What It Means to “Jar-Jar” It Up: Marketing for the New Star Wars Trilogy

Paper by William Barton. Viewed on DVD.

We live in an age of a corporate America. Blockbuster films no longer seek to make multi-million dollar box-office grosses alone; instead also relying on new media such as video games and action figures and other merchandising revenue to capitalize on a franchise. With the upcoming release of the new film Thor, a slue of other merchandise is on its way. Thor is scheduled for release in the United States on May 6^th.  A wave of action figures has already been released and Thor the video game is scheduled for release May 3^rd: three days before the film hits theaters (Hasbro, Sega, IMDb).  So, when did movies become an advertisement for upcoming video games and action figures based on the movie? Where can I find a fully adjustable Don Vito Corleone action figure with a working tommy-gun blaster? These are questions that we may never know the answer to, but this case study may prove to be a valid answer to those questions.

In 1977, George Lucas released his space opera- epic, Star Wars, and children everywhere were eager to get their hands on Darth Vader and Han Solo action figures. In 1999, George Lucas released Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, which originally seemed to be created to spite Star Wars fans everywhere. Upon inspection, though, it is clear that the new series of Star Wars films: The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, and Revenge of the Sith were created because their box office success, as well as their ancillary market success, was guaranteed.

The original three Star Wars films have served me as a moral compass my entire life. In fact, I have been known to say that 100% of all crimes committed are by those who: a) have not seen Star Wars or b) didn’t get it. The first three Star Wars films: A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi, although labeled episodes 4, 5, and 6, were a completed story in and of themselves. So why create another three films to add to the beginning of a story which we already know the ending to? Being a “high-concept” series of films, the new Star Wars trilogy is a “perfect storm” of merchandising.

What is a “high-concept” film, you ask? A high-concept film “ is based on two major components: a simplification of character and narrative, and a strong match between image and music soundtrack throughout the film; the narrative is frequently set within the bounds of genre and viewer expectation” (Wyatt 16). The reason for the simplified characters and narrative was to create an easily sellable product. High-concept films are often criticized as being shallow and unoriginal because they focus on making money as opposed to original story. A classic example of a high-concept film is Jaws. The film was based on a simple idea: what if there was a bloodthirsty super-shark in Earth’s oceans? The film was easy to understand as the story was straightforward and delivered on its premise. Not only that, but it also begged the question, “what would I do if I was harassed by a bloodthirsty super-shark?” In addition to keeping people like me out of the ocean for years and years, the film also grossed over 125 million dollars in the first three months of its opening and over 129 million dollars in rentals since then (boxofficemojo.com). Perhaps the highest-concept film ever made; Snakes on a Plane did not disappoint viewers, as it was literally nothing but Samuel L. Jackson on a plane full of snakes. Because of Snakes on a Plane’s ability to deliver on its simple and easily understood premise, it grossed over 34 million dollars during its stint in movie theaters (boxofficemojo.com).

When we think of a high-concept film, usually any blockbuster comes to mind. Truth is, high concept films were around before the blockbusters of the 70’s. Most exploitation films could be considered high-concept. The era of blaxploitation took already formed stories and changed the characters race. For instance, in Blacula, we see another Dracula story, but this time Dracula is black and “deadlier than Dracula,” (AIP). Since the rise of the blockbuster in the mid 70’s, though, high-concept and blockbuster seem to go hand in hand as the major studio’s have taken the marketing and production model for Jaws and applied it to nearly every blockbuster they create. They drop tens of millions of dollars on one movie, advertise it with commercials, billboards and product tie-ins, and then schedule for a saturated release.

So how are the new Star Wars films high-concept? The new Star Wars trilogy is an extension of the old Star Wars films and if one were to be asked to sum up the three films in a single simple sentence, their response would be: “The story of how everyone got to be where they start in the original three Star Wars films.” The idea is as simple as that and since we are already familiar with the characters from the original trilogy, the story is easy to follow and very straight forward.

