The birth of movie merchandising

The Lost World is believed to be one of the first films to have a product tie-in. The movie was released in 1925, at the height of a “puzzle craze” in the United States, and plans were quickly drawn up to bring the two together.

While today we are all too familiar with the merchandising associated with films (usually the big blockbusters) watching the sincere and up front use of it in The Lost World’s promo film is almost sweet compared to today’s more subtle and sneaky product placement. Today, even films that don’t seem like they’d lend themselves naturally to merchandising still seem to find a way.

Watch: Into the Archives of Animation →