dan

2. SUMMARY• FIRST OF ALL, THE FILM, DIRECTED AND WRITTEN BY CREATOR OF THE SERIES, GEORGE LUCAS, PREQUELS THE ORIGINAL TRILOGY, CONTINUING THE
POPULAR SPACE SAGA, FOLLOWING THE YOUNG JEDI APPRENTICE OBI- WAN KENOBI AND MASTER QUI- GON GINN GOING TO WAR TO ENABLE TRADE
ON PLANET NABOO. THE MOVIE WAS HIGHLY ANTICIPATED BY FANS OF THE ORIGINAL SERIES, 15 YEARS AFTER THE LAST FILM AND THERE WAS A HUGE
CHANCE FOR MANY COMPANIES TO CASH IN INTO ADVERTISEMENTS, PRODUCTS, FOOD, GAMES AND MERCHANDISE TO BOOST THE AMOUNT THAT
THE FILM WOULD MAKE AFTER IT RELEASES.
• THE FILM HAD A BUDGET AROUND $115 MILLION USD, OVER $100 MILLION MORE THAN THE FIRST STAR WARS FILM, RELEASED IN 1977, AND ACHIEVED
AROUND $64,820,970 USD IN ITS OPENING WEEKEND ON MAY 16TH 1999, AROUND $474,544,677 US GROSS AND $1,027,044,677 CUMULATIVE
WORLDWIDE GROSS. MOST OF THIS MONEY AND SUCCESS WAS ALL DOWN TO THE MARKETING OF THE FILM AND HOW IT WAS ADVERTISED.
• BEFORE THE RELEASE, THE ANTICIPATION FOR THE FILM WAS SO SURREAL, IT WAS ALMOST LIKE THIS WAS THE ONLY FILM TO BE RELEASED THAT YEAR,
BUT NO, THIS FILM SEEMED TO BE SOMETHING VERY SPECIAL INDEED. HOWEVER THE FILM REVEALED TO BE A HUGE DISAPPOINTMENT TO MOST STAR
WARS FANS, LEAVING THE NEXT TWO CONFIRMED FILMS IN THE SERIES

3. TARGET AUDIENCE
• LUCASFILMS WANTED THE TARGET AUDIENCE, BEING FANS OF THE ORIGINAL TRILOGY, FANS OF SCI-FI,
CHILDREN AND THE GENERAL PUBLIC, THE PURPOSE OF THIS IS FOR LOTS OF PEOPLE TO PUT THEIR MONEY
INTO THE FILM, TO EMPTY THEIR POCKETS SO THEY COULD PROFIT EVEN MORE FROM THE FILM WHICH
WOULD HELP THE PRODUCTION OF THE NEXT TWO CONFIRMED FILMS MUCH MORE SO, AND ALSO FOR
THEIR PERSONAL GAIN AND CUT FROM THE FILMS RELEASE. FROM THE HUGE AMOUNT OF ORIGINAL FANS
WHO LOVED THE FIRST THREE MOVIES, IT WOULD BE ALMOST CERTAIN THAT THEY WOULD GO TO WATCH
THE FILM AND POSSIBLY BUY THE MERCHANDISE BUT LUCASFILMS, HOWEVER FOR OTHER PEOPLE WHO
ARENT THAT BIG FANS OF THE SERIES OR PEOPLE WHO HAVE REALLY NO IDEA WHAT IT IS ABOUT, IT IS
IMPORTANT TO MAKE SURE THAT A LARGE PROPORTION ARE AWARE AND INTRIGUED BY THE FILM,
CURIOUS TO WANT TO SEE WHAT THE FILM IS ABOUT OR WHAT CERTAIN PRODUCTS ARE LIKE. CHILDREN
FROM AGES 4-12 ARE THE EASIEST GROUP TO INFLUENCE AS THEY WILL WANT TO BUY TOYS OR GET
MERCHANDISE FOR SOMETHING THEY SEE EVERYWHERE OR WHO HAVE SEEN THE ORIGINAL TRILOGY.

