“Last time, they just shipped too much.”
I shared a wsj.com video last month in which they talked Star Wars toys, mentioning how Lucasfilm wasn’t going to let mistakes of the past affect today. I disagreed with some of the specifics, but overall it was a fun video and great article.
Well, the 2015 Star Wars film wasn’t the first time that Lucasfilm let The Phantom Menace affect their merchandising plans. In a 2002 AP newspaper article we read:
“After a large surplus of merchandise languished on store shelves following 1999’s ‘The Phantom Menace,’ products for the new film are being kept much simpler.”
The excess of unsaleable The Phantom Menace inventory did a number on Star Wars merchandise for a few years. It’s nice to see that Disney may have a handle on the issue these days; I’m not seeing a lot in the way of peg warmers in stores at the moment. There’s some there (Finn), yes, but not like we saw way back in 1999 and 2000.
Related articles
- Hey, Vintage Collection Star Wars Action Figures at HEB! (battlegrip.com)
- Star Wars and Toy Hype in May of 1999 (battlegrip.com)
- 1976 Starlog Magazine and Star Wars (battlegrip.com)