In 1963, Maurice Sendak published a little book called Where the Wild Things Are, about the wild adventures of a boy named Max who is sent to bed without dinner. Max dons a wolf costume and becomes leader of some weird creatures, and the entire story is told with just ten brief sentences.

Many of us still treasure it.

Tonight, as you may know, marks the book’s long-awaited film release. Adapted by a pair of Terapeak faves, director Spike Jonze and author Dave Eggers, the film may well have been geared toward adults as much as (or more than) children… Though of course we’re not complaining. And neither, according to this 30-day total sales trend, are eBay buyers:

Perusing some of the closed listings, many are original copies of Sendak’s book, with first editions routinely fetching several hundred dollars (a hard cover sold for $1,175 USD!). But Wild Things is also one of those gold mines for merchandisers; we’ll bet everything we’ve got that Max and monster costumes will be popular this Halloween, as will Wild Things toys and stuffed animals come holiday time.

We’re also pretty pumped for Eggers’ novel adaptation — released last week in both hardcover and fur-covered formats!

As for the movie itself, we’re not quite sure what to expect. We like that the monsters are in costumes, and not CGI. We like that Karen O. from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs is doing the music. We like the idea of watching something new and feeling young again… And we like that the wait for this thing is finally, finally over.

Summer blockbuster season is well under way, and so far we’ve seen the release of such box office giants as Star Trek, Transformers 2, GI Joe, and Up, all of which seemed near-perfect from a merchandising standpoint, and all of which we’ll be re-tracking once DVD-release-time rolls around (holidays, anyone?).

But later this week comes the granddaddy of them all: the sixth film installment of the adventures of Harry Potter, the half-muggle half-wizard who’s an industry all his own.

It should go without saying that now’s a good time to gather anything Potter-related and see what it’s going for. Just take a look at the following 30-day total sales trend for “Harry Potter” (and keep in mind that this data extends only to July 11th — nearly a week before the movie’s release):

Now you probably can’t see clearly (unless you’re really good at squinting), but that graph shows Potter selling tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of goods every day… and it’s not such a stretch to imagine the release of Half-Blood Prince shooting that number up significantly higher.

And to show that it’s not just sellers affecting Potter’s eBay ascension, here’s a similar 30-day All-Sites trend for “Harry Potter” bids per listing:

We’ve got a few Harry fanatics in the office here ourselves, but those of us who aren’t waiting in ticket lines all weekend will surely be tracking this up-tick going forward…

Looking at Terapeak’s Hot Media for April-May, the top five DVDs display a pretty wide breadth of film styles; you’ve got a near-three-hour Academy darling, a slapstick comedy starring that dude from King of Queens, two classic Disney favorites… and, of course, Twilight.

So obviously, if you’re in the popular DVD biz, these titles are among your bread-winners. But what about other merchandising opportunities? This blog will take a look at memorabilia and paraphernelia related to these films, and examples of ways to make the most of Terapeak’s Hot Research.

As you can see — and it’s no surprise, really — first on our list is Twilight, the initial film adaptation of Stephanie Meyer’s best-selling vampire series (which we blogged about fairly recently). A 30-day All Sites search for “Twilight” uncovers more than 78,000 results, and with such an obsessed worldwide following, you can bet anything Twilight-related has a good chance of sparking interest. Beyond DVDs, here are its next five most popular Level-2 categories:

1. Movie Memorabilia (15,501) — Dolls, Posters, Blankets
2. Fiction Books (7,440) — Individual novels, Collected novels, Autographed novels
3. Fashion Jewelry (5,337) — Pendants, Rings, Bracelets
4. Desktop & Laptop Accessories (4,198) — Laptop skins, Laptop cases, XBox skins
5. Watches (3,146) — Watches, Faceplates, Wall clocks

Next is The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, David Fincher’s adaptation of a 1922 F. Scott Fitzgerald story. The film, starring Brad Pitt, led the 2009 Academy Awards with 13 nominations, but that hasn’t exactly translated into merchandising opportunities. (Perhaps viewers who sat through its 165 minutes felt they’d had enough?)

