Back in the summer of 1994, two movies felt poised to take over the world, or at least the toy aisle. On one side of the ring, standing at 6'1", wearing the leopard print loin cloth, there was Fred Flintstone, set for a big-budget live-action with John Goodman behind the wheel of the cave mobile. His opponent had the might of a mouse behind it, as Disney positioned The Lion King for global domination. While we can now fully assess each film's merits and mistakes, back in '94, it was hard to tell who would reign supreme.

Even more contentious than the box office battle that was brewing was the smackdown set for the Toys "R" Us stage. Both titans from the cartoon world had mega merchandising machines behind them. Parents, it seemed, would be in for an expensive summer.

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"Consumers only have so much money to buy licensed merchandise," Karen Raugust said to Nassau Newsday in '94. And she'd know. At the time, Raugust was the editor of the Licensing Letter, a publication specializing in licensing trends. At the time, although nobody was sure who would win, Raugust expected that one of the films would "likely rise to the top at the expense of the other." While there were no Vegas odds for the bout, Raugust was quick to note how the merchandise from The Flintstones movie was tied to the live-action picture, rather than to its animated predecessor, making Universal Studios' merchandising gambit "a little bit riskier."

"I'm very concerned about Flintstone merchandise," said Lee Weinblatt, one-time president of the marketing research company Pretesting Co. "People who favor the Flintstones are mostly older. But do Mom and Dad really want a set of Flintstone placemats?"

Lots of marketing experts who weighed in at the time shared those fears. Would the average kid really want John Goodman's face on their t-shirt, or would they have preferred the familiar Fred from the cartoons they already knew and loved?

Burger King, for one, placed all its betting money on The Lion King, rolling out kids' meals and "King-sized" grown-up meals that featured The Lion King and its characters. Mattel, on the other hand, hedged its best, making a toy line for each movie.

"It's not like you can point to one film and say, that's the one that will come out on top," said Jill Barad, president of Mattel Inc. For the toy company, the box office battle would mean big, big bucks, as they'd win either way.

Steve Kosmalski, senior vice president of Gibson Greetings, a Cincinnati purveyor of greeting cards and party goods, had an outlook that perhaps predicted the truth of both movies' futures. "Longer life spans go with animated films," he said. "They have a longer-lasting sentimentality. Just ask Mickey Mouse."