NECA's Got A Brand New Niche: Films

Toy masterminds go from action figures to calling "Action!"

Rare is the toy collector who does not know the NECA name - rarer, possibly, than the company's Comic-Con exclusive Stealth Predator. Since inheriting the mantle of horror-movie toy maestros from former champ McFarlane Toys, they've become known for action figure lines based on violent video games like Bioshock and Gears of War, slasher icons like Freddy Krueger and, er, Twilight. Don't hold that last one against them too much; we're happy to live in a world where more ladies are toy collectors. That's hot.

The NECA people must have gotten movie envy over years of making licensed product, because now they're rolling out NECA Films. And while you'd expect them to create an easy-to-merchandise monster movie, they've gone in a more interesting direction. With flicks about a junior-high outcast, a rebellious Metallica fan, and sci-fi fanboys mad at George Lucas, it would seem that they're telling stories about us, the type of folks who traditionally buy their toys.

NECA's first theatrical release is Hesher, in which Joseph Gordon-Levitt essentially plays Mary Poppins, if instead of being a prim and proper nanny, the mystical family-fixer were a delinquent metalhead with obscene tattoos. It'll be followed shortly by The People Vs George Lucas, and the musical comedy Spork.

The movie business is all about twists after all; for once, it's nice to have the toys making the movies instead of the other way around. Speaking of which, headbang your way through Hesher, opening tomorrow.

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