The over merchandising of Star Wars…

Sorry to disappoint you Brian But I have to agree with you. It was bad enough with the Star Wars characters at WDW with Mickey ears on them but they have gone completely over the top. I suppose that they can justify it as they need to get back what they paid George Lucas for the franchise. I can even understand them wanting to get the merchandise into the stores in time for Christmas shopping but then they should have released the movie sooner.

The merchandise can only get worse. I imagine they are holding back stuff until the movie opens in less than a week. Then boom, your Christmas tree will face the biggest phantom menace ever.

The merchandise isn't any worse than it was when the the three prequels opened. It's completely understandable that Disney is milking this puppy for everything it's worth, signing licensing deals with every partner under the sun. They have $4 billion to make back for their shareholders, and I'm guessing the initial plan was to do so within a decade. Movie profits only go so far, so these licensing deals is what will help Disney accelerate the return on the initial investment.

They are talking about $5 Billion in Merchandise. There is no was the past movies were even close to this type of merchandise avalanche. Disney will get all of the $4 Billion back with just this One movie Plus merchandise royalties.

The $4 Billion they sent on Lucas films was for a long term investment not overload all at once...

But when I saw that Cover Girl Star Wars ad... I said too much... Too much... No need to flood the market with overabundance of Media.

Merchandise revenue alone will equal what Disney paid for Lucasfilm after 10 years. My guess is that after the movie comes and goes, things will die down, and Disney won't exploit the franchise as much for the subsequent films. Also with a Star Wars movie coming out every year, Disney won't have the success The Force Awakens will. They will each be successful, but there's no way the spin off and stand alone films will generate the same buzz, and box office results as The Force Awakens, or the rest of the new main trilogy.

Sooooo, are you telling me that Disney shouldn't be hyping and mass merchandising their new flagship franchise they paid $4.5 Billion for? Why shouldn't Disney be doing the marketing machine thing? Everyone may not like Star Wars, but there are more that do than don't. It's a business, and nobody does marketing better than Disney. As far as the the makeup thing with Cover Girl, it's not being directed towards you, but girls like my 13 year old daughter absolutely love it. Sorry Brian, but If you don't like it, then don't watch it.

I won't say your assessment is wrong ... I will just say why does it matter? Why should anyone be concerned with these circumstances?

Disney will deserve criticism for overplaying their Star Wars hand when they announce the sequel to th StarWars Christmas Special.

SNL nails it...

Great SNL clip.

My point is simply - Disney is destroying the One of greatest Movie saga's ever made...

Why not leave a little on the bone for the next movie. Yes it concerns me with it's destruction. All this over marketing of merchandise can sour many life long fans.

Future generation will only think of the Disney machine and how it soured Star Wars...

Heck they already destroyed ESPN. I use to watch ESPN but no longer, the reporters cannot do or say what they want and it has changed for the worse. Pure Vanilla.

You do not need to bleed every dime out of this Movie. Leave a little to the imagination. Build up some anticipation so the public will want for more... Cover Girl hahahahaha...
Yes, Star Wars and Cover Girl are a complete and Obvious match.

And then Disney ignores the real money maker on my next installment... Stay tuned for "If Disney only had a Brain!".

Brian wrrites: "My point is simply - Disney is destroying the One of greatest Movie saga's ever made..."

I Respond: No, it's not.

Brian writes: "Why not leave a little on the bone for the next movie."

I Respond: Because there is no reason to. There is no benefit. Once the lights go down in the theater and the words fade in, the mass marketing and merchandising are no longer at the fore.

Brian writes: "Future generation will only think of the Disney machine and how it soured Star Wars..."

I Respond: No they won't. And it is kind of a questionable claim considering the Disney logo will not appear in the film.

Quality VS Quantity - What Disney should have done is have quality merchandise not quantity… It’s the old shot gun approach, just try and hit something - kaaaa blammm.

All they are doing is creating cheap crap made in china that will end up on a landfill.

