I
twasperhaps theunlikeliest
toyphenomenonof the
20thcentury–but thepot
belly,ugly-cute faceand
colourful shockofhair
made the trolldollan international
phenomenon in the1960sandagain in the
1990s.Theandrogynouscreatureswere the
subjectofpieces in
Time
and
Life
magazines,metJFK in theWhiteHouse,
andgeneratedanestimatedUS$3-5billion
(aroundNOK32bn) in the20thcentury.
Yet it’soften forgotten that the troll
dollwascreatedbyahumbleDanish
woodcutter,ThomasDam, and thathis
companyDamThingshas
receivedonlya fractionof
themega-bucksgarnered
by trolldolls in the50-odd
yearssince theirpopularity
exploded.Afterdecadesof
legalwrangles, only in2003
did thecompany finallywrest
back thecopyrightofDam’s
original creation.
Now, though, thingsare
lookingup. In2011, adealwas
madewithUSanimationgiant
DreamWorks,giving it theright to
producea filmand televisionseries
about trolldolls, startingwitha2016
movievoicedbyJasonSchwartzmanand
ChloëGraceMoretz.Thiswas followedup
byanotherdeal the followingyear, inwhich
DreamWorksbought therights to the trolls
outsideScandinavia (withinScandinavia,
DamThingscontinues tosell the trolls).
TheDreamWorksdealsareprotected
bystrict confidentiality terms, but
DamThings’CEOCalle
Østergaardsays it’s
goodnews: “Thedeal
is important toDam
Thingsas itwill allow
us tobringmany
moreofThomas’s
works into the
spotlight.”And,
inastatement
releasedat the time,he
wasquotedas sayinghe“could
thinkofnobetter future for
trolls, and forDamThings.”
Itall started in the1950s
in thesmallDanish townof
Gjøl,when the long-haired, arty
038\
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