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Week 8: Long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…



 I don’t think that there is anyone in the civilized word that don’t know these words.  That’s how in 1977 began the biggest since-fiction story of all times. 
 
George Lucas started his story untypically from episode 4 “A New Hope” .
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The next was “The Empire Strikes Back”  In 1980.
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The last part -  episode 6 „Return of The Jedi” had its premiere in 1983.
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George Lucas came back with episode 1 “The Phantom Menace” in 1999. The first new episode was a great disappointment, criticized by fans of the old episodes. Nevertheless the film was a financial success.

The next was “Attack of the Clones”  in 2002.
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The last move issued so far was “Revenge of the Sith” in 2005.
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The film turned to be a tremendous success. Millions of fans all around the world went crazy about the story of Luke Skywalker and Rebel Alliance battling The Empire in a galaxy far, far away. And here my question arises? Why? Star wars wasn’t the first science fiction movie ever made. The story presented in that series wasn’t very original. A simple battle between good and evil repeated countless times in almost all Hollywood movies. So why, why people all around the world just loved Star Wars. What made people wait for countless hours in very, very long lines to buy tickets for the next episode of Star Wars. And they surely bought a lot of them. Star Wars was a commercial success on a scale never seen in Hollywood history.  Till our times only the Harry Potter series and James Bond series (but it contains over 20 movies so I think that it’s hardly comparable) earned more money as a film series.

Star wars made George Lucas one of the richest film directors in history. The series ( including the first 3 episodes filmed later) brought tremendous income for the producers ( including George Lucas himself of course). Only from the tickets the income was quite impressive (the numbers below represent the value without taking the inflation into account):

  • The Phantom Menace - 924 mln $
  • Revenge of the Sith - 848 mln $
  • A New Hope - 775 mln $
  • Attack of the Clones - 649 mln $
  • The Empire Strikes Back - 538 mln $
  • Return of The Jedi - 475 mln $

But that’s not all. Star Wars became a culture icon, the brand that the companies like Lucas Film and Lucas Arts sold out for over 40 years with quite nice income too:

  • 12 bilion  $ toys
  •  3,755 bilion  $ DVDs
  •  2,900 bilion  $ video games
  •  1,820 bilion  $ books
  •   1,304 bilion  $ others

That brings us to total over 27 billion USD income.  

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Nowadays you can by almost anything based on the Expanded Universe of Star Wars, books, toys ,games, clothes anything you can imagine. There are countless references in other films, music, TV shows.  Nowadays The Wald Disney Company bought the commercial rights from Lucas Film and announced that in 2015 we can expect next 7th episode of Star Wars.

Star wars has influenced people all around the world in many different ways.  Even in higher mental form. The Jedi Church is an official religion in many countries. Redently in the UK it has come out that it is the 7th most popular religion in the UK (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/9737886/Jedi-religion-most-popular-alternative-faith.html)


Even if some of you never saw Star Wars I’m almost certain that somewhere you have heard its main music theme. Epic film music was composed by John Williams. It has become the most recognizable move themes of all times. 

The Main Theme

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAUVaBFtjfc 

The Imperial March 

The Phantom Menace –“The Duel of Fates” 

Entire Star Wars music performed regularly by symphonic orchestras all around the world.

So my question stands. What do you think is the source of the tremendous success. Maybe you are a Star Wars fan yourself?

 I’m definitely a Star Wars fan. I watch the movie countless times, and to be honest I can’t answer to those questions myself. There is something in that movies that makes them timeless but I can’t explain what is it exactly.

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May the Force be with us all.

