There’s a distinction between an easy nostalgia grab and a genuine celebration—and continuation—of yesterday’s beloved properties. There are plenty of examples of both in 2022, as every single pop cultural property from the 1990s is being mined for store shelves. As the fantastic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge lands this week for multiple consoles, a green-hued gauntlet is thrown down for others trying to inject new life in 30-year-old properties. The message from Tribute Games and Dotemu: If you’re going to go ’90s, go all the way.
The game itself calls back to the past in all the right ways, featuring the voice cast of the cartoon and throwback gameplay that also happens to innovate where necessary. Physical versions of the game, though, ramp up the vintage offerings, with a VHS-style box, old-school sprite stickers, and my favorite, a genuine coupon for one Personal Pan Pizza from Pizza Hut.
The latter had me thinking, How does this stack up to the great Pizza Hut tie-ins? So in this newsletter, I’m assembling a list of the top promotions ever between pop culture properties and the Hut. We begin in the late 1980s and end exactly a decade later.
The Land Before Time (1988)
Before Jurassic Park, the greatest cinema had to offer in Cretaceous animals was the delightful, yet sometimes devastating The Land Before Time. Pizza Hut sold 99-cent rubber hand puppets of Cera, Ducky, Spike, and Littlefoot, and then, a year later, added Petrie and Sharptooth for the VHS release. You can currently get the complete set on eBay for 35 bucks.
Back to the Future Part II (1989)
What we learned from Back to the Future Part II was that Pizza Hut would still be open in 2015. The relationship between the film and the Hut would continue in reality: The restaurant sold futuristic "solar shades” for $1.99. They came in four designs, and you can grab them at about $25 per pair on the ’Bay.
X-Men: The Animated Series (1993)
The Turtles themselves had also been slingin’ cassettes via the Hut in 1990, but the X-Men tie-ins were something else entirely. Two episodes were on each tape ($4.99 with pizza purchase), along with extra material that included chats between Stan Lee himself and then-luminaries like writer Scott Lobdell. And don't forget the posters, cups, and trading cards. About $10 per tape on eBay.
Casper the Friendly Ghost (1995)
Yes, we already covered hand puppets on this list. But these were glow-in-the-dark ones! It’s hard to relate the currency that quality had for toys in the 1990s. Yo-yos, action figures, and stickers with phosphorescence were treasured, and the ability to give these ghosts the glow of their film counterparts made them highly desirable. The whole set runs about $40 now.
Crash Bandicoot and others (1998)
Remember when crash was telling everyone how to eat Stuffed Crust Pizza?
Playstation actually had quite an important relationship with the Hut, peddling demos of its games via a promotional disc. Crash, Spyro, and Tomb Raider, among many others, could be previewed via discs sold through the restaurant. Prices vary wildly today, depending on what you’re looking for.
Did I miss one of your favorite Pizza Hut tie-ins this week? Let me know!