Now TH - are you saying Disney has not ruined ESPN by making it a pure Vanilla water down product?

I know the Movie will be fantastic, as stated we already have tickets for 10:00 PM Thursday night. But the cheap merchandise and logo being applied to everything, no thanks. Landfills get ready. Here comes a scores of Star Wars junk.

TH – Do you have a DD tea shirt on…. Ya know Disney Defender. And the Briefs to match.. hahahahaahaha

I'm not trying to be a Disney Defender here, but I think it's a stretch to say merchandising will destroy Star Wars. The franchise was heavily merchandised before Disney got involved--check out the Star Wars memorabilia on Ebay if you don't believe me--and the series has thrived, even after Lucas made those horrible prequels. If the movie is good, people won't care about some Cover Girl tie in.

Star Wars has pretty much always been heavily marketed. If you don't think so, then you haven't been paying attention. If the cover girl makeup thing really upsets you so much, then I would advise you to not purchase any. There is really no reason for Disney to leave some marketing in reserve for future movies. They are in the process of gaining an entire new generation of fans and also trying to get the old fans to be forgiving for the prequels. Disney needs to go all out for marketing and that's what they're doing. It just makes good business sense.

I actually think Disney has made the Star Wars franchise even bigger and better than it has ever been (and it was pretty big before).

Remember how everybody freaked out when Disney bought Star Wars? Now they are freaking out about the previews.

I don't watch ESPN. And whether or not the items for sale are regarded as "quality merchandise" is a decidedly subjective assessment.

Also the "b" in "briefs" should have been lower case.

(Chuckle)

Wait a minute ... The guy who tosses up a thread on Disney overexposing Star Wars is the same guy who drops the thread advocating the closure of DHS so it can be turned in to a theme park dedicated only to Star Wars?

Really?

Well, if Disney wants to downplay Star Wars, what better way to do that than containing it to DHS?

(ducks)

Robert - hahahahaha....

TH - come on... I have many ideas... Point being overexposing and over merchandising are different....

Now a Park devoted to Star Wars would be promoting the Brand while over merchandising will sour the taste for Star Wars..

I am a Huge Fan of Star Wars and I am worrying Disney will destroy it in a bad way bleeding every dime out of it, when in reality they should be embracing it in a creative effective way... Like building a beautiful park instead of blasting a Star Wars name on everything from Adult Diapers to Cat litter to bags of oranges....

Ever hear a song on the radio over and over and over till you no longer like it...

In that recent PBS film about Walt Disney, they mentioned all the merchandising of Mickey Mouse. Walt was slapping a Mickey onto everything he could find. Candy, toys, watches and even sliced bread had a Mickey. All that didn’t harm Mickey one bit, and I don’t think Star Wars will be harmed by branded oranges either.

Well, if I had too, I'd much rather wear an adult incontinence product called "Stormpoopers" than some wimpy old thing called "Depends."

Star Wars has transcended way beyond a simple brand. It's become entrenched in our culture, worldwide. At this point, I don't think it's possible to "over merchandise" Star Wars. It's not just a movie franchise any more. I understand that Star Wars is not everyone's cup of tea, but I think it's safe to say that there are more Star Wars fans than not, and now they have an entirely new young generation of fans to embrace it. Star Wars is going to be splashed all over the place for many more years to come, so we should all just get used to it.

Is Disney a White Slaver? That's What George Lucas said.

Yes Anon I did see that..... But funny how a few billion makes one happier...

Star Wars was over-merchandised way before Disney even thought of buying it.

I think the other difference is that this is the Social Media age. There really has not been a movie trilogy completely sold with Facebook, Twitter, and Instragram all up and running. Harry Potter (the closest alternative) earliest movies are a little older than the Social Media boom.

Also, ESPN hasn't really gotten worse, they finally have competition. The talent pool gets smaller when NBCSpeorts and Comcast Sportsnet start going after the same broadcasters!

Hell, Al Michaels went to NBCSports via Oswald the Lucky Rabbit