FORT SMITH -- Walther pistols are popping up in this summer's best-selling books and blockbuster movies.
Representatives of Walther Arms -- based in Fort Smith -- said these days their products are generating more interest from prop houses and movie armorers who help make the decisions on what type and brand of firearms show up in TV and films. It's unclear how much that exposure correlates into increased sales, but Walther representatives said having their guns show up in various media help increase brand recognition with gun owners and firearms novices.
In Twisted Prey by best-selling author John Sandford, Lucas Davenport trades in his trusty .45-caliber Colt Gold Cup for a .40-caliber Walther PPQ M2. In Deadpool 2, the primary adversary uses a Walther Q5 Match pistol. Plans are in the works for various Walther pistols to appear in John Wick 3: Parabellum, a film series staring Keanu Reeves famous for its firearms-focused action sequences.
'BOND, JAMES BOND'
For decades, Walther Arms' parent company, Germany-based Carl Walther GmbH, has been closely linked with James Bond. In films, Ian Fleming's super spy traded a Beretta pistol for his signature Walther PPK in Dr. No, which hit theaters in 1962. In films, Bond carried the PPK and other Walther pistols on and off for the next 50 years, including the Walther PPK/S in 2012's Skyfall.
Bret Vorhees, director of product development for Walther Arms, said a firearms appearance in books seems to help push brand recognition to people without guns while firearms appearing in films, in particular, help push brand recognition worldwide. He noted the appearances sometimes involve cooperation with Walther, but other times the pistols simply end up in a book or film with Walther none the wiser.
Cody Osborn, marketing manager for Walther Arms, said prop houses that supply firearms for movies have increasingly reached out to the the company, particularly at industry trade shows. He said those growing relationships and the recent appearance of Walther firearms in major films increases general interest among movie folks.
"Once you help one prop house, word spreads pretty quickly," Osborn said.
Gun sales have been brisk this year. The FBI reported National Instant Criminal Background checks for 2018 through June totaled 13.2 million, up from 12.6 million for the same period in 2017. Total checks in 2017 stood at 25.23 million, the second-highest number on record, trailing 2016 with 27.54 million. While those figures don't represent the number of guns sold, they are generally used as indicators of firearms demand.
LATEST APPEARANCES
In Marvel's Deadpool 2 released in May, Cable, a grim soldier from the future played by Josh Brolin, uses a Walther Q5 Match, and the pistol makes a prominent appearance in the film's trailer. The pistol is clearly identifiable in a close-up shot where Cable blasts away at Deadpool, played by Ryan Reynolds, while Deadpool tries to deflect the bullets with a pair of whirling katanas -- and fails. Deadpool, who has the ability of rapid healing, is peppered with bullet holes and quips, "Ooh, yeah, your bullets, they're really fast."
Joe Harris, owner of Scranton, Pa.-based Roll Call LLC, a firearms retailer that also operates a shooting range and a training center, said he has been singing praises of the Walther Q5 Match for years, calling it the best out of the box striker-fired pistol on the market.
He said that once Deadpool 2 came out, demand leaped for the pistol -- with customers calling it "the Deadpool 2 gun" -- and now he has trouble keeping it in stock. He featured the Walther Q5 Match in a YouTube review after Deadpool 2 was released.
"If I was a gun company, I'd do anything in my power to get my gun into a movie," Harris said. "The guns become iconic."
In Twisted Prey, the 28th novel in the Prey series written by John Camp under the pen name John Sandford, the Walther PPQ becomes the weapon of choice for Lucas Davenport, an alpha-male investigator with an eye for tailored suits and fast cars. Davenport begins to carry a Walther PPQ after he joins the U.S. Marshals Service because he doesn't like the Glocks typically issued to marshals.
"Davenport wants a gun that he likes and feels natural with, a gun with ergonomics that work for him," Camp explained in response to emailed questions. "If you look at a Walther PPQ and a Glock side-by-side, one looks like a Corolla and the other looks like a Porsche 911 Turbo. Davenport has been portrayed as somebody who is a very good shot and takes pistols seriously, and that kind of person usually wants a gun that he 'likes.'"
DRIVING TASTE
Danny Michael, assistant curator of Cody Firearms Museum in Wyoming, said books, TV and film have been a big influence in driving American gun owners' tastes and demands over the years. He said it even influences the collectors market, noting that there's high demand for the pistols and rifles that appeared decades ago in cowboy films and TV shows.
"I don't think many gun owners are going to admit they were influenced by pop culture, but they are," he said.
He said that, unlike carmakers and other companies that pay to have their products prominently featured in films, firearms typically are chosen for more artistic and practical reasons -- to invoke a particular mood or image. He said while a firearm's appearance in a film is typically more serendipitous than other products, it still can end up benefiting a gun-maker greatly, pointing to examples like the Sharps rifle carried by Tom Selleck in Quigley Down Under and the Smith & Wesson Model 29 revolver chambered in .44 Magnum carried by Clint Eastwood in Dirty Harry.
"The weapons become iconic, and that's good for the brand even if the company didn't intend it," Michael said.
Walther's Vorhees said he's hopeful the company's pistols will be seen more and more in film and books. He said the company is willing to work closely with those who decide which firearms show up in films whenever possible.
"It gives us a seat at the table," he said.
SundayMonday Business on 07/29/2018