• Ad Age, Friday, April 24, 2009 11:15 AM

Thanks to two upcoming blockbusters -- a "Transformers" sequel and a GI Joe movie -- Hasbro expects overall increases in sales and earnings this year despite announcing Monday that first-quarter profit was down 47% compared with the same period last year. Hasbro has been more aggressive about transferring its properties to film than rival Mattel in recent years.

"Hasbro is pursuing a strategy of finding long-term studio homes for its brands and involving top writers and directors early on in the creative process, while Mattel has taken a property-by-property approach that is far less trusting of Hollywood talent -- and has yielded far fewer potential film projects so far," writes Claude Brodesser-Akner.

The William Morris Agency brokered a six-year deal between Hasbro and Universal Pictures in February 2008 that has yielded several other promising development deals. It also recruited Bennett Schneir, an executive who had worked for director Robert Zemeckis, to serve as Hasbro's Hollywood point man. His job is to identify top writers and directors to connect with Hasbro properties.

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