Star Wars: The Brand Phenomenon That Never Dies
February 27, 2008 by Susan Gunelius
Filed under