How much would an Addams Family pinball kickstarter be?

[Father Time]

I've never played the table but if you told me it was a very popular tale before the pinball arcade, i wouldn't have believed. That show is ancient and doesn't have a large fan base. How much do you think that license would be valued at?

 

[shutyertrap]

Your statement shows an incredible naivety towards the Addams Family pinball table and what it is based on, and I can only hope that is simply due to youth. Still, I'll take this one...

If you simply looked up Addams Family on IPDB, you'd quickly see that a record number of these machines were built. This is the all time best selling pin made. How's that grab you for popularity?

The show is from the 60's, so yes that was a long time ago. The show was based on a comic created by Charles Addams. That's even older. The table is based on the movie that was made in the early 90's. That movie was wildly successful, and spawned a sequel. Considering almost 30 years had passed between TV show and film, I'm gonna venture to say that in fact not only does the Addams Family have a fan base, it's one that passes generation to generation. It's quite timeless in other words.

Many might debate the merits of TAF and how it plays, but few would argue how perfectly the table uses theme and sound along with DMD animations. It is a table that simply draws you in, whether you are a fan of pinball or not, whether you know Addams from Munsters or simply think it's a weird horror theme. Again, look at its sales numbers.

Finally, the value of the license. I'm not gonna come down on you for not looking at any number of other threads that address this very topic for this very pin, other than to say you should really use the search functions some time. We don't know how much it's going to cost. There are numerous licenses to get a hold of though. First and foremost is dealing with the Addams estate which owns the name and characters itself. Then you have to deal with the actors and securing their images (of which there are many on the table), Paramount who put out the movie. Most importantly, the voice and image of Raul Julia needs to be secured, and there is a whole history of why that is difficult. Go ahead, use that search button I mentioned.

The best guess everyone here has as to how much a kickstarter would cost, is north of T2. A lot north. We good now?

 

[vpalmer]

The best guess everyone here has as to how much a kickstarter would cost, is north of T2. A lot north. We good now?

the key is word "guess"..and i want sooner release of TAF, at last to stop buzz about it in every topic..

 

[Kolchak357]

the key is word "guess"..and i want sooner release of TAF, at last to stop buzz about it in every topic..

The buzz will never stop. If we get TAF then the cries for Indiana Jones will grow louder. Then Simpsons, then Star Wars, then LOTR, then Dr Who, etc. There will always be another table people are begging for.

 

[Espy]

The buzz will never stop. If we get TAF then the cries for Indiana Jones will grow louder. Then Simpsons, then Star Wars, then LOTR, then Dr Who, etc. There will always be another table people are begging for.

Haha, maybe not. I petitioned for ages to release WH2), and now it's out... I just feel a bit empty.

 

[sotie]

Haha, maybe not. I petitioned for ages to release WH2), and now it's out... I just feel a bit empty.

Feel bad for you because I think there are so many great tables I'm anticipating.

 

[DrainoBraino]

I've never played the table but if you told me it was a very popular tale before the pinball arcade, i wouldn't have believed. That show is ancient and doesn't have a large fan base. How much do you think that license would be valued at?

It's only the most popular and best selling table of all time.

 

[pezpunk]

The buzz will never stop. If we get TAF then the cries for Indiana Jones will grow louder. Then Simpsons, then Star Wars, then LOTR, then Dr Who, etc. There will always be another table people are begging for.

how is this a bad thing??? the more the merrier!

 

[Espy]

Feel bad for you because I think there are so many great tables I'm anticipating.

Not that I'm not anticipating any more tables. I just wanted WH2O so badly that when it was finally released my thoughts were "Well, there's none I want as much as that now... what do I complain about?

 

[Father Time]

Finally, the value of the license. I'm not gonna come down on you for not looking at any number of other threads that address this very topic for this very pin, other than to say you should really use the search functions some time.

How very passive-aggressive of you.

 

[Gorgar]

How very passive-aggressive of you.

Yeah. People get p*ssed off around here whenever someone asks questions about The Addams Family for some reason. It is quite amusing.

 

[vpalmer]

People get p*ssed off around here whenever someone asks questions about The Addams Family

..and TFTC..TPA already has Elvira, MB, SS, HH in next pack, but people continue to ask for 2 more horror-comedy tables

 

[netizen]

The buzz will never stop. If we get TAF then the cries for Indiana Jones will grow louder. Then Simpsons, then Star Wars, then LOTR, then Dr Who, etc. There will always be another table people are begging for.

how is this a bad thing??? the more the merrier!

It's a potentially bad thing, imo, because it will burn out the pinball community financially. Say we assign some arbitrary numbers to these licences and assume that FarSight can get the OK to pursue them funding.

T2 was more than STTNG, which was more than TZ. We can assume that TAF will be even more than T2, and Indiana Jones will be even more than that becuase of the mouse and any lingering Lucas percentages. Then Star Wars, more mouse. Simpsons is a ridiculously hot property and has how many licensed voice actors; that bumps up the cost to bo on par with Indiana Jones likely.

