In other industries for sure, not in pinball and not with properties that are forty years old. Selling a $5,000 pin is not going to be easier when the movie is out. They're not selling toothbrushes or McDonald's toys. Now if you want to talk games on location that makes sense. I could see operators wanting the game at the same time to maybe boost revenue but the last game that was relevant because of a new property was Avatar six years ago. Everything since has been based on properties that are very old or TV shows that are still relevant.

Johnny Mnemonic is not the only game based on a movie that failed. The last game Bally/Williams made was Star Wars Episode 1 and that helped to kill the company. There was also Godzilla, Lost In Space, Last Action Hero, The Shadow and more.

Interestingly enough, a new animated Batman movie is coming out with Adam West, Burt Ward and Julie Newmar doing the voices, the timing would be perfect for it: http://www.ew.com/article/2016/08/17/batman-adam-west-burt-ward-julie-newmar-animated

I don't actually think they'll be making a Stranger Things pin (it'd be nice to be wrong), but I think it would be good if they did. It's current, it's a great license that tons of people enjoy, it's got lots of opportunities for playfield creativity, and it's a draw for the younger market. I mean, they started production on The Addams Family based only a script which was later altered, which is why the weather machine topper doesn't show up in the finished film, so really, anything goes.

It's obvious movies sell pins the list of movie themes is endless. I don't follow it that closely did Transformers, Iron Man and Star Trek all come out much after the movie?

Great show, just finished it. But stern starts developing their games 2 years in advance so it's not even possible.

Lets all hope there playfield issues are worked out b4 there next game.

Is that what that's supposed to be? I just thought the kids tried to kill Uncle Fester with an explosion or something.

"The cloud topper on The Addams Family, is a remnant of an older movie script. There was plans to have a weather machine in the movie, but the idea was ultimately scrapped. By this time, Pat Lawlor had already designed a topper for the pinball machine. With a relatively low cost to produce the topper, he decided to keep it for the final game."

First time I ever heard it either. Trunchbull with the scoop!

Haha, I thought it was an interesting tidbit which showed how far in advance they used to jump on titles. I got it (I think) from a TOPcast pinball podcast, which I'll link below, where they interviewed Lawlor and he discusses some really interesting things. He talks about the top-down corporate culture at Stern, and makes it sound like he left due to lack of creative control.

http://www.pinrepair.com/topcast/past.php

This could be their first "virtual pinball/online" theme release! Seems to make more sense especially with limited audience and being a fairly new title on Netflix.

JJP pretty much showed the problem of producing a game tied into a specific movie release. Is it coming up to 2 years since the last hobbit movie came out? And still the machines aren't out in the UK. Does anyone give a toss about the films now? They weren't especially good. The game could be the best ever made and it's tied into a theme that doesn't mean anything to most people. (The book is a different situation)
Mind you the 90s had some strange choices for film tie ins. Who would have thought Twister would be a good choice?

Hi John, We have a brand new Hobbit in west London, come give it a spin. Awesome game.

Not sure how many of you have seen this, but it does seem to indicate that the show is quite popular:

http://www.cnet.com/news/stranger-things-closes-in-on-game-of-thrones-reign-as-most-in-demand-show-on-television/

If they can keep up the quality for a Season 2 (or more), now that will be impressive.

Stranger Things is not even in the same discussion as Game of Thrones... GOT will go down in history as one of the best ever for so many reasons. Stranger Things will come and go... extremely popular with the teenie boppers as well which basically drives the show.

Yeah, I wasn't trying to directly compare Stranger Things to GoT qualitatively. It is my favorite still-running show on TV. Period. I even had a direwolf sigil on my wedding cake. Besides, it would be an apples/oranges comparison. That said, I have room in my heart for more than one tv show and Stranger Things does seem to have potential at least judging from the initial strong reception.

