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Star Wars has always had a very cozy relationship with the idea of merchandising itself, and a Lucasfilm chief has confirmed that toys are the most important aspect of actually creating a movie or show.
Credit: Disney
By any measure, the Star Wars franchise is one of the most commercially successful film projects of all time. George Lucas‘ inability to acquire the film rights to the Flash Gordon serial series has had a seismic effect on pop culture, creating a franchise that now includes 11 theatrical films (if you don’t count the two made-for-TV Ewok movies, which we don’t), a whole slew of animated and live-action TV and streaming series, and more novels, comic books, video games, radio adaptations, theme park attractions, and action figures featuring the adventures Darth Vader, Han Solo, and all the rest than anyone could count.
Related: Report: Luke Skywalker To Return as ‘Star Wars’ Main Character, Disney Rejects New Series
Credit: Lucasfilm
Based on merchandise sold, Star Wars is the most profitable movie series ever made, holding the Guinness World Record for the most successful film merchandising franchise in history. The franchise has sold approximately $32 billion worth of tie-ins to date; that means every single living person on Earth could spend four dollars on Star Wars junk, and it still wouldn’t quite match up to the ever-growing amount.
Famously, George Lucas became the richest celebrity billionaire in the world due largely to his savvy handling of finances early in his career. According to legend, Lucas turned down a $500,000 paycheck for directing Star Wars (1977) in exchange for retaining the merchandising rights to the franchise; that’s a whole lot of money that Fox never saw for producing the first movie.
Credit: Loungefly
Lucas sold Star Wars (along with the rest of Lucasfilm, including Indiana Jones and Willow) to The Walt Disney Company for a reported $4 billion, but it appears that the Mouse has not forgotten how the franchise’s original creator made his money. New shows like The Mandalorian have made a killing in plush Grogu dolls, Boba Fett action figures, and Death Star LEGO sets, and the upcoming two feature films will undoubtedly be paired with a dizzying array of toy lightsabers and speeders.
Related: Report: Lucasfilm’s ‘Star Wars: Episode X’ Title Confirmed, Fate of Jedi Revealed
It turns out that a huge element of Disney’s production of new projects is determining how well they can be merchandised, although that didn’t stop the company from taking a bath of Galactic Starcruiser. Speaking to Fast Company, Lucasfilm SVP of creative innovation and Industrial Light & Magic chief creative officer Rob Bredow revealed that a key design concept behind the controversial new Star Wars show The Acolyte is how good the toys will be.
[Interviewer]: When you talk to any great production designer, that’s the anchor for what you see on screen, for those for all of their fundamental decisions.
[Bredow]: One hundred percent. Kevin Jenkins, who was the production designer, he did a lot of the design on the ships himself because of the importance and how much the ships communicate. And one of the thresholds we were using on this show was, do I want to buy the toy? [We wanted to make] something has that sort of universal appeal, like we think of when we think of an X-Wing or Millennium Falcon. But it also has to feel like it is from a different era. On The Acolyte, we’re talking about a hundred years before the prequel.
Credit: Lucasfilm
At the end of the day, Star Wars is big business and always has been. It may be a little disappointing to know that the people behind the franchise are always thinking about how to sell toys, but hey, it works.
How much have you spent on Star Wars merchandise? Be honest!