20^th Century Fox decided to fund and distribute George Lucas’ Star Wars and when decided on the how the proceeds of the film were to be divided, Lucas took the option to forgo the immediate paycheck from the company and instead secured the rights to all future sequels and merchandising. After Star Wars was released and became a massive hit, Lucas became a billionaire.

Star Wars merchandise was extremely popular during the late seventies and early eighties as fans were buying clothing and toys so they could imagine new stories in the world of Star Wars. Plastic light sabers along with action figures and dolls were a huge success and allowed for an endless stream of revenue for Lucas and his Star Wars franchise. In fact, people were so eager to get their hands on Star Wars merchandise; there was even an “empty-box” campaign in which companies sold empty boxes to customers as a promise that they would eventually supply the toys that were meant to go along with the box (Becker, Burns).

During the 80’s, after the original trilogy was released, 6 video games were released that dealt with the films and any spin-off serials originated in the original Star Wars. Lucas’ foresight into the nature of Star Wars merchandising and the popularity of the future franchise built a merchandising empire. In fact, “by the tenth anniversary of the premier of Star Wars, the retail sales of [Star Wars bubblegum, books, wallpaper, piggy banks, ect.] were more than 2.6 billion,” (exporters-sources.com). Up until 1999, Star Wars products have made an “estimated $4 billion, four times as much as the movies,” (Entertainment Weekly).

Although 16 years had passed between the release of Return of the Jedi and The Phantom Menace, Star Wars related merchandise never really stopped selling. In 1997, two years before the release of The Phantom Menace, George Lucas rereleased the original Star Wars trilogy with several changes; most notably new CGI technology that was not available in the 70’s and early 80’s. Most of these changes are minor and supply additional background to give the film a larger scope.

Then, two years after the rerelease of the original trilogy, The Phantom Menace was released. George Lucas was trying to control the hype for the newest Star Wars film but only releasing the trailer in 200 theaters and he even went as far as to not allow retailers to advertise new Star Wars products until two days after the films release.  The Phantom Menace had already made a tremendous amount of money before it was even released. “PepsiCo dished out an estimated $2 billion for the Wars license,” in addition to fast food chains Taco Bell, KFC, and Pizza Hut spending  $50 million for the “Defeat the Dark Side” sweepstakes (Entertainment Weekly). The same fast food chains also won the rights to product tie-ins for the next installment of the trilogy but Burger King won the rights to product tie-ins for the DVD box set release in 2004 and the third installment of the trilogy in 2005.

In 2004, the original trilogy was re-rereleased and had even more changes to the film, which included the addition of Hayden Christianson at the end of the film instead of the actor who originally portrayed the non-suited Darth Vader and of course, the moment the title of this essay alludes to, Jar Jar Binks exclaiming “Weesa Free!” at the end of Return of the Jedi. Many tried and true fans of the original trilogy felt as if they were Luke, Leia, and Han stuck in the trash compactor: trying desperately to forget the new films, but the new films were encroaching into the originals and there was nothing they could do but scream for C-3PO. Possibly in response to fan outrage to the 2004 editions of the original films, Lucas re-re-rereleased the original trilogy in 2006 with the unaltered versions of the films in addition to the altered additions. On top of that, Lucas plans to release both trilogies in one blu-ray box set in late 2011 and if that wasn’t enough Star Wars, the films will be coming back to theaters starting in 2012, but this time they will be in 3D.