So throwing imaginary numbers around, say 100k for taf, 125 for Indy and simpsons, 150+ for Star Wars and if these are negotiated where they have to be done in a short time period, that's a lot of scratch to be raised quickly and consistently.


Again, these are imaginary, just for the sake of discussion, numbers. No basis in fact!!

If FarSight had to to 2 or 3 of these kickstarters in quick succession there would be some backlash due to the amount of money being drawn out of the community, and the number of outstanding issues that they have with TPA as a whole. I think that we are all very passionate about the game we play and want to see the best product possible, but it gets to a point where I suspect that Kickstarters will be a nonstarter regardless of the license.

 

[Carl Spiby]

You know on Duck Tales when Scrooge McDuck dives into his money, well that much.

 

[brakel]

You know on Duck Tales when Scrooge McDuck dives into his money, well that much.

 

[Espy]

It's a potentially bad thing, imo, because it will burn out the pinball community financially. Say we assign some arbitrary numbers to these licences and assume that FarSight can get the OK to pursue them funding.

T2 was more than STTNG, which was more than TZ. We can assume that TAF will be even more than T2, and Indiana Jones will be even more than that becuase of the mouse and any lingering Lucas percentages. Then Star Wars, more mouse. Simpsons is a ridiculously hot property and has how many licensed voice actors; that bumps up the cost to bo on par with Indiana Jones likely.

So throwing imaginary numbers around, say 100k for taf, 125 for Indy and simpsons, 150+ for Star Wars and if these are negotiated where they have to be done in a short time period, that's a lot of scratch to be raised quickly and consistently.


Again, these are imaginary, just for the sake of discussion, numbers. No basis in fact!!

If FarSight had to to 2 or 3 of these kickstarters in quick succession there would be some backlash due to the amount of money being drawn out of the community, and the number of outstanding issues that they have with TPA as a whole. I think that we are all very passionate about the game we play and want to see the best product possible, but it gets to a point where I suspect that Kickstarters will be a nonstarter regardless of the license.

I would imagine SW to be a complete no-go. Whatever contract Zen has with Disney probably grants exclusive rights to virtual pinball (though in terms of real pinball a Stern Ep7 table is a no-brainer). Even if not, I'd imagine Disney wouldn't want two separate SW pinball games as it would cause quite a lot of confusion. I'd say the same applies to Marvel tables, too. Am I wrong?

This partnership could cause issues for IJ, too. Zen have mentioned they'd like a shot at the licence. But I wouldn't think it's completely out of the question for TPA, like SW.

 

[Mick Morry]

Yeah. People get p*ssed off around here whenever someone asks questions about The Addams Family for some reason. It is quite amusing.

 

[SKILL_SHOT]

as much as in TAF vault

 

[Kolchak357]

Yeah. People get p*ssed off around here whenever someone asks questions about The Addams Family for some reason. It is quite amusing.

There are some topics that many have just tired of such as: The Addams Family licensing, pre-rendered graphics, Xbox vs PS3 debates, etc. I sure SYT wasn't really angry. After all, he did bother to type a very lengthy reply.

 

[shutyertrap]

I would imagine SW to be a complete no-go. Whatever contract Zen has with Disney probably grants exclusive rights to virtual pinball (though in terms of real pinball a Stern Ep7 table is a no-brainer). Even if not, I'd imagine Disney wouldn't want two separate SW pinball games as it would cause quite a lot of confusion. I'd say the same applies to Marvel tables, too. Am I wrong?

This partnership could cause issues for IJ, too. Zen have mentioned they'd like a shot at the licence. But I wouldn't think it's completely out of the question for TPA, like SW.

Well, no matter what Zen wants to do, they can't do any table that was a Williams/Bally/Data East/Sega/Stern/Gottlieb property. So there's that.

The reason Disney is tricky to work with is that they will only license if you can guarantee a certain amount of sales. In other words, they work on volume. Know why there were never any Nightmare Before Xmas items back when the movie first came out? Because they didn't think it'd sell enough. The other thing that makes Disney difficult is that they want a HUGE percentage of the revenue back. To them, by slapping the Disney logo on something, there is a built in marketing cache that will sell regardless of what it's being slapped on.

Zen made their deal with Marvel and with Lucasfilm BEFORE Disney acquired those properties. The deal with Stern is just looked at as one more way to advertise a film, a small billboard if you will. They don't need the advertising for old releases, so not much need to grant licensing to old properties. Disney could care less about the 'confusion' of having 2 SW pinball games out. The question is could FarSight generate the volume of sales that Disney would require to grant the license. Add to that Disney wanting quality control.

I honestly think its a matter of economics and whether FarSight could eek out any sort of profit from a table with a license that Disney now holds. It's not whether or not they could get the license, but how big a slice of the pie they'd have to give up.