DreamWorks Trolls

"DreamWorks Trolls" is both the full title of the Trolls movie and the American franchise owned by DreamWorks Animation that the movie and its sequential media are apart of. It is one of two "Troll Dolls" brands that DreamWorks owns, with "DreamWorks Trolls" being a derivative licensing from the main "Good Luck Trolls" brand and loosely based on the classic Troll Doll design. As a result, both of the brand names form part of the overarching "Trolls" franchise.
"DreamWorks Trolls" is currently the 4th official known "Good Luck Trolls" animated franchise after the 1992 "Super Trolls" animation by Russ which was created using their licensing from Dam Things, the 1993/1994 "The Norfin Adventures" by F.H.E. and "Trollz" by DiC Entertainment (later acquired by the Cookie Jar Group, who currently own the rights to the series).
DreamWorks took over the global distribution of Dam Things trademark in 2010, which had existed since 1968 and now co-owns the copyright licensing with Niel Dam and Dam Things. This makes "Trolls" the oldest trademark licensing DreamWorks currently owns, and the one to see the most use due to its registered first use being in 1959. However, "DreamWorks Trolls" was trademarked on February 12, 2013, marking the main starting date for the sub-franchise's existence as a movie series.Trademark
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Despite the Trolls movie franchise being a modern iteration of the classic Troll Dolls design, he movie franchise is considered the current main focus of the overall 'Trolls' franchise, but remains an seperate entity within the main flagship "Good Luck Trolls" brand. All classic Troll references are also kept as part of that part of the franchise, so are considered unrelated to the DreamWorks Trolls movie franchise. Originally, when Dam Things approached companies in Hollywood, they had discovered there was a large interest in the franchise, with the final licensing having been awarded to DreamWorks.https://www.classictroll.com/eu/timeline
The general design of a "Good Luck Trolls" is vaguely kept by DreamWorks and they do not incorporate all of the classic Troll Doll lore. The Trolls have large noses, are typically depicted as always smiling (with exceptions), they have the long hair, short blump bodies, short limps of the traditional dolls. However, they draw much inspiration from the "Dark Horse" era of the "Good Luck Trolls" franchise which resulted in the Trolls of DremaWorks Trolls being a variation of different bodied colours, whereas traditional Troll Dolls mostly have a light tanned skin, owed to originally the dolls being made of wood and rubber in the early 1960s. According to DreamWorks, the typical design of a "Troll" by DreamWorks is 6 inches tall, with 3 inches of body and 3 inches of hair. The toylines original idea as a Good Luck Charm is not referenced by DreamWorks, though they kept the idea of the Trolls having magical hair.
Cameos of the classic design regularly make appear as a parody or joke at the origins of the movie and a number of the Trolls are references to parts of the classic Trolls history, such as Cooper and the Funk Trolls being a reference to the 1960s Troll-giraffe design. The film itself was a tribute to Thomas Dam's dream. DreamWork Trolls has made the return of the flagship "Good Luck Trolls" brand successful and is the first hugely successful attempt to re-launch the Good Luck Trolls since the 1992-1993 Troll Doll craze.
=== Premise ===
While the "Good Luck Trolls" is strictly a "toy only" brand, "DreamWorks Trolls" is mainly focused on building its own cinematic Trolls universe, complete with named characters, world and its own canon. The main character of the franchise is Poppy and the movies explore her adventures with the reluctant Branch as the pair discover the world they live in.
The movies are musicals and contain both cover songs and original music. The franchise begun with Trolls, and does not include past plans of DreamWorks in regards to the Troll Dolls brand, such as the original film. It's the second story-based franchise out of the Troll Dolls, following the failure of Trollz, and the first since DreamWorks acquired the Troll Dolls brand from Thomas Dams' "Dam Things" company.
The franchise's main group of entries is a "feel good" movie series, which is in line with the original Dam Things concept of the Troll Dolls being a "good luck charm". In addition, they are told as in an Aesop-style resulting in most stories in and related to the franchise having a moral meaning to them and most carry a lesson intended for children. The franchise also has TV specials, TV series, video games, and other media related to each film, leading to the franchise's timeline being divided in various distinguishable "film eras" with each new film addition bring radical changes to the franchise.
Starting with the promotion and release of each film, an approximation for each "era" ending is:
*"Trolls"-era (2016-2019): started with Trolls and ended with the final Trolls: The Beat Goes On! episode "Bye Bye Bunker".
*"Trolls World Tour"-era (2020-2022): started with Trolls World Tour and ended with the final Trolls: TrollsTopia episode "Troll Exchange Program". This era brought in an expanded Trolls universe with additional Trolls of various Tribes. In addition, both 3D and 2D animations greatly improved in quality due to technological improvements in both areas.