A 30-day All Sites search for “Benjamin Button” results in 2,832 listings, with the most popular related Level-2 categories being the following:

1. Movie Memorabilia (119) — Props, Posters, Postcards
2. CDs (26) — Original soundtrack
3. Fiction Books (25) — Short story collections, Graphic novels
4. Nonfiction Books (24) — Short story collections (bizarre?)
5. Autographs-Original (15) — Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, David Fincher autographs

Placing third is Paul Blart: Mall Cop, a Kevin James comedy that reached #1 in North American box offices. We weren’t sure what to expect in terms of non-DVD merchandise… and a 30-day search for “Paul Blart” turned up barely 2,000 listings. In fact, here are all the non-DVD Level-2 categories that turned up 10+ results:

1. Movie Memorabilia (47) — Posters, Photos, Football jerseys

Seriously, that’s it.

Finally, rounding out the top five are two classic Disney films, remastered and re-released: Beauty and the Beast and Lion King. These old faves require no introduction, and both (like most things Disney-related) have been merchandising gold mines for many, many years. Here are the top non-DVD categories for both, beginning with a 30-day All Sites search for “Beauty and the Beast”:

1. Disneyana (620) — Figurines, Toys, Snow globes
2. VHS (380) — Original editions, Remastered editions, Sequels
3. Children’s Books (250) — Picture books, Braille books, Read-a-loud books
4. Comics (125) — Grimm Tales, Graphic novels
5. Dolls (122) — Barbies, Barbie clothes, Stuffed toys

And “Lion King”:

1. Disneyana (1,355) — Figurines, Artwork, Snow globes
2. TV, Movie & Character Toys — Broadway tickets, Other tickets, Figurines
3. Games (Video Games) (778) –NES, Game Boy, Sega Genesis games
4. VHS (450) – Original editions, Remastered editions, Sequels
5. Children’s Books (443) — Picture books, Bath books, Read-a-loud books

If you’re a Hot Research subscriber, check out some of the other top titles… The examples shown above are barely the opening credits!

Whether you’re a fan or not (and generally, it seems, you either really are or really aren’t), there’s no denying the otherworldly success of the Twilight novels. Since the first book came out all the way back in 2005, author Stephenie Meyer’s teen vampire series has been vaulting best-seller’s lists, to a point where it’s had a seriously Potter-esque impact on the the publishing world — not to mention all across the eBay platform.

But how long, really, can it last?

Following the box office (and subsequent DVD rack) domination of last summer’s film adaptation, coupled with Meyer’s announcement that plans for future Twilight novels have been delayed indefinitely, you might expect a gradual decline in related sales… but not so fast. A movie sequel has already been green-lighted for the series’ second book, New Moon, as has something called The Twilight Saga: The Official Guide… and of course there remains the possibility of future novels.

Today, a quick 90-day Terapeak All Sites search shows the Twilight brand holding strong as ever…

… while a peek at Hot Media shows more Meyer-induced domination…

… So when can we expect this train to start slowing down? Well, if J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter timeline can be used as any kind of barometer — the seven book releases were scattered across an entire decade, the film series won’t wrap up for another few years — we may be hearing a lot more yet from these vampire kids in the Pacific Northwest.

(That’s Terapeak’s lair, too, for those keeping score!)

If you spent any portion of your Easter weekend at the movie theatres, you likely witnessed part of the preteen throng that helped Hannah Montana: The Movie snag #1 honors at the U.S. box office.

For those who don’t know (there might still be a few?), the film is based on a Disney Channel sitcom of the same name, starring Billy Ray’s kid Miley Cyrus in the title role, currently in the midst of its third full season.

So how has Hannah’s Hollywood debut helped her eBay sales? Well, the show’s memorabilia has always sold remarkably well — as far back as its inception in March 2006 — and so far it doesn’t appear the film has affected a whole lot. Check out this 30-day Total Sold Listings trend for “Hannah Montana” (which covers a whopping 39,000+ listings):

Pretty steady, wouldn’t you say? Of course it is still early…

Now compare that with a similar 30-day trend for the film Hannah knocked out of the #1 slot — Fast and Furious. (Seriously, how funny is that abbreviated title? No, scratch that, how funny is that entire franchise?)

A bit more dramatic, yes. (And action-packed! And freakin’ Paul Walker!)

It’ll be interesting to see in the coming days if Disney improves on the sales of one of its most popular brands, or if the mania surrounding Hannah Montana has already reached its ceiling…