Also, I'm not sure about "teenie boppers." Primarily it seems targeted at people that grew up in the late 70s to early 80s. Almost everyone I know in that range loves Stranger Things while the only people I know that didn't really care for it are actually younger (my wife and several of her friends who are still in their 20s).

Both great shows. But yes...GOT is in a league of its own.

Unless they f**k it up.

GoT is also a gargantuan era-spanning show while Stranger Things is more like a really long movie.

I love Stranger Things and think it's the best show I've seen in a long time. It was like ET, the Goonies, Stephen King, and Speilberg rolled into one. I'd get one, but would prefer they wait until more seasons have come out.

I found it way more like Halloween 3.

jesus ET is completely unwatchable after I turned 10

Teenie Boppers? I'm 48, the music sounds like the John Carpenter horror movies of the 80s I grew up on and there are mad references to tons of 80s movies. I've found Stranger Things to be extremely popular with people in their 30s and 40s and doubt the teenie boppers (who even says that anymore?) even care about it.

I predominantly associate with people in their mid 20's to mid 40's and pretty much everyone raves about the show.

Yes, teenie boppers. The corniness appeals to them just as much as it does for the nostalgic nerds from the 80's.

Isn't that an 80's term? Should be right up your alley!

Maybe you should associate with some cooler people...

Its a decent show and fairly entertaining... but overall fairly forgettable

Is it a good story or does it just hit your nostalgia bone?
I didn't think it was bad but it seemed a little pandering, a montage of 80's childhood.
Other than magnets I don't see it being a good theme.

It worked for me completely...but I see what you're saying. It's like anything, either you like it or you don't.
I felt liek you did over that "Super 8" movie that everyone said "was just like Speilberg" blah blah...couldn't make it through half of it.

Haha haven't you learned to not respond to Teekee's wacky shit? I love that Grinch

I'm halfway through the first season. Good show. Very 80's, Goonies, Spielberg ish, Carpenter fun.

But, no way, is Stern making a pin based on this show right now.

Netflix just announced season 2. It's the best show on netflix in my opinion.

I was hoping they'd do a completely different story for season 2. All new characters/location. I'm afraid it won't live up to season 1.

I can't see this as a pinball machine since they JUST renewed it.

It will be hard to live up to season 1 for sure, but I think they could take this a lot of places. I don't think it will be a pin anytime real soon, but I think it would work well as one.

Agreed that they will really need to work at it to live up to Season 1, but after all the questions left unanswered, i would have been a little disappointed if they didn't even try to follow-up on the existing story.

Some more information about season 2 ...

http://www.ew.com/article/2016/08/31/stranger-things-season-2-details-duffer-brothers

agreed

taken from the article in the link above

James Cameron is a season 2 influence.

"Just as they modeled season 1 after a movie, they look at season two as a blockbuster’s sequel. “I know movie sequels get a lot of s—, but the ones we look up to aspire to pivot and do something different,” explains Matt. “There’s Temple of Doom, Aliens, Terminator 2. I guess a lot of this is James Cameron. But he’s brilliant. And I think one of the reasons his sequels are as successful as they are is he makes them feel very different without losing what we loved about the original. So I think we kinda looked to him and what he does and tried to capture a little bit of the magic of his work.”

my thoughts:

I think this is cool. What about Red Dawn meets Stranger Things? or some type of survival story like Dawn of the Dead? They could open it up in a lot of ways and continue the story of the characters they've established.

They've opened a door to the upside down and who knows what could happen.

Does every new pin have to be vintage Rock and sci-fi?

This thread was vintage, but you bumped it anyway...

Lol

Why not something unique? does every game have to be movie/tv themes? *sigh* everything was better back in the day with games like Swords of Fury and Arena...

I think it will be tomorrow.

Yes, other wise u get this.

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30 min to go... SWHE or something STRANGER ?!....

just star wars home

Stranger Things is hotter than ever. Every kid in middle school and high school is into it. Especially the girls. It could be an excellent license for Stern, but how many of us old white guys would like it? Count me in.