Comments

I think that the biggest influence for Star Wars success have a graphic communication and realism. Space ships, weapons, armors of stormtroopers and the other characters, droids and common stuff which was made for saga are designed so that we could think they are really exist. Of course, in many earlier science-fiction movies there was a many similar things, however until Star Wars they really got realistic and characteristic view, e.g. lightsaber (every one of this “elegant” weapons are assigned for different character and have quite logic explanation of work).
It’s true about the Force, nowadays many people wish have this mysterious energy for a moment at least (Jedi or Sith abilities).
About music? It’s epic. Music composed by John William is incredible and brilliant show us spirit of entire saga and with this music we could travel to galaxy far far away.
Personally, I have watched many movies of this kind, but no one spoken to me like Star Wars saga, and until today I’m still fan of this universe.
Unknown said…
So the first thing: i am a huge fan of star wars and almost all Gorge Lucas studio productions. That was the thing that made Star Wars great succes? First of all we need to get back to the first movie (actually 4th but...) New Hope. it was released in 1977, so almost a 50 years ago! No one ever dreamed about special effects. And then Star Wars came in with super realistic star fights, cool looking aliens, robots that felt real. But the biggest thing was in my opinion the force. It gave people this thought that in training and concentration we can accomplish everything. Love Star Wars <3
I'll be totally honest here: I have NO IDEA why did these movies have such a tremendous success. Really. Personally I completely dislike Star Wars and find the movies boring. I never took the time to think why they are so awesome, simply because I didn't want to.
I am sure that the movies present a very high technical standard, each for its time. So that might be a big plus: good visual and audio effects. I mean, there are many movies that had a big success solely for their technical aspects.
It might be, that at the time when Star Wars was played for the first time science - fiction stuff was popular. I mean, Star Trek is not much older than Star Wars. Maybe that was a start off for the series, that later on grew and became a hit for years to come.
Anyways, I don't like Star Wars and most of the similar shows there are and it isn't really my favorite topic.
Unknown said…
I never liked Star Wars… I don’t know why but this movie is nothing special for me but if we think about 1977 audio, video effects which that production offered. It was for sure something new for people. Space, light sabers, droids and all this stuff. Another thing is the size of production and money invested in movie. Anyway I think the major factor of success was high technical standard of production and maybe the whole universe of Star Wars which is huge.
And you have to take into consideration that these special effects were made in late 1970’s without help of computers. In those times people creating those effects gave proof of their great ingenuity and imagination.
That only proves that Star Wars is not a movie for everyone. But you have to admit that those movies had a tremendous effect on the entire culture of their times and beyond. There has to be something more to it that good looking starfights.
Maybe you are right that if was just the effect of those times. Remember we landed on the Moon in 1969, and it seems that we will be colonizing space in nearest future. But if only that was the case why the phenomena of Star Wars lasted this long and I’m definitely sure that it will last for many, many years .
Sylwia said…
As all of you mentioned I also think the popularity of these movies started from technology. At the beginning it was quality, which make it special. However nowadays I think it is based on good marketing and history. After gaining so many funs and such big influence in their lifes it is easy to develop existing trend. Now it's money and popularity spiral, which is driven by those fans. We have to remember that Star Wars are not only the move, but whole life styl and all these gadgets. It was well planned and has been selling since then till now.
lukasz-anwajler said…
So my question stands. What do you think is the source of the tremendous success. Maybe you are a Star Wars fan yourself?

I think it's something similar to Tolkien - it is the whole world, not only a movie. There are so many details you can see - like shuttles, ships, war machines. The plot includes some elements which viewer looks for: love, knights, cool light sabres. We should also remember that at the time when the first movie was released its CGI was very innovative comparing to other movies and Star Wars for long time was (or even still is) a synonym to 'sci-fi' .
Natalia said…
What do you think is the source of the tremendous success. Maybe you are a Star Wars fan yourself?

I'm not realy a fan of the Star Wars, it is not like, I didn't enjoy watching it, but for me thease movies were just okay, nothing realy special. I don't understand the phenomen of this particular "universe", but I partly agree with Sylwia, that the marketing and history of this is worth to mention and could be the reason.
I don’t agree that this was only the technology. For example “Avatar” was also a tremendous step forward in entertainment technology but I really doubt that it will become such an icon as Star Wars
I think you touched the point of the issue. The world created by George Lucas was just fascinating, and the special effects and music were just the add-ons not the essence of the Star Wars Universe.
Seisyll said…
Well I am the fan of the old trilogy and what can I say. Star Wars had consistent story and background, which through all this years grew to something really amazing. I can't be precise, but all Star Wars movies, tv series, books and games bring world with thousands of years of history. Even with that there is still a lot of place for new films, games, etc.
I am pretty sure that the great role played those special effects and cool looking... everything, but personally I think that story and world was main part of success.
armandstanczak said…
TBH - I have no clue why did these movies have such a great success moneywise. They were nice and all, nice story, nice graphics. But what else? Terrible actors - I'm looking at You young Harrison Ford. Even the newest edition was just so so. But hey, there was a movie that made this into something even better - SPACEBALLS! You just need to see it.

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