Star Wars was a pioneer in many ways, and one of them was merchandising. George Lucas, as we all know, savvily kept the rights to his creation and figured out new ways to make money off it, using the license for everything from video games to plastic lightsabers. But now Star Wars is in the hands of the ultimate merch machine, Disney, and we haven’t seen anything yet.
A recent report by Macquarie Securities analyst Tim Nollen estimates the potential merchandise sales in the wake of Star Wars: The Force Awakens to be $5 billion. Just for a little contrast, that would be more money than every single release and rerelease of the Star Wars movies has made, adjusted for inflation.
Granted, the sheer scale of this merch assault is ridiculous; in two days, there will basically be an 18-hour pitch made to fans on YouTube before retailers open up to sell you Chewbacca Crocs, T-shirts, bath soaps, and probably a commemorative Tan Vest Luke with the weird lightsaber. There are so many merchandising partners it’s hard to keep track of them all, but suffice to say, no matter what you might be interested in buying, there’s probably going to be a Star Wars version of it.
Still, $5 billion? Yeesh. Maybe that’s how the Emperor funded that second Death Star.
(Via The Hollywood Reporter)
