDGEHOG, THE MAGIC SCHOOL BUS, TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES, BRATZ, THE JACKSON FIVE and the Disney characters.
In the Reuters article, Chuck indicates that it would not be inconceivable for Iconix Brand Group Inc. (“Iconix”), which owns a majority stake in the “Peanuts” characters, to receive an upfront fee of $10 million or more for the theatrical release of the film, plus additional fees once the box office draw tops certain milestones. He also opined that Iconix would likely receive royalties in the range of 7 to 14 percent on film merchandise tie-ins, such as T-shirts and toys.
The full article can be found here.
