DIS Walt Disney Co

By Ben Fritz and Paul Ziobro 

Nearly four weeks after "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" opened, Hasbro Inc. and Walt Disney Co. are preparing to launch a line of toys featuring the main protagonist from the film in some of her most memorable moments for the first time.

The media and toy giants have faced criticism recently due to the lack of toys featuring actress Daisy Ridley's character, Rey, as a spaceship pilot or wielding a lightsaber, as she does in the blockbuster movie. Using hashtags such as #WhereIsRey, fans have asked why Ms. Ridley's character is missing from a Millennium Falcon playset that featured two of the movie's male characters, among other products.

Hasbro, the biggest toy company with a "Star Wars" license, will later this month debut a long-planned new wave of "Star Wars" toys, a spokeswoman said. The company also said Monday that it would add a Rey figurine "later this year" to a "Star Wars" Monopoly board game where her absence had sparked criticism.

Previously, there were limitations on what toy makers could do with Rey, due to Disney subsidiary's Lucasfilm's high standards for secrecy compared with other production companies. The makers of "The Force Awakens" kept a number of plot points from the film hidden until it made its debut, including the fact that Rey, who is shown only as a trader on a desert planet in the trailers, evolves to become a powerful Jedi-in-training and central heroine.

Lucasfilm insisted that no toys released before the movie's release give away the key role she ends up playing. That is unusual, as Hollywood studios typically care more about building interest than protecting basic plot points.

"One of the biggest surprises that filmmakers wanted to keep under wraps was that the Force awakens in Rey and she carries a lightsaber," said Paul Southern, head of licensing for Lucasfilm. "We always planned a second wave of product after the movie's release that would include secrets revealed in the movie."

Hasbro's new Rey toys will be based more on her action scenes later in the film, including a climactic one in which she wields a lightsaber.

There have been products including toys, T-shirts and costumes featuring Rey available for months, but to date virtually all have featured her only as she appears in the movie's earliest scenes.

Nonetheless, some fans were upset about three toys in which the Rey character was notably absent, including the Monopoly game and a set of action figures, sold exclusively at Target, that excluded her entirely.

The movie's director, J.J. Abrams, has supported those fans.

"It seems preposterous and wrong that the main character of the movie is not well represented in what is clearly a huge piece of the 'Star Wars' world in terms of merchandising," he said that the Television Critics Association's press tour Saturday, according to Entertainment Weekly.

A Target spokesman acknowledged fans' disappointment about the action figure set and said, "In most stores, product featuring her continues to sell as quickly as we can get it on to shelves."

Ms. Ridley's character has proven to be particularly popular since the film came out--perhaps because of her unusual status as a lead female in an action-adventure movie.

At Disney's retail stores, sales of Rey toys have grown three times as fast as those with other characters from "The Force Awakens." A $200 pair of figures, Rey and the robot BB-8, sold out within 10 hours of going on sale at the Disney Store website last month.

Write to Ben Fritz at ben.fritz@wsj.com and Paul Ziobro at Paul.Ziobro@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 11, 2016 20:57 ET (01:57 GMT)

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