Baby Yoda is definitely the big toy surprise this year. Disney has a real winner on its hands, but it also netted a loss because of it. But not for the reasons you may think.
Disney actually did the right thing. It managed to keep the new character a secret from fans. When they saw Baby Yoda for the first time on The Mandalorian, it was a big surprise and an instant success.
Keeping Baby Yoda a surprise meant that there were little to no toys available of him for Christmas. In fact, CNBC estimates that Disney missed out on at least $2.7 million if not more, by not having Baby Yoda toys read in time for the holidays.
Instead Disney offers pre-orders on the first wave of Baby Yoda toys. It will actually hit the stores in the Spring of 2020.
On one hand you could say that this wait will make fans even more eager. As a result, they could spend more and get more toys.
On the other hand, plenty of people would have been buying Baby Yoda toys as gifts now, because they know how popular it is. Still, despite the monetary loss, Disney really did the right thing. New toys are spoiling plot details in big movies way too often these days. By keeping them under wraps like with The Mandalorian, this worked in favor of the actual movie.
It’s now remembered as the one with the big surprise and the introduction of a new hit character. So, Disney should be able to “heal” that loss in the long run thanks to the overall success of the movie and Baby Yoda.
