Angry Birds: Can it succeed outside the mobile market?

Rovio is the company responsible for sparking the global addiction to its mobile game app Angry Birds. Since its release in December 2009 it has been downloaded by 400 million mobile users, and counting generating around $100 million in revenue. Rovio VP Ville Heijari has plans to attempt at making the game of Angry Birds a global franchise across multiple markets.

Rovio has teamed up with the former chair of Marvel Studios, David Maisel who they hope to collaborate with and bring Angry Birds the game to life via movies, television, short films, and comic strips. The goal they are after here is to create a global franchise with the game that will last for a long period of time. 

The big question that Rovio faces really is can their plan of expanding its franchise beyond the mobile market be successful? There is a lot involved in creating a major franchise that can be as successful as those we have seen during our time like Harry Potter, Star Wars, Toy Story, and Pirates of the Caribbean.  First off the movie needs be able to take in a pretty penny at the box office to be even considered a success. The franchise must have mass appeal, an obsessive fan following, big Hollywood’s names, and of course some movie magic with lots of special effects. Lastly it absolutely MUST leave its mark on the movie industry and modern pop culture. 


Now lets see where Angry Birds may meet or fall short of these franchise requirements. Based off the major success and profits the game has already made, I feel that it defiantly has the potential to rake in big at the box office. The game already has its mass appeal and obsessive fan following. This can be seen on the subway, in class, on the bus, and at work by the wide age range and ethnicity of the angry birds addicts who cant stop pulling back the slingshot. 

Rovio has its franchise off to an excellent start as they have already jumped on selling a variety of Angry Birds products from plush toys, t-shirts, and cookbooks. You are even going to start to see promotions for the game when you pick up your Venti Caramel Macchiato at Starbucks every morning. All that is left for the Rovio team is to attach some big names to voice their animated characters, create a solid story line, and add some glitz and glam and they will be set up for a blockbuster hit.

To really capitalize in each movie market outside of the United States, Rovio should attach a well-known celebrity or icon from each country personalizing the film for the audiences of each location. Other than that I think Angry Birds truly has the potential to create a multi-million dollar movie franchise on its already overly successful mobile game.