*"Trolls Band Together"-era (2023-current): is the current "era" of the franchise with the main focus being the latest movie Trolls Band Together. The franchise switched over focus in mid-2023 and new merchandise begun to appear covering the movie from then on then.
A brief period between projects is often contributed to the general "Trolls" franchise, as was seen between the period when Trolls: TrollsTopia ended and Trolls Band Together promotions began, during this period promotions often focus on characters of the most recent releases. Books and toys are also impacted by the change from era to era and new story telling elements are introduced based on the current focus.
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Note that the movies and specials are the only entries that are considered primary "canon", and all other parts of the franchise are "secondary canon" or completely separate entities.
=== Animated Media ===
==== Movies ====
Trolls (poster).png|Trolls (2016)
World Tour poster.jpg|Trolls World Tour (2020)
Trolls-3-poster.jpg|Trolls Band Together (2023)
==== Specials ====
Trollsholidayscreenblurp.png|Trolls Holiday (2017)
Trollshihtitlescreen.png|Trolls: Holiday in Harmony (2021)
==== TV Series ====
TTBGOTrailerlogo1.jpg|Trolls: The Beat Goes On! (2018-2019)
TrollsTopiaPromoTitleCard.png|Trolls: TrollsTopia (2020-2022)
==== Other Animated Media ====
*Troll 2 Troll (2016)
*Trolls Holiday Digital Shorts (2017)
*Ask Poppy (2018)
*Tiny Diamond Goes Back To School (2020)
*Trolls: Pump up the Party! (2020)
*Trolls Scrapbook Stories (2021)
*It Takes Three (2024)
*Trolls: Fun Fair Surprise (2024)
=== Books ===
See the "Books" category for more details.
=== Video Games ===
See the "Apps" category for more details.
=== Park Attractions ===
See the "Attractions" category for more details.
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Despite the franchise's cinematic nature, its primary purpose is to sell the Troll Doll brand name to children and collectors, just like with the "Good Luck Trolls". As such, the franchise is similar to others based on toylines, such as My Little Pony and Transformers, and the movies tend to be used as advertisement for related merchandise.
In total, 10 major merchandising partners were added to the production of supportive marketing for the first Trolls movie.https://www.licenseglobal.com/industry-news/dreamworks-adds-10-trolls-partners
Until 2022, Hasbro was the main company handling toys related to the franchise, until Mattel took over in 2022, with their first toys due for Fall 2023 with the release of Trolls Band Together.https://www.licenseglobal.com/movies/mattel-announces-licensing-agreement-universal-trolls%E2%80%AFfranchisehttps://kidscreen.com/2022/03/29/mattel-takes-over-trolls-toy-license-from-hasbro/
Though early Trolls World Tour merchandise did not carry it, the later 2020 designed merchandise would carry to official "Trolls mark" or "NAN", signaling an official licensed Trolls franchise merchandise.
When Universal Studios opened its themepark in China, a number of DreamWorks franchises, including Trolls saw additions to the park.https://www.foxbusiness.com/lifestyle/universal-studios-announces-opening-date-china-theme-park NBCUniversal was listed in 2022 as the 7th leading franchises in consumer goods earning $8.3 billion in 2022, with Illumination studios Minions, Jurassic World, Fast & Furious and DreamWorks Trolls being among the companies mention as leading brands.https://uk.sports.yahoo.com/news/disney-56-2b-retail-sales-152931800.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuYmluZy5jb20v&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAI6yPYzBqzZ_B_w1vbPMiS5eI0lbuNVF3eUlw5E-H9EXFC-JSz1eJB5w44SkhZjDG5kLUclLTgpIJWbHO4Rql9_XFxJyy_REjaB-jeyRLf_y-vX8YyVJRfAxHbdXEiKyMDZHRjLRzAQAkX2RNuPKtE-2imBnQor3OtoG7ZyLaP_8
In 2022, DreamWorks Trolls did a promotion with VOXverse.https://twitter.com/Dreamworks/status/1576935101719408640
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Collider ranked "DreamWorks Trolls" as the 6th best DreamWorks Animation franchise of the 7 main franchises that the studio owns.https://collider.com/dreamworks-movie-franchises-ranked-shrek-trolls/
Prior to the release of Trolls World Tour, the franchise was worth "$700 million".https://deadline.com/2020/04/trolls-world-tour-vod-box-office-movie-profits-universal-coronavirus-1202903913/
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*Official website
*DreamWorks Trolls franchise on DreamWorks Animation Wiki
*DreamWorks Trolls franchise on Wikipedia
Category:Misc
Category:Franchise
Category:History