Star Wars is one of the biggest movie franchises in history. Part of its popularity has not just been down to its on-screen story, but its merchandise. We discuss this in the article below.
Merchandising for movie and TV products has been around since the dawn of big Hollywood movies. Unsurprisingly, Disney was the first to come up with the idea, though popular literature had flirted with it before. Yet today, it seems no movie can be released without a string of tie-in lunch boxes, action figures, and clothing to go with it. To that, the movie world has Star Wars to thank.
How Did Star Wars Revolutionise Merchandise?
The crooked path to the making of Star Wars has now become the stuff of legend. Disney and Columbia Pictures had both turned the movie down, yet its creator, George Lucas, was determined to get it made. His work on American Graffiti had garnered him a reputation and the attention of Twentieth Century Fox. They took the film on just so they could work with him, but did not have high hopes for its success.
As part of the deal struck to get it made, Lucas agreed to a reduced salary. In exchange, he would take merchandising rights. Up until this point in cinema history, there had been very little payoff from this sector. Thus, the studio had to put only a small amount up front to get the film made.
There were plenty of toy companies that were in on the Star Wars action, and a deal went right to the line just before the movie was made. Eventually, Lucas signed with Kenner, but with a terrible deal where he got only five cents for every toy made. He would later renegotiate this.
The unexpected popularity of the movie meant that toys sold out extremely quickly. Kenner began to sell early bird certificate packages, which allowed you to pay for figures in advance while they were in production. Essentially, this was an empty box. Around $100 million toys were sold between 1977 and 1978.
With the doors now opened, a whole new wave of movie and television merchandise hit the shelves. Action figures were the main focus, but licensing deals put the IP on anything and everything.
Redacted Star Wars Licensing and Merchandise
Well, almost anything and everything. You may think that Star Wars will put its brand on any item, but it is not always the case. In recent years, Disney has become even stricter with its properties, even with products it has taken under its wing like Star Wars. The most obvious of these was the closing of a licensing deal to make Star Wars slot machines.
These machines incorporated features from the first three movies. They had some very interesting features, such as Ewok bonus rounds and games that involved piloting an X-Wing. You could find them in the foyers of several Las Vegas casinos, attracting fans of slot games and the movie franchise.
In 2012, when Disney acquired Lucasfilm, they began to close down anything that did not align with their values. The Star Wars slots were the first to go, and even Marvel-themed ones later went when they bought this. In hindsight, it may not have been a good move. Online slots have now become a much more widely accepted form of entertainment. There are plenty of online casinos that pay real money, which feature movie-themed games. While some have licenses for films like Terminator, others also have family-friendly titles like The Goonies.
The Weirdest Pieces of Star Wars Merchandise
Buying a box of action figures that was empty heralded the start of a crazy merchandise machine. Yet the glory days of weird Star Wars merchandise arrived with the prequel trilogy in the early noughties. The merch machine went into overdrive, printing Star Wars characters everywhere they didn’t need to be. One of the oddest licenses was with Zewa toilet paper. This let people have their own Revenge of the Sith packaged tissue, which was essentially just a plain old toilet roll in a Star Wars wrapper.
Another from this era was a Jar Jar Binks lollipop. Introduced in The Phantom Menace, fans quickly developed a dislike for this character. While making the movie, it was expected that he would be a new Yoda/C3-PO of sorts. However, he was universally hated, but by then, his face was on everything. That included a strange lollipop, in which his head opened to push out his candy tongue.
Finally, some things were just downright badly designed. One of these was a C3-PO tape dispenser from the original trilogy. Instead of holding the tape, the android was sitting in an object that looked like a bath, with the tape between his legs.
Of course, there are some items of Star Wars merchandise that have become legend. Certain figures, such as Yak Face, have accrued value over time due to their rarity. Even these items above were lesser bought and are thus now in demand. Check your collection: You may just find that you are sitting on a galactic fortune.
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