NETFLIX is expanding its presence in the toy business, striking its first master licensing deal with the company behind the popular Squishmallows plush toys to develop a product line inspired by its hit science-fiction series Stranger Things.

The streaming giant granted toymaker Jazwares the right to develop a Stranger Things collection — including figures, play sets, toy vehicles, costumes and stuffed toys — based on the series, which returns for its fifth and final season later this year. The licensing deal builds on Netflix’s relationship with the toymaker, which last year introduced its first Stranger Things-themed Squishmallows.

“The Duffer Brothers have created such an incredibly rich world that’s packed with ’80s nostalgia and pop culture references and great characters,” said Josh Simon, Netflix vice-president of consumer products, referring to Matt and Ross Duffer who created the series. “From a merchandise standpoint, and a product-creation standpoint, we really want to deliver that same level of storytelling and attention to detail to the fans.”

Netflix, which ignited the streaming video revolution that upended Hollywood, has adopted a time-honored entertainment industry strategy of selling consumer products and experiences based on its most popular series. Its first franchise hit, Stranger Things, served as the model.

Stranger Things is set in the Midwestern town of Hawkins, Indiana, where a supernatural mystery lurks below the surface. Its nostalgic references to 1980s food, music, and fashion launched it into the cultural zeitgeist, making it one of Netflix’s most popular series. That led to a range of consumer products deals, such as Scoops Ahoy ice cream, Surfer Boy frozen pizza, and retro footwear from Clarks.

The series also has inspired spinoffs including a series of books, an Olivier Award-winning stage play, Stranger Things: The First Shadow, which opens on Broadway in March, and an animated series in the works.

Netflix has applied its Stranger Things merchandising strategy to other entertainment franchises, including Squid Game and Bridgerton. At the Nuremberg Toy Fair on Jan. 23, it announced a partnership with the LEGO Group to develop new play sets based on One Piece, Netflix’s live-action adaptation of Eiichiro Oda’s manga series.

The company does not disclose how much money it makes from merchandise sales or the live experiences it creates based on its popular characters and stories, such as Stranger Things: The Experience, which brought the story’s “upside-down” world to New York City and Los Angeles.

“It really kind of strengthens the brands and strengthens the excitement about the things people are watching on Netflix and falling in love with,” Netflix Co-Chief Executive Officer Ted Sarandos told investors in October 2023.

At Walt Disney, the entertainment company whose namesake founder made merchandising an integral part of its corporate strategy, consumer product sales accounted for 14% of the company’s operating income in its fiscal fourth quarter.

The popularity of Stranger Things is what attracted Jazwares, a Berkshire Hathaway-owned company that makes products inspired by other popular entertainment brands, including Pokémon, Hello Kitty, Star Wars.

“We’re well aware of how big Stranger Things is,’ said Gerhard Runken, executive vice-resident of brand and marketing at Jazwares. “Obviously, we’re all in it to make sure we can mirror the success they’ve had in the show, through consumer products.” — Reuters

LONDON — Renée Zellweger said her character Bridget Jones “feels like an old friend” as she and the cast of Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy attended the film’s world premiere in London on Wednesday.

Over two decades after Bridget Jones’s Diary came out, the fourth movie in the series finds Bridget now a single mother of two after the death of her husband Mark Darcy.

Bridget’s friend and former lover Daniel Cleaver, played by Hugh Grant, also makes an appearance in the romantic comedy.

As Bridget juggles a career, parenting, seeing friends, and starting to date again, Ms. Zellweger says it is the character’s vulnerability that connects with audiences.

“I think a lot of people relate to the challenges that she finds her way through, her vulnerability,” Ms. Zellweger said on the red carpet.

She praised writer Helen Fielding for creating a character that many people find endearing, as well as “moments that seem universally and cross-generationally relatable.”

Bridget Jones and her romantic adventures first made their mark on pop culture in Ms. Fielding’s London-set 1996 hit novel Bridget Jones’s Diary.

The character’s entries listing her weight, her alcohol and cigarette consumption, and details of her love life, struck a chord with audiences. Three more books followed, and a series of movie adaptations — Bridget Jones’s Diary (2001), Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004), and Bridget Jones’s Baby (2016).

In the latest big screen adaptation, the now 51-year-old Bridget decides to try dating again and ends up meeting 29-year-old Roxster, played by Leo Woodall.

“I felt a lot of pressure going into it. But then I met her (Zellweger) and she is just joyous and generous and kind and… a wonderful actor. I knew… it was going to be relatively easy-going forward,” Mr. Woodall said.

The movie also features Chiwetel Ejiofor, who plays one of Bridget’s children’s teachers. Known for films including 12 Years a Slave and Children of Men, Mr. Ejiofor said joining the franchise was the “easiest yes.”

Renée has done an amazing job of creating this character. There are very few things that have lasted for 25, 30 years,” he said.

Film director Michael Morris did not rule out further movie adventures for Bridget, but said that was ultimately up to Ms. Fielding.

Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, released by Universal Pictures, will open in the Philippines on Feb. 12. — Reuters

PARIS — France will launch a six-year renovation of the Louvre in Paris, enlarging the world’s most-visited museum to make room for the huge crowds who now cram inside the palace on the banks of the Seine, President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday.

A new entrance will make it easier to get in and out, and a dedicated space with a separate entrance will house the art museum’s prize attraction, Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, Mr. Macron said during a visit to the museum.

Starting next year, the museum will also charge a higher entry fee for visitors from outside the European Union, he said.

Louvre President Laurence des Cars warned last week that the centuries-old building — once a lavish palace for French kings —was in a dire state, with leaks and temperature swings that could endanger the conservation of works of art.

A visit has become “a physical ordeal,” with artwork hard to find in a confusing layout and too little space for visitors to take a break, eat, or use the toilet, Mr. des Cars said.

The Louvre now receives 9 million visitors a year, more than double the 4 million it was designed to handle when it was modernized in the 1980s. The renovation will increase capacity to 12 million, Mr. Macron said.

He did not say how much the renovation would cost but said it would be financed through the Louvre’s own funds, ticket sales, sponsorships, and earnings from its sister museum in Abu Dhabi, and thus “will not weigh on the taxpayer.”

Big civic projects in the capital have traditionally been a way for French presidents to burnish their legacies. Last month, Macron reopened Notre-Dame cathedral, meticulously restored five years after it was damaged by fire.

“While Notre Dame was the architectural catalyst of our craftsmanship, this project for the Louvre must be for art, art history and its transmission a new step in the life of the nation,” Mr. Macron said. — Reuters