New ‘Star Wars’ merchandise will spark ‘major bonanza’ for collectors

New ‘Star Wars’ merchandise will spark ‘major bonanza’ for collectors

Dec. 18 release of next 'Star Wars' film allows Disney and its merchandise partners to dominate this year's holiday market with products promoting the film.

Previous installments of the Star Wars franchise have come out during the summer, but due to Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ Dec. 18 release, Walt Disney Co. and its merchandise partners are gearing up to take over the holiday market. During the 10th Star Wars Celebration convention near Disneyland this week, fans of the iconic series got their first taste of the variety of Star Wars merchandise that will be hitting shelves this year to promote the first Disney-produced entry.

Disney acquired Star Wars maker Lucasfilm in 2012 for over $4 billion, and recently announced their intention to release five installments after this winter’s The Force Awakens. In addition to ensuring several successful years of Star Wars merchandise sales for their company, this move helped the wide variety of other merchandise companies who are also licensed to release Star Wars products. At the Anaheim Convention Center’s Star Wars Celebration convention this week, toy manufacturer Lego and video game company Electronic Arts all showed off the various products they have in stores and will soon be adding to shelves to promote the seventh Star Wars film. All Nippon Airways is even joining the frenzy, and unveiled an R2-D2 design on one of its newest planes.

“I predict a major bonanza,” Needham & Co. analyst Sean McGowan told SF Gate when asked about the impending future of Star Wars products. “The property is as vibrant as ever.”

The box office and merchandise-related success of Disney’s latest Marvel films and their award-winning animated film Frozen proves that the Star Wars franchise is in good hands, but critics are warning the company to tread carefully with the space series and the products they release if they want to keep die-hard fans on board for their next six Star Wars installments.

“The fans of ‘Star Wars’ will put you in your place if you don’t deliver the goods,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at the box office tracking firm Rentrak. “They are the best arbiters of the brand. They can be your mightiest marketing foot soldiers, or they can be your biggest nightmare. A lot is riding on them to get the word out in a positive way.”

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