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 part of. It is one of two "Troll Dolls" brands that DreamWorks owns, with "DreamWorks Trolls" being a derivative licensing from the "Good Luck Trolls" and loosely based on the classic Troll Doll design. As a result, both brand names form part of the overarching "Trolls" franchise.

DreamWorks took over the 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.

As officially licensed Troll Dolls (due to DreamWorks co-licensing), the characters are considered official "Good Luck Trolls".

## About

### Source

Despite the Trolls movie franchise being a modern iteration of the classic Troll Dolls design, they are kept are separate entities to Good Luck Trolls and the 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 kept as part of that part of the franchise, so are treated as a separate entity. Originally, when Dam Things approached companies in Hollywood, they had discovered there was a large interest in the franchise.

The general design of a "Good Luck Trolls" is vaguely kept by DreamWorks. 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.

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.

## Entries

*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**Trolls World Tour**Trolls Band Together*
#### Specials

*Trolls Holiday**Trolls: Holiday in Harmony*
#### TV Series

TTBGOTrailerlogo1.jpg*Trolls: The Beat Goes On!*TrollsTopiaPromoTitleCard.png*Trolls: TrollsTopia*
#### Other Animated Media

* Troll 2 Troll
* Trolls Holiday Shorts
* Ask Poppy
* Tiny Diamond Goes Back To School
* Trolls: Pump up the Party!
* Trolls Scrapbook Stories

## Merchandise

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.

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 3*.

Though early *Trolls World Tour* merchandise did not carry it, the later 2020 designed merchandise would carry to official "Trolls mark", 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. 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.

In 2022, DreamWorks Trolls did a promotion with VOXverse.

## Reception

Collider ranked "DreamWorks Trolls" as the 6th best DreamWorks Animation franchise of the 7 main franchises that the studio owns.

Prior to the release of *Trolls World Tour*, the franchise was worth "$700 million".

## References

1. ↑ Trademark
2. ↑ https://www.classictroll.com/eu/timeline
3. ↑ https://www.licenseglobal.com/industry-news/dreamworks-adds-10-trolls-partners
4. ↑ https://www.licenseglobal.com/movies/mattel-announces-licensing-agreement-universal-trolls%E2%80%AFfranchise
5. ↑ https://kidscreen.com/2022/03/29/mattel-takes-over-trolls-toy-license-from-hasbro/
6. ↑ https://www.foxbusiness.com/lifestyle/universal-studios-announces-opening-date-china-theme-park
7. ↑ 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
8. ↑ https://twitter.com/Dreamworks/status/1576935101719408640
9. ↑ https://collider.com/dreamworks-movie-franchises-ranked-shrek-trolls/
10. ↑ https://deadline.com/2020/04/trolls-world-tour-vod-box-office-movie-profits-universal-coronavirus-1202903913/