From 'Hook' to Bond to 'Battlefield Earth,' 11 Movie Toys You Never Knew Existed

With the release of the latest round of Star Wars merchandise set for this year’s so-called “Rogue Friday” (riffing on last year’s Force Friday) on Sept. 30, Yahoo Movies is looking back at movie merchandise through the years. In today’s third installment, writer Gwynne Watkins looks back on some of the weirder movie tie-ins.  __________________________

When the blockbuster film emerged as a category with Star Wars and Jaws, another lasting trend was created: movie tie-in toys. Though dolls of film actors and characters had always been popular, the post-Skywalker era brought the new expectation that toys should be manufactured immediately, and marketed aggressively, before the film was even released. While that practice continues today, there have been some embarrassing blunders along the way: Toys that collected dust on the shelves because the films were major flops, and/or not intended for children in the first place. From Dune to Demolition Man, Over the Top to Django Unchained, here are 11 toy lines that you probably didn’t know about… for good reason.