Five things to know about “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.”
Associated Press
1. “The Force Awakens” marks the third beloved series that director J.J. Abrams has inherited. He previously helmed the third “Mission: Impossible” film and the first two “Star Trek” reboots. Purists of the latter may disagree, but in each case Abrams took measures to honor the sagas’ legacies. His choice of “The Empire Strikes Back” and “Return of the Jedi” co-writer Lawrence Kasdan to help pen “The Force Awakens” suggests a similar respect for “Star Wars.”
2. Besides a credit for creating the series’ surviving characters, George Lucas’ involvement with “The Force Awakens” is limited to being a creative consultant. That’s music to the ears of fans who aren’t fond of Lucas’ “Special Edition” tinkering with episodes IV-VI and like to believe that I-III never happened.
3. “The Force Awakens” is the first “Star Wars” film to open in December. All prior installments went wide in May, except “The Empire Strikes Back,” which was released in June 1980. Will the awards season date increase its Oscar chances?
4. The film’s plot remains unclear. A few images, moving and still, and many new character names have been revealed, but not much else — so job well done to the cast and crew for a truly successful secrecy campaign.
The time last we saw Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Han Solo, Chewbacca, C-3PO and R2D2, they were having a dance party with Ewoks on Endor after destroying the second Death Star. All six return 30 years later in “The Force Awakens” and join “nobody” junk collector Rey (Daisy Ridley), stormtrooper-turned-good guy Finn (John Boyega) and the evil Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) — he of the red three-pronged lightsaber — who vows to finish what Darth Vader started.
5. Act now if you want to see it opening day — or opening weekend … and possibly opening week. “The Force Awakens” is predicted to unseat “Jurassic World” as the box office champ of 2015, and many shows of have already sold out, so purchasing advance tickets online or in person at your favorite local theater is strongly recommended. Dec. 18 is the official release date, but evening shows begin at 7 p.m. Dec. 17.
Are you the county’s biggest ‘Star Wars’ fan?
We’re looking for Butler County’s biggest Star Wars fan, someone with a most impressive collection of action figures, starships, costumes, comic books and other collectibles? We’d like to hear about and possibly highlight your dedication before “The Force Awakens” debuts. Send a short video to ecs410@gmail.com showing off your collection. Please include your name, where you’re from and the best number at which to reach you during daytime hours.
Are you the county’s biggest ‘Star Wars’ fan?
We’re looking for Butler County’s biggest Star Wars fan, someone with a most impressive collection of action figures, starships, costumes, comic books and other collectibles? We’d like to hear about and possibly highlight your dedication before “The Force Awakens” debuts. Send a short video to ecs410@gmail.com showing off your collection. Please include your name, where you’re from and the best number at which to reach you during daytime hours.
“The Force Awakens” this week and with it comes an economic impact expected to generate billions in ticket sales and merchandising worldwide from the seventh film in the storied Star Wars series.
“Star Wars: The Force Awakens” opens Thursday night at local theaters and the film — started in 1977 with “Star Wars” (or a “A New Hope,” to die-hard fans) — has been marketed with merchandise that goes well beyond childhood figurines and toys.
If you haven’t bought your Chewbacca coffee creamer, there’s still time to add it to your purchase of a Millennium Falcon bed at Pottery Barn or CoverGirl nail polish, mascara and lipstick in such shades as Droid, Jedi and Dark Apprentice.
The new movie has it all, selling out many opening night showings via Fandango, a movie ticket website that crashed when tickets first went on sale in October.
The Walt Disney film is expected to bring in $650 million in the United States and $2 billion worldwide, according to Fortune Magazine.
And those are just ticket sales. Macquarie Securities analyst Tim Nollen told CNN that merchandise tied to “The Force Awakens” could generate an annual $5 billion and Disney could see about $500 million in licensing and retail revenue.
Cultural touchstone
Dave Filipi, director of film and video at Ohio State University’s Center for the Arts, said Star Wars is such a cultural touchstone that it’s hard to know what to compare it to.
“It’s beyond a popular movie,” Filipi said. “It has achieved the level of one of those familiar stories and sets of characters that kind of transcend a particular moment. It becomes cross-generational.”
The has already broken box-office records by amassing over $50 million in pre-ticket sales. The previous record holder was “The Dark Knight Rises” with $25 million, according to the Associated Press.