4. The movie, although was enjoyed by the immediate audience for its next level special effects and over the top storyline
and acting, the movie had a sour aftertaste, leaving many fans to wear off the hype for the film and smell the coffee that
the film was average at best and to regard it in the same way as star wars was an insult to the legacy, hoping that George
Lucas would turn around the trilogy for the better.

5. This was all surreal for fans, having waited 16 years for the release, being
downloaded 10 million times. Films in the late 90’s started to broaden their
ideas and effects such as toy story, which was the first Pixar movie and blew
audiences minds as it was entirely done through a computer, this was the
same with the phantom menace as they experimented with the money from
the original franchise and planned to make an over the top, epic space movie,
with large space battles, massive race arenas and this blew the minds in the
trailer, although the fanbase was bamboozled by the effects, they were blinded
to the story and terrible acting which ruined the movie, even though the
budget went over $1 billion, the film was to be a stain on the series forever.

6. PLATFORMS
SECONDLY, THE POSTER WAS RELEASED SOON AFTER THE TEASER TRAILER
WAS DROPPED, FOLLOWING THE SAME CONCEPT FOR A STAR WARS FRONT
COVER WITH THE CHARACTERS EDITED AROUND WITH THE MAIN FOCUSED
CHARACTER DEAD ON IN THE MIDDLE TO DRAW ATTENTION TO THE AUDIENCE,
WHOM THEY KNEW THAT LITTLE INNOCENT BOY WOULD SOON BECOME DARTH
VADER, THE MOST ICONIC VILLAIN IN SCI-FI HISTORY. FROM THE START, THE
COLOUR SCHEME IS VERY DARK, LIKE SPACE, MYSTERIOUS AROUND THE NEW
CHARACTERS SUCH AS QUI- GON GINN AND DARTH MAUL WITH THE BRIGHT
LIGHT FOCUSED ON ANIKAN IN THE CENTRE OF THE IMAGE, THE “BRIGHT STAR”
IN THE TRILOGY WHICH IS INCREDIBLE FORSHADOWING AS THE AUDIENCE IS
AWARE OF WHAT IS YET TO BECOME. THE POSTER SHARES A LOT IN COMMON
WITH THE TRAILER AS IT BOTH HAS THE SAME COLOUR SCHEMES, FOCUSES
ON THE SAME CHARACTERS AND FOCUSES ON THE REVAMP OF AN ICONIC
SERIES

7. PLATFORMS
With the technical limitations of the 90’s, social media barely existed, the
only platform on the internet where official posts were made about the film
was on the official star wars website, Lucas films announced a teaser for
the trailer shorty before it was released and was an instant hit. The trailer
was downloaded from this site and from many other websites and was
downloaded 10 million times in a short space of time by fans and the
general audience.
The similarities between the platforms is that all were on the internet,
focused on the same characters and settings, shown the audience a
glimpse of what to expect from the film. All having the same iconic star
wars fonts, all were incredibly important for marketing in promoting the
film.

