Eat Pray Buy

Historically, the notion of cross-promotion in the film world has frequently involved plastic products optimized for Happy Meals — collect ’em all! But with changing times and audiences come all new ways to part moviegoers with their pocket money.

Take “Eat Pray Love,” for example. Although Elizabeth Gilbert’s self-inv … uh, inward-looking memoir about spiritual revival and self-discovery (not to mention sex) would seem to tend more toward the esoteric, the movie version’s clever promoters have been quite savvy with pushing the EPL-themed products. The Daily Beast took a tally of same and put a pretty hefty number on the film’s franchise: $350 million. Because nothing says soul-seeker like a $350 prayer bead necklace from the Home Shopping Network. –KA

The Daily Beast:

Sony proactively reached out to several smaller brands to see if they wanted to create EPL-inspired products. Dogeared designed a line of jewelry, Fresh launched a line of perfumes, Republic of Tea created a limited-edition black tea and designer Sue Wong even created an EPL collection. While brick-and-mortar, big-box stores like Walmart or Target would be reticent to carry licensed products for a non-franchise film that appeals to a limited spectrum of consumers, smaller retailers who share the target consumer are more apt to want to take advantage of an EPL affiliation.

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