>>6079605You have no idea of how contracts are written and what is expected from them.
The licensor expects a certain amount of units sold every year and the licensee can't meet those goals, they pay the difference and can lose the license.
In the case of Mattel, an entire animated cartoon block all hinged on Mattel's toys selling well. Mattel fucked that up, so not only were the cartoons canceled, but the animated block was cancelled as well.
It's a big blow to DC/WB when their shit gets canceled because of Mattel's incompetence.
I think the only reason Mattel is able to reup so easily is because they're just paying way more money, ontop of any penalties they're hit with. They likely hope that SOMETHING from DC will make it worth their while and give them a nice return on their investment. Unfortunately, the popularity of the movies/cartoons hasn't correlated with an increased interest in their toylines (unlike Marvel's/Hasbro's), so it obviously rests on Mattel's laurels... which is to say, their budget shit that looks like bootlegs.
