Licensing Expo Spotlights Coming Toon Attractions

We had the chance to visit the colorful Licensing Expo in Las Vegas this week, where thousands of our favorite animated and vfx-driven brands were basking in the limelight (June 12-14). As always, fans were able to take a look at what many of the big studios and smaller indies have in the works as well as rub elbows with celebrities. On the first day of the show, we caught glimpses of supermodel/celebrity designer Kathy Ireland (who was delivering the event’s keynote) as well as boy band One Direction (who paid a visit to the Hasbro booth to plug their new toy/game line, in the morning) and Larry the Cable Guy (supporting the Git-R-Done foundation).

There were plenty of spectacular displays at the Disney, Warner Bros., Marvel, DreamWorks, Fox, Sony, Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon and Hasbro booths, but it was also great to see the quiet charms of the characters on display at the smaller orgs like The Jim Henson Company, Sesame Street, and Atlantyca. And a special tip of the hat to the folks at Seaworld who had live penguins entertaining the masses at their booth, a tribute to the glories of the natural world amidst the big, noisy artificiality of Mandalay Bay and Vegas. Here are some of the other sights of the first day!