Another franchise Disney owns is Marvel, which is cranking out not only superhero movies and comic books, but new “Star Wars” titles, including an eponymous monthly and one based on the exploits of Darth Vader.
Bob Justice, manager of Fairfield’s Queen City Comics, said Marvel’s decision to publish monthly “Star Wars” and “Darth Vader” titles has paid off, sparking foot traffic at the Butler County business and topping all other Marvel titles and everything by DC Comics.
“The Star Wars and Darth Vaders are pretty much … the top sellers of all of them” he said. “The only thing that’s close is Justice League, which is a little bit behind it.”
Much of the buzz generated by “The Force Awakens” is people getting excited about the unknown, Justice said.
“The idea of the movie is, in a lot of ways, a lot cooler than actually having the movie,” he said. “The anticipation does wonders.”
Local fans ready
Jason Rutledge, of West Chester, was born in 1981 and grew up watching the original “Star Wars” trilogy on videocassette, so much so that the recordings developed a green line through the screen from overuse.
“It was completely out of this world,” Rutledge said. “The story was so different than anything else because unlike Star Trek, it’s fantasy sci-fi whereas Star Trek is strictly science fiction.”
It helped that the films also pitted the technologically advanced and utterly evil Galactic Empire versus a ragtag band of rebels, a group of underdogs that emerge victorious despite overwhelming odds against them, he said.
Rutledge serves as executive commander of the Ohio Garrison of the 501st Legion, an international volunteer club of more than 10,000 “Star Wars” costume enthusiasts worldwide that help others via special guest appearances for “Make a Wish Foundation” and other charitable events and fundraisers. The group has approximately 90 members in Ohio, of which approximately 25 are from the Greater Cincinnati area.
Since hearing of the movie’s release, Rutledge said he’s been avoiding spoilers and enjoying trailers for the movie.
“They’re giving us just enough that we kind of know what’s going on but they kind of haven’t given us any story, which is great because it keeps us wondering what’s going to happen.”
He said it seems there’s more hype and excitement surrounding “The Force Awakens” because of Disney, the franchise’s new owner, which is “probably the best at marketing as opposed to any other company.”
“When you walk into Kroger, you see Star Wars stuff with everything,” he said. “It’s everywhere, so I think that’s feeding into the frenzy of the fandom.”
Valerie Britton, of Hamilton, said she saw “Star Wars” in 1977 with her mother and father at a theater near her family’s Lindenwald home and then many times thereafter at the theater and on TV.
“We just fell in love with it,” Britton said. “It was so different.”
Now she watches each of the franchise’s six movies “probably three or four times a year” and plans to see “The Force Awakens” many more times beyond opening night.
Tracey Hamilton, of Monroe, said he’s been hooked on “Star Wars” since seeing the original movie in 1977 at nine years old.
He’s been a collector of many things over the years since then, including pre-production items, storyboards and screen-used movie props, but most especially the toys, something he called “a magical extension of the film.”
“Anytime I could get my hands on the toys, I was always spending my allowance on them and going over to a friend’s house because they had toys I didn’t have,” Hamilton said.
With a collection that’s become “quite vast,” Hamilton said he’s drawing the line for “The Force Awakens” collecting at the 3-and-3/4-inch action figures and nothing larger.
“I’d like to get one of each of all of those from the film and that’s where I’ll stop because … I still like to spend money on the vintage stuff because I look at it as an investment,” he said. “In my opinion, the vintage stuff will always be good because that’s what everybody opened up and played with and there’s just not as much of that around.”
Target in Bridgewater Falls of Fairfield Twp. is just one of many stores nationwide well-stocked with “Star Wars” merchandise of many kinds, including an entire aisle and an end-cap dedicated to toys
End caps throughout the store show off “Star Wars” merchandise, everything from cake pans, water bottles and stockings to backpacks, thermoses, and pencils, according to store manager Lauren Dill.
“It’s in almost a little bit of everywhere throughout the store,” Dill said.
Britton said she is among those thrilled to see “Star Wars” merchandise in many shapes and forms.
“Now, finally, women are getting merchandise, we’re getting clothes, jewelry and makeup,” she said. “It’s not only just in the guys’ department. We were never able to do that before and that was one of the big complaints of a lot of my girlfriends is ‘Why don’t the girls have anything? We’re just as much fans as the guys, if not bigger in some cases.”
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