Annie-Pocalypse

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There are NINE PAGES of Annie merchandise in the 1983 Sears catalog. More than any of the other themes like Smurfs or Strawberry Shortcake and exactly nine pages more than "Wrath of Khan" which was more successful at the box office.

Not being a young girl at the time (or any time for that matter) I have no idea if "Annie-Mania" swept through households the way Sears was hoping. Anybody have a bedroom like this?

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[Mikey]

Her dead eyes are just too creepy

[Werewolf]

Nah, Strawberry Shortcake was always my thing. Never really got into Annie. My Mom did like the character when she was little.

[Falstaff13]

I remember the Annie mania. A friend had no idea of the comics (which I knew because of my dad) but had the dress and wig (which might have been in the Sears Wishbook?), and a friend had a comics adaptation (I remember my dad asking if she had pupils). I can remember merchandise related to the film in our Belk's department store (the same store sold stuffed toys of ET around the same time and did sell Rubik's Cubes, but those were the only toys they ever had).

[Mikey]

It's weird they mostly went with the creepy comic version for a lot of the merchandise.

I think the makers of Superman The Movie made the same mistake to some extent

[Earth 2 Chris]

That's the real actress (and Sandy) there, right?

My wife loves Annie. She has the entire Knickerbocker line now. I think she wanted it as a kid, but only had Annie.

My two elderly neighbors decided they should take me to see Annie, because they loved her as little girls, and I loved comics. So they took me. I was flummoxed the whole time, but my Mom insisted that I go.

I actually liked the movie, despite myself.

Chris

[EmergencyIan]

My impression is that they tried to make the Annie movie a big deal. They really pushed it. It was shoved down our throats...see the Sears catalog. That’s just one example. It was advertised everywhere. It must have had a tremendous advertising and marketing budget. I wonder if they made much money on it.

I don’t think it turned out to be as popular as they had hoped. It was successful, of course, and therefore popular, but it didn’t have any staying power. 35 years later you aren’t seeing special showings of Annie on TV or almost any airings at all.

According to Wikipedia, in the United States, it was the 10th highest grossing film of 1982. So...

- Ian

[Hedji]

This is great.

True Family In-Joke: We always laugh about one of my Dad's accounts of a nightmare he had after drinking too much cherry soda pop, in which Little Orphan Annie herself comes with a gun and blows off Dad's big toe.

I'm sending him this picture.

[johnnystorm]

Never been able to move any Annie merchandise. My kid is a big fan of the Broadway musical though.
I think Annie just fell into that era when licensing went wild, everyone was afraid of missing out on the next Star Wars or ET.

[Earth 2 Chris]

Dick Tracy was the the Annie of the 90s. Over-merchandised and under-performing.

Chris

[palitoy]

Dick Tracy was the the Annie of the 90s. Over-merchandised and under-performing.

Chris

Very true, funny that they're both based on comic strips although I think the unmitigated success of the Broadway play probably boistered people's faith in Annie.

I guess everyone thought Dick Tracy was the next Batman. I actually am fond of that movie.