The Oscars and the licensing industry | Key4Communications |

The Oscars are not just an award for a well done job in the cinema industry - they are also a box office and DVD sales boost, as well as, of course, a driver of licensed products sales.

In the most important nominations (picture, direction, screenplay and interpretation) there are no titles with outstanding licensing programmes, but we do find movies with a good share of consumer products in the case of for best animated film nominees:

- The Croods, with good results at the box office and even a Rovio video game.
- Despicable Me 2, one of the 12 properties that we highlighted for the last holiday season, mostly thanks to the Minions. The first film in the franchise was also nominated in 2011.
- Ernest & Celestine is a French-Belgian movie with a screenplay by Daniel Pennac based on the books by Gabrielle Vincent.
- Frozen, a Disney title based on a story by Hans Christian Andersen. It was the third highest grossing animated film of 2013, which is not bad when you consider that it was released on November 27. The licensing programme counts with Mattel toys and Random House books, among other products. By the way, Walt Disney won 32 Oscars and received 59 nominations – a record.
- The Wind Rises is a Japanese animated film directed by Hayao Miyazaki and based in his own comic. He is also the author of Spirited Away, which won the Academy Award in 2002.

In addition, the songs Happy, from Gru 2, and Let it Go, from Frozen, are also nominated for an Oscar.

In other categories we find The Great Gatsby, which counted with an original brand extension in categories such as clothing and jewelry. This film is nominated for an Oscar for costume design and production desing (and not, incidentally, for its adapted screenplay).

In the visual effects category we find fantasy films with significant presence in the field of licensed products:

- The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug has with an extensive licensing programme by Warner Bros. Consumer Products.
- Iron Man 3, from The Avengers universe, has helped Disney to beat its annual record box office in 2013.
- Star Trek Into Darkness is the second installment in the new version of the science fiction classic.

Also in this category we find Gravity, which has no relevant licensing programme, and The Lone Ranger, which could have had one, but failed at the box office.