[mh67511]

I honestly don't think you can go into ANY story without seeing SOME product branded with some Star Wars image! At Wal-Mart today it was like Stars War mania! All over the cereal boxes, juice boxes, Pepsi, everything!

Honestly I find it kind of ridiculous. I've never in my life seen a movie that is promoting itself on so many products! I wonder how much money they spend on all this? Oh yeah, Target.com had a big Star Wars pop up for a while and I know Cingular has something. Seriously, it's like Star Wars is taking over the world .

[shrrshrr]

You know, that's a really good question.

I don't know if you recall this, but back when Return of the Jedi came out there was a lot of news about merchandizing. The reason - it was one of the first times a movie character, the ewoks, had been created specifically with marketing capabilities in mind (per George Lucas' own admission - he had his team run a computer program to come up with the most marketable cute and cuddly creature as opposed to his original vision, which was a land of wookies).

People were up in arms about it, and it's one of the reasons there was such an ewok back-lash, although kids still loved them, of course.

When Episode One came out Toys-R-Us actually dedicated one whole floor of their general 2-story buildings to Star Wars paraphenalia.

Now, I know that since George Lucas adopted his kids he's much more child-oriented and may have that in mind when he starts marketing products, but that can't be the only reason this stuff is out there.

I need to pond this a bit more...

[Dark Half Undine]

Here's the thing...Star Wars will always make money, nothing can stop Star Wars from making money even if this movie blows like a Humpback Whale.

So when one of these movies, especially a Star Wars movie(all of the Warsies who collect everything from toothpicks to napkins) comes out the marketing is shameless. These movies whore themselves out like it is no tomorrow. Because people will buy anything and everything and still go see the movie.

That's my side of the story anyway.

[ROCKSTAR]

I remember my Queen Amidala super-sized cup from KFC years back... And I still have those little things that came inside bags of chips.

Star Wars already took over the world!

Not to mention the past two ALCS (baseball playoffs) were Star Wars was used as an analogy to Boston-New York match up. It's *everywhere*. I'm scared.

[S.A.S.H.A.]

I have a life-size R2D2 ice cooler that I one a few years ago.

Sasha

[UnsilentMajorty]

Star Wars is the epitome of what is called cross-promotional marketing.

That is, a movie comes out... But so does the video game, soundtrack, drink(s), food, napkin holders, toiler paper dispensers, you-name-it.

In fact, "Spaceballs" even parodied this with the whole thing with the "Merchandizing" schpiel that Mel Brook's Yoda character gave during the movie that actually promoted real products

Like Dark Undie said, even if Revenge of The Sith blows like the first two prequels... People will still go see it... In fact, maybe even more just to see how bad it is... Just to be part of the "event" that is Star Wars.

This is what is called "Event Marketing" and it is always prevelant during the summer blockbuster season which is starting in less than a week.

They make all of these movies big "social" events to where if you don't go (to a theater) and see the movies, you are missing out on some grand social event like how the Elizabethans used to view going to the theater. Going to a play was the "hip" thing to do if you had some money. Well, the same mentality and psychological manipulation is what even marketing is built on. Especially, since downloading movies on the net has taken the place for a lot of people of standing in long lines and sitting with a bunch of noisy teens and people chatting on their cell phones

[Marilyn_19032002]

Money..It's the last movie so there wanting to cash in.

[mh67511]

Well I have to say, I'm getting a free Star Wars Epsidoe I DVD because I bought 7 boxes of Frosted Mini-Wheats! what can I say, I'm a sucker for freebies! I love those things too, so I figured might as well buy seven and get a DVD. So for $17.50, I got seven boxes of cereal and a free DVD (well in 8 weeks that is )

On a side note, I'm probably one of the few people who actually likes these new Star Wars movies. They just look much "nicer" to me. The only thing I didn't like was the kid in the first one who played Anakin, other than that I enjoyed them a lot.

[TheCheshireKitten]

I have issues with the prequels, but I enjoy the "event" that is Star Wars in spite of them. There are so many fans out there, and I like meeting up with some of them when the merchandise comes out, and I've attended a convention. It's just fun. I would've gone to the convention in Indy this weekend if I didn't have to spend my money on other things.

[Quarterley]

I don't even watch Star Wars but I got to say their publicity and marketing seem pretty good.

[Marilyn_19032002]

I'm for sure seeing it! I can't wait! I'll buy a few mags with them on the covers but that' about it! I have some from the last 2

[mattia]

Originally Posted by mh67511 Well I have to say, I'm getting a free Star Wars Epsidoe I DVD because I bought 7 boxes of Frosted Mini-Wheats! what can I say, I'm a sucker for freebies! I love those things too, so I figured might as well buy seven and get a DVD. So for $17.50, I got seven boxes of cereal and a free DVD (well in 8 weeks that is )

damn if I have to actually watch Episode one again, they better be giving me 7 boxes of cereal!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The movies are just not that good, any of them....I have high hopes for the last one...and of course i liked number 2, Hayden!!!

[shrrshrr]

Originally Posted by UnsilentMajorty Star Wars is the epitome of what is called cross-promotional marketing. That is, a movie comes out... But so does the video game, soundtrack, drink(s), food, napkin holders, toiler paper dispensers, you-name-it. In fact, "Spaceballs" even parodied this with the whole thing with the "Merchandizing" schpiel that Mel Brook's Yoda character gave during the movie that actually promoted real products

Which goes to what I was saying earlier about George Lucas really taking this phenomenon up a notch with the first trilogy. (sort of like how we can credit Francis Ford Coppola with creating the include-absolutely-everyone-in-the-credits phenomenon)

[LittleMilkJug]

Did you know that George Lucas got the money to make TPM , upfront from all the toy deals and tie-ins he made? So even if that film had bombed at the box-office (which it didn't, it made over 400 million ) he wouldn't have lost a penny.

[UnsilentMajorty]

Originally Posted by LittleMilkJug Did you know that George Lucas got the money to make TPM , upfront from all the toy deals and tie-ins he made? So even if that film had bombed at the box-office (which it didn't, it made over 400 million ) he wouldn't have lost a penny.

This is also why Jar Jark Binks was created... More or less... As an attempt to get more little kids interested in Star Wars and ultimately why TPM was a terrible movie aside from it having no plot or characterizations.

The shared feelings among many SW fans, myself included, is the prequels aren't concentrating on telling good stories and relying more on CGI and other things as a substitute. Spectacle instead of story. When you ad in things like the toy tie-in deals it basically proves the films are nothing but giant marketing/commercials and not good pieces of entertainment like the originals were.

Also, the prequels tend to take themselves way too seriously, something the original films did not even after they did become a huge, mainstream hit. The Matrix films fell into this trap as well after the first one was a blockbuster success. Ironically, with the huge success the comic book genre has had over the last few years... And has produced some really good movies like the X-Men series and Spider Man ones... George Lucas could take a lesson or two (or three) about how to balance good storytelling and characterization with CGI effects because the comic book films are in a lot of ways what George Lucas' SW prequels should have been in terms of quality and mythology in my opinion.