Hasbro Inc. struggled when the toy company tied its fortunes too closely to toys based on movies. But a movie based on its toys? That could be a different story.

Hasbro is banking that the July 4 release of the movie Transformers — based on Hasbro's "robots in disguise" toys introduced in the 1980s — will herald a new era for the company that in the past few years has been remaking itself from a toy maker to an entertainment company.

'There's a bigger story to be told, and that can be done through numerous forms of entertainment.'—Brian Goldner of Hasbro

"'Transformers sort of opens another chapter for us," said Brian Goldner, Hasbro's chief operating officer, an executive producer on the movie. "In the past, I think that the company may have thought too narrowly about its brands as forms of entertainment."

In 2000, the Pawtucket, R.I.-based company was struggling. The toy maker lost $144 million US after fads for Pokemon trading cards and the electronic pet Furby faltered and forced Hasbro's executives to go back to basics.

The company's new focus boosted sales, with Hasbro reporting a profit of $32.9 million US for the three months ended April 1, versus a loss of $4.9 million US in the year-ago period. The company credited core brands and strong sales of games, led by Monopoly.

Spider-Man's success inspiration for Transformers film 

The idea for the Transformers movie started percolating in 2002, when Goldner and his team began re-examining Hasbro's properties for boys. At around the same time, Spider-Man was making its debut as a live-action, blockbuster movie and Goldner realized Transformers could do the same.

"I looked at Transformers and G.I. Joe as opportunities to enter that same arena," he said. "Three-quarters of now-adult men had played with these products as children."

Transformers is not the first movie to be based on a toy or game. The 1985 movie Clue took themes and characters from the popular Hasbro board game. Marvel has had great success of late with movies based on its comic book characters: Spider-Man, X-Men and Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer.

Bratz, G.I. Joe films on the way

Mattel also has released a series of successful direct-to-DVD movies based on Barbie, said Jim Silver, editor-in-chief of Toy Wishes Magazine. Later this summer, Lions Gate Films plans to release Bratz, a live-action movie based on the MGA Entertainment dolls popular with tween girls.

Goldner said Hasbro is now working on a movie based on G.I. Joe, and he won't rule out other Hasbro-related movies down the line, including a Monopoly-themed film.

"Our brands have great salience among so many audiences and have been enjoyed by so many generations," he said. "There's a bigger story to be told, and that can be done through numerous forms of entertainment."