During the 1990’s the Star Wars franchise saw a dramatic increase in the amount of video games released with 21 video games; over 3 times the amount that were produced the previous decade. With the new trilogy being released in 1999, the 2000’s were about to see a major spike in Star Wars related video games. In the 2000’s alone, there have been 82 Star Wars video games released. “Star Wars: Battlefront,” a video game series started in 2004, has sold over 10 million units and in 2005, Lego and Lucas teamed up to release a series of Lego Star Wars games, which in 6 years have sold over 20 million units. The average price of these video games in 2004 and 2005 were from 40-50 dollars per unit, so multiplying the 40-50 dollar price tag by the amount of units sold creates a hefty revenue stream of roughly 1.4 billion dollars. These two particular game series’ only account for 9 of the 82 Star Wars video games released in the 2000’s.  Another 5 Star Wars video games: “Shadow of the Empire,” “Knights of the Old Republic,” “Episode III,” “Rogue Squadron,” and “Podracer,” racked up 1.98, 1.48, 1.41, 1.59, and 1.71 million units sold respectively for a total of 8.17 million units sold (the-magicbox.com).

So what’s the point of all these numbers and re-re-re-rereleases? Like I said in the first sentence, we live in an age of corporate America. Companies are paying billions of dollars just to be able to put a Star Wars image on their product. The Phantom Menace released on 2,970 screens across America to the tune of over 431 million dollars, but surprisingly, that’s not where this film made the majority of its money. The money was in the marketing: the companies willing to pay for an extra logo, the video games, the toys, the clothes and stickers and lunch boxes.

Along the lines of “jumping the shark”, a term originated to express the exact moment when a good thing goes too far (refers to the moment in the popular T.V show “Happy Days” when Fonzie jumps a shark in a skii-doo), “Jar-Jarring” refers to adding something misleading or irrelevant to a great piece of work for personal or monetary gain leading to a diluted version of the original. This term got its meaning in 2004 when my friends and I sat down to watch the new version of Return of the Jedi and during the celebration of the destruction of the second Death Star, we saw the character Jar Jar Binks exclaim “Weesa Free!” Many great things have been Jar- Jarred: for instance, all of the political and religious leaders in centuries past rewriting the Bible to support their own cause. Can you blame any of these people for changing the Bible to support their cause? Can you blame George Lucas for adding in the worst character in all of Star Wars lore to the end of the original trilogy? Yes, and you should! But it’s at least important to know why they did so. For George Lucas, it was because people would buy his products. For the preceding 20 years people had been purchasing his products happily, and he knew they would continue to do so. Hell, I might buy a Star Wars shirt online right now (proceed to checkout—1 Star Wars t-shirt, 1 Don Vito Corleone action figure with tommy-gun blaster). The moment when Star Wars changed from a science-fiction film into pop-culture phenomenon is the moment the Star Wars franchise turned from a trilogy into a business.

So when a new film like Thor has a line of action figures and a video game out months before the film is released, it’s because George Lucas and Star Wars showed America that if consumers were excited about a product enough, they would be willing to buy an empty box based on the fact that they would eventually get the product that was meant to be in that box.

After the new Star Wars trilogy, studios and companies quickly realized that blockbusters aren’t all about big box office numbers. They’re all about product tie-ins and merchandise because that’s where the real money is. The change is clear: with services like Netflix, people are now more willing to wait a few months for a movie to come out on DVD so they can rent it for a monthly fee; they don’t have to leave the comfort of their own homes or pay extra for a ticket.  Like George Lucas proved: if you can get people excited about the merchandise, the film becomes just a portion of the revenue stream.

Works Cited

American International Pictures. 1956-1980. Los Angeles, California.

Becker, Edith; Burns, Kevin. Empire of Dreams. 20^th Century Fox, 2004.

Boxofficemojo.com. http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=jaws.htm.            http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=snakesonaplane.htm.

Exporters Sources. http://exporters-sources.com/casethe-star-wars-trilogy/.

Fierman, Daniel; Jenson, Jeff.  “Wars Games,” Entertainment Weekly, 1999.

Hasbro. http://www.hasbro.com/marvel/en_us/avengers/thor/. 2011.

IMDb.com. 1990-2011.

Sega. http://www.sega.com/news/?n=4996. 2011.

The-magicbox.com. http://www.the-magicbox.com/Chart-USPlatinum.shtml.

Wyatt, Justin. High Concept: Movies and Marketing in Hollywood.

University of Texas Press, 1997. Print.