Among the hundreds of franchises, companies, singers, actors, and all of the other names often found in American culture, few stick out quite like the phenomenon known as Star Wars, a billion dollar movie franchise expanded across all facets of entertainment and media.
Whether it be by the toys, the video games, the comic books, or the movies themselves, it is an already inescapable brand praised religiously by people across the world. Following Disney's acquisition of the franchise in 2012, however, it has managed to do the impossible. Star Wars has gotten even bigger.
The more than obvious cause of such an increased spread is the December release of the franchise's seventh film, titled Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens. And what an awakening indeed, following a ten year drought of live-action Star Wars movies since 2005's Revenge of the Sith. In a matter of one weekend the film has managed to gross about 528 million dollars worldwide, breaking Jurassic World's previous record of $511 million.
This record breaking figure only accounts for the movie itself. In addition to its release, The Force Awakens has dominated the toy industry, with stores such as Toys R Us lined up with action figures and costumes based on characters from the film's universe.
Electronic Arts, the video game giant, has even taken the gaming industry by storm with the well-timed release of Star Wars: Battlefront, coinciding with the movie's release but years in the making. Launching the game on November 17th, EA expects to sell 13 million units by the end of this fiscal year, a huge number that can expect to be met.
It is clear that many fans of the series are welcome to such a media boom and are hungry for more. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the lines of people waiting outside of theaters, some days before its release, and the droves of costumed fans storming the screens at the opening of the doors.
"Well personally, as a huge Star Wars fan, I love the intense marketing and anticipation for the film. I don't see any problem with it, but I can see how it might get annoying to other people," Newtown High School junior Jack Palermo, one of the many fans attending the film's midnight release, said.
Palermo makes an interesting point. For the people who have no care for the franchise, this inescapable dominance may be nothing more than an annoying fad.
“I personally have no care about this whole Star Wars thing. I feel like it's something people are just jumping on because everyone else is, so it'll eventually fade out,” NHS Junior Jillian Milano said.
If the Star Wars craze is just a fad, the time for it to die out could be very soon, as the series’ first film was released in 1977 and has had a presence ever since. There are worries, however, that the increase in its popularity will only leave consumers tired and ready to move on.
“Won't it eventually get tiring? I don't know much about the whole craze, but I feel like seeing it everywhere will eventually bother even the biggest fans,” NHS sophomore Gracie Sholtes said.
Disney, which bought the series from creator George Lucas for over 4 billion dollars, has no plans to let it go, however, and is set to release a new Star Wars film every year through 2020
Despite a potential market over saturation, Star Wars looks here to stay. The oncoming stream of movies will no doubt supply toy and entertainment industries with products upon products, fueling the phenomenon that began almost 40 years ago.
Image Courtesy of theatlantic.com