8. THE MARKETING CAMPAIGN• LUCASFILMS WANTED THE TARGET AUDIENCE, BEING FANS OF THE ORIGINAL TRILOGY, FANS OF SCI-FI, CHILDREN AND THE GENERAL PUBLIC, TO PUT
THEIR MONEY INTO THE FILM, TO EMPTY THEIR POCKETS SO THEY COULD PROFIT EVEN MORE FROM THE FILM WHICH WOULD HELP THE PRODUCTION
OF THE NEXT TWO CONFIRMED FILMS MUCH MORE SO IN ORDER TO GAIN THE HYPE AND INCREASE THEIR SALES, LUCASFILMS NEED TO GET HEAVILY
INTO ADVERTISING.
• ORIGINALY, THE TEASER TRAILER RELEASED HTTPS://WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/WATCH?V=SYKHD9Y8EQI, ACROSS TVS, CINEMAS, REFERENCED IN
MAGAZINES, BILLBOARDS AND E.T.C MAKING PEOPLE AWARE THAT THE FILM WAS HAPPENING AND TO BE RELEASED IN THE NEAR FUTURE
• BEFORE THE RELEASE OF THE FILM, LUCASFILMS SIGNED A CONTRACTS WITH LEGO, HASBRO, BURGER KING, PEPSI AND SO MANY OTHER HUGE
EVERYDAY COMPANIES, SPENDING UNDER $20 MILLION OF THE FILMS BUDGET. LUCASFILMS HAD THERE IDEAS SET ON HOW THEY WANTED TO
MANIPULATE PEOPLE INTO SEEING ADVERTISEMENTS FOR THE FILM, USING BIG COMPANIES THAT THE MAJORITY OF THE PUBLIC ARE FAMILIAR WITH
AND USE THEM AS PROPAGANDA FOR YOUR PRODUCT. WITH BURGER KING, MANY EUROPEAN CHAINS MADE THEIR OWN BURGER IN HOMAGE TO THE
FILMS RELEASE, MANY CHILDREN'S TOY COMPANIES GOT INVOLVED SUCH AS LEGO TO INFLUENCE CHILDREN AND CONVINCE THEIR GULLIBLE MINDS
INTO DRAGGING THEIR PARENTS INTO VIEWING THE FILM AND BUYING THE MERCHANDISE, COMPANIES SOLD ACTION FIGURE AFTER ACTION FIGURE
FROM CHARACTERS

9. Second trailer was
released on March
12, 1999, building
hype
A bootlegged version of the
preview was leaked to the
Internet the same day. The next
morning, the trailer was released
on the film's official website and
shortly afterwards the servers
became overloaded.
The teaser poster, featuring
Anakin with his shadow
forming Darth Vader's
silhouette, was released on
November 10, 1998
Poster was
unveiled on
March 11, 1999

10. THE MARKETING CAMPAIGN
• THE TIMING IN RELEASING ALL THESE DIFFERENT KINDS OF MERCHANDISE AND ADVERTISEMENT WAS ALMOST
PERFECT AS THE MONEY BEGAN TO ROLL IN ALMOST INSTANTLY, SELLING OUT TOY SHOPS ACROSS THE GLOBE IN
GREAT ANTICIPATION FOR THE FILMS RELEASE. SELLING OUT MOVIE THEATRES EVEN BEFORE THE FILM HAD BEEN
RELEASED, IN NOVEMBER 1998, THEATRES WERE JAM PACKED FULL OF FANS TO WATCH THE RELEASE TRAILER FOR
THE FILM THAT THEY HAD WAITED SINCE 1993 TO SEE, TO ANSWER QUESTIONS THAT HAD BEEN ASKED SINCE THEN. “
WHAT WILL DARTH MAUL LOOK LIKE?”, “ WHO IS IN IT?”, “ WHAT EFFECTS WOULD BE USED?” AND AS A RESULT OF
THIS, TICKET SALES WENT THROUGH THE ROOF WHEN THE DAY FINALLY CAME THAT STAR WARS EPISODE ONE WAS
TO BE RELEASED. AS THE INTERNET WASN’T AS BROAD AS IT IS TODAY, MANY FANS WENT INTO THE THEATRES WITH
THEIR EXPECTATIONS VERY HIGH HOWEVER THE FILM WAS MET WITH A POOR RATING AND LEFT FANS OF THE SERIES
VERY DISAPPOINTED AT THE END OF IT ALL, HOPING THAT THE NEXT TWO WOULD LIVE UP TO THE EXPECTATIONS THEY
ORIGINALLY HAD FOR THE PHANTOM MENACE. THE MARKETING CAMPAIGN WAS A HUGE SUCCESS THOUGH,
CONTRIBUTING MOSTLY IN THE HUGE $1.027 BILLION THAT WAS ACHIEVED, WITH A PROFIT OF AROUND
$912,044,677 PROFIT TO THE COMPANIES INVOLVED IN THE MARKETING