There’s some new MONSTER competition coming to town next year. Earlier this summer, I was one of the first to highlight Mattel’s new collection of Hot Wheels Monster Trucks, but in 2019 they’re jumping from toys into arenas with Hot Wheels Monster Trucks Live! Created in partnership between Raycom-Legacy Content Company and Mattel, this new nationwide tour will create an immersive experience for Monster Truck fans. This new live entertainment tour will visit arenas and stadiums throughout the U.S. beginning in January 2019 – with one of the first events scheduled for the Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates, Illinois.
About the Hot Wheels Monster Trucks Live Tour:
Hot Wheels Monster Trucks Live will bring everyone’s favorite Hot Wheels Monster Trucks to life, combining Hot Wheels’ iconic jumps and stunts with epic crashing and smashing to deliver an exhilarating family entertainment experience for kids of all ages. In addition to the Trucks, each show will feature specialty acts like the superstars of freestyle motocross, world record attempts, and Megasaurus – the massive, car-eating, fire-breathing prehistoric robot who loves chomping on anything with four wheels – as it makes its Hot Wheels Monster Trucks Live debut.
Offering unrivaled entertainment value for Monster Truck fans, each event will feature affordable ticket prices, the Crash Zone Pre-Show Party with Monster Truck photo opportunities, driver meet-and-greets, VIP autograph sessions, and other special prizes and promotions.
The first stop of the tour will be January 5-6th at the brand new Bert Ogden Arena in Edinburg, Texas, and the tour will travel to more than 20 cities in its inaugural year. Scheduled stops include Cleveland, Memphis, Louisville and Norfolk, VA, among others. Visit http://www.HotWheelsMonsterTrucksLive.com for additional tour dates and venues.
Conceived in 1968 by an innovator, a rocket scientist and a car designer, Hot Wheels 1:64 scale die-cast cars were designed to look awesome and perform. Five decades later, Hot Wheels is the number one selling toy in the world* with more than 16.5 cars sold every second. The brand has evolved from a simple, yet beloved, toy car with orange track system into a global franchise powerhouse that offers fans of all ages multi-channel play experiences.
2019: A Great Year for Monster Trucks Fans:
Now, this opens up some interesting possibilities. First, it’s no secret that this is gonna go head-to-head with Hot Wheels former partners at Feld Motorsports and Monster Jam, leading off the year in which the folks at Spin Master take over that license on the toy front. With Hot Wheels being front-and-center at their own live events, there’s so much opportunity to expand beyond the iconic orange track and into real-life. And, on the “wishful thinking” side of things, could we eventually see the original “King of the Monster Trucks,” BIGFOOT hitting the arenas alongside some Hot Wheels? (Edit: looks likely as the official BIGFOOT page shared the news)
It was confirmed this summer that BIGFOOT would re-join Hot Wheels as part of the Monster Trucks collection in 2019, and some old-schoolers like myself may recall that there were some awesome BIGFOOT toys released as Hot Wheels back in the 80s. It’s also widely-known that the owner of the truck, Bob Chandler, pulled the vehicle away from Monster Jam in the late 90s. Of course, the cross-over action on the toy front is also set to feature a line of WWE-themed Hot Wheels Monster Trucks as well. It’ll be great to see how it all pans out, as 2019 is looking like a great year for fans of Monster Trucks!
Want more Hot Wheels action? Check out my report on the Hot Wheels Legends Tour here, and be sure to catch my girls – The Rock Daughters™ – in this 50th Anniversary of Hot Wheels segment from NBC Nightly News.