Star Wars “Led the Charge”
“[Star Wars] led the charge with the idea of merchandise and the marketing and all that stuff becoming so integral to how not even just movies, but entertainment itself was handled. It’s massive.”
— John Tyler Christopher, Star Wars: The Marvel Covers Vol. 1*
During one of my routine searches for info on Kenner’s Star Wars action figures, I ran across the Google preview for Star Wars: The Marvel Covers Vol. 1* and Christopher’s introduction to his section of variant covers designed to look like Kenner packaging. An entertaining read — and now I know that this is a book I should totally own! — and the above quote caught my eye because it cannot be stated often enough: Star Wars changed licensing and merchandising forever.
You see, before the success of Star Wars there were attempts at movie tie-ins, but those attempts failed. Mattel tried with Dr. Dolittle in the sixties, but the sales were poor and forgettable. And Mego’s Planet of the Apes toys of the seventies succeeded more because of the television series than the movies; it also helped that Mego was able to control costs by reusing tooling for figure bodies as well as playset and vehicle designs. Hell, even Kenner was expecting more value from a Star Wars television series than they were the movie. In Star Wars: From Concept to Screen to Collectible* we find:
“‘In fact, I [Bernie Loomis, Kenner President at the time] assumed the film would come and go quickly — movies never lasted more than a couple of months — and that we’d do the toys the following year without any movie there to help us.’ Fox did hold out the possibility that Star Wars would become a weekly television series, much like Planet of the Apes, and the initial deal was structured to provide higher royalties for a TV series than for the film.”
What’s all of this ancient history have to do with today? Well, as we watch Rogue One and Star Wars in the market today, it’s always nice to look back and realize how strong an impact the brand has had on the landscape. Some people quickly dismiss Star Wars as silly and for kids, but when sales of $8 billion are forecast over twelve to eighteen months then we cannot ignore things for long. Seriously, that’s how powerful Star Wars is today. That’s amazing!
Anyway, all of this has no value at all beyond stating: Wow, Star Wars. Wow.
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