Master Replicas to Launch Collector Die Cast THE EXPANSE Vehicles and Prop Replicas through License Agreement Alcon Television Group
August 11, 2023 – The Koto and other popular ships, as well as prop replicas and figures, from the beloved television series The Expanse will be made available to fans as part of The Expanse – The Official Ship Collection. The news about the die cast ship models and other products is the result of an agreement between Master Replicas/Heathside Trading Ltd. and Alcon Television Group. As the authorized licensee for The Expanse die cast vehicles, prop replicas and figures, Heathside Trading will launch the products in Spring 2024 through selected retail partners as well as direct to consumer through MasterReplicas.com.
The license was facilitated by Mandy Bardisbanian from Striker Entertainment, the licensing agency for The Expanse, and Kirsty Guthrie, KJG Ltd, the licensing consultant for Master Replicas/Heathside. Darren Epstein from Heathside commented, “We are so thrilled to be adding The Expanse to our increasing portfolio of properties. The huge global fanbase for this license will mean we will be able to bring some really nice content to fans worldwide.” Mandy Bardisbanian from Striker Entertainment added, “We are delighted to see Heathside come aboard to bring an elevated, yet accessible line of products to market for The Expanse fans.”
Rather than releasing all the ships in one go, Heathside Trading Ltd. -- through Master Replicas -- will make a curated selection of vehicles, prop replicas and figures available over the course of the license. This will allow fans to add to the continuance of their collections with selected resellers who will be making stock available on a limited basis online.
The Hugo award winning series, THE EXPANSE is based on the hugely popular science fiction novels by James S.A. Corey, was developed and scripted by the Academy Award nominated writing duo Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby who executive produce the series alongside Naren Shankar, Andrew Kosove, Broderick Johnson, Laura Lancaster, Sharon Hall, Sean Daniel, Jason Brown, Daniel Abraham, Ty Franck and Dan Nowak. Shankar served as showrunner for all seasons. The Expanse is produced by Alcon Television Group. All six seasons of THE EXPANSE are currently available to stream on Amazon Prime. The series is also available for purchase on AppleTV+ or VUDU stores.
About Heathside Trading Ltd
Heathside Trading Ltd is a leading manufacturer and wholesaler of Pop Culture Consumer Products based in the United Kingdom, offering ranges of product to customers globally on various formats. Relaunching MasterReplicas.com will enhance the ability to target a direct to consumer customer going forward. Heathside and its Khadou brand work and acquire IP for development of product across, TV, Manga, Anime, Film, Gaming and associated entertainment platforms.
About Alcon Entertainment
Co-founders and co-CEO's Andrew Kosove and Broderick Johnson founded Alcon Entertainment in 1997 with partner Frederick W. Smith, the Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of FedEx.
Alcon has financed and produced or co-financed and co-produced 34 films to date including the Academy Award Best Picture nominee The Blind Side which earned Sandra Bullock an Oscar for Best Actress; the critically acclaimed Blade Runner 2049 starring Ryan Gosling and Harrison Ford which won two Academy Awards for Best Cinematography and Best Visual Effects and received an additional three nominations; The Book of Eli starring Denzel Washington and Gary, among others. Alcon’s upcoming projects include an animated film adaptation of the beloved cartoon strip Garfield from director Mark Dindal (The Emperor’s New Groove) with Chris Pratt voicing Garfield and Samuel Jackson voicing a new character, Vic who is Garfield’s father.
In 2015, Alcon created the subdivision Alcon Television Group whose projects include the hit sci-fi series The Expanse, a critically acclaimed space thriller which boasts a 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes; and the animated children’s series Pete the Cat, a co-production with Amazon Studios based on the best-selling children’s book series. Alcon Television Group recently announced they are in pre-production on a live-action series titled Blade Runner 2099 for Amazon Prime.
Alcon Television Group’s other past projects include the Grammy-winning and Emmy-nominated four-part documentary The Defiant Ones, originally developed for HBO, which chronicled the divergent roots and unlikely partnership of Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine that launched exclusively on NBCUniversal’s Peacock; Amazon’s animated holiday special Pete The Cat: A Groovy New Year starring Elvis Costello and Jacob Tremblay; and the Emmy-nominated HBO documentary Sinatra: All Or Nothing At All from Oscar-winning director Alex Gibney which remains one of HBO’s most successful shows in the 50+ demographic.
Further license agreements to be announced in the coming weeks.
