Hello Kitty is moving on up in the world, with her very own feature film in the works. Japanese parent company Sanrio is planning a worldwide release of a Hello Kitty film for 2019 with a budget that’s fit for a queen, or a superhero — somewhere between $160 million and $240 million, sources from Sanrio told Deadline.
The film will be live-action version — probably with some animation. Let’s remember, Hello Kitty is a global brand, and Sanrio is poised to cash in on that with this project. According to a BBC story on Hello Kitty’s 40th birthday last year, the whiskered cat makes a splash on “over 50,000 products that are sold in 70 countries, and is a brand worth $7 billion.” Sanrio’s yearly earnings from Hello Kitty are estimated to be about $759 million.
With these numbers in mind, it makes sense to give Hello Kitty her own story, and given the fact that the brand is women centric and targeted at women it seems that they are cashing in on Hollywood’s newfound discovery that women are a powerful market.
[via Deadline]