A friend of mine and I were wondering just how successful Pixar's soon-to-be-released movie UP will be. My bet was that it would do just fine and land somewhere in between Ratatouille and Wall-e, despite the fact that they were Pixar's worst performers. But will the Up brand be successful. A while back I posted some pics of the new toys for Up. It was apparent from the photos that Up's marketability from a merchandising stand point was dismal at best. It's doubtful that many young boys will be very enthusiastic about the prospect of playing with a toy Carl, but then again no one really played with Remy either. It seems like the last few Pixar films have been less driven to compete for toy manufacturer's licenses and more focused on providing an artfully driven experience. Good for them. Let the Monsters Versus Aliens of the world rake in all the department store money, and let Pixar continue to provide the compelling stories.

Here's and interesting NY times article about this.