Mattel Says Toy-Based Movies and Adult Collectors Drive 10% Q2 Growth

Toy-based films and adult collectors helped drive Mattel’s growth in the second quarter, Mattel Chairman and CEO Ynon Kreiz said during a Tuesday (Aug. 4) earnings call.

Mattel’s net sales were 10% year over year in the second quarter, the global play and family entertainment company reported in a Tuesday press release.

“As it relates to the global toy industry, it grew strongly in the first half, and we expect it to grow for the full year with a toyetic theatrical slate and continued expansion of adult consumers,” Kreiz said during the call.

Demand from both adult collectors and kids contributed to 12% growth of Mattel’s Hot Wheels brand and helped make Vehicles the company’s fastest-growing category. Kreiz said during the call that the company’s collectible diecast business “continues to perform exceptionally well.”

“We see strength with adult fans, which is a growing audience,” Kreiz said of the Hot Wheels brand.

PYMNTS reported in July that toy company Hasbro said its strongest growth in the second quarter came from adult collectors, hobby gamers and longtime fans.

During Tuesday’s earnings call, Kreiz also pointed to the benefits of toy-based films. In film, Masters of the Universe was released in theaters globally and launched on Amazon Prime Video. In its first week on the streaming service, it was the most-watched film on Amazon Prime Video globally and across all streaming platforms in the United States.

Mattel’s next movie, Matchbox The Movie, is set to be released on Apple TV on Oct. 9.

Both movies are supported by a strong product offering. The Masters of the Universe film was accompanied by toys, adult collectibles, apparel, publishing and digital.

“Gross billings for Masters of the Universe has more than tripled year to date, and we expect significant growth this year as a result of the movie and for the brand to be an important action figure franchise for Mattel into the future,” Kreiz said.

Mattel is making progress on its efforts to capture additional value from its intellectual property (IP) through investments in self-published mobile games, building sets, trading cards, D2C, first-party data, and technology and infrastructure, Kreiz said during the call.

In this effort, Mattel leverages both owned and partner IP, according to a presentation released Tuesday.

“These investments are progressing well, and we continue to expect that in aggregate, they will have high ROI [return on investment] with a net positive contribution to the bottom line in 2027 and beyond,” Kreiz said.

Mattel is integrating Mattel163, a former joint venture that it fully acquired in the first quarter, and the company is leveraging that operation’s capabilities to expand its pipeline of future digital games.

Mattel launched its first self-published mobile game, and soft launched its second, Kreiz said. The former is based on Masters of the Universe, while the latter is based on UNO Wild.

Kreiz said during the call that Mattel is “encouraged with the early progress” of UNO Wild and plans a full global commercial launch of the mobile game in early 2027.