Photo by Phillip Faraone/FilmMagic)
- Chuck E. Cheese CEO David McKillips said that the children’s dinnertainment company just launched an entertainment division in a recent interview with Business Insider.
- The entertainment division will focus on merchandising and toys at first, but McKillips says that breaking into scripted entertainment is part of the company’s strategic vision and one of its “pillars of growth.”
- “Ideally we would love to have Chuck E. Cheese in animation and possibly one day a movie feature as well,” McKillips told Business Insider.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
Charles Entertainment Cheese is ready for his close up.
According to Chuck E. Cheese CEO David McKillips, America’s most famous animatronic mouse wants to make it big in Hollywood. In a recent interview with Business Insider, McKillips said that the children’s dinnertainment company had just launched an entertainment division.
The entertainment division is going to focus on merchandising and toys at first, but McKillips says that breaking into scripted entertainment is part of the company’s strategic vision and one of its “pillars of growth.”
“Ideally we would love to have Chuck E. Cheese in animation and possibly one day a movie feature as well,” McKillips told Business Insider.
McKillips is confident that the Chuck E. Cheese character’s popularity will be a hit with kids. “For our demographic of three to eight year olds, he is one of the most popular characters in the world,” he said.
The division is still new, so McKillips declined to share any concrete plans, saying there would be more details to come.
Chuck E. Cheese has been hit hard by the pandemic leading to its parent company CEC Entertainment, Inc. filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in June. To dig the chain out of deep financial trouble, McKillips laid out a plan that addresses some of the most chain's most pressing problems, as well as a vision for a long-term brand transformation.
Read the full interview here: Chuck E. Cheese CEO reveals how the company is navigating 'the most difficult time' in its history and how the dinnertainment chain will change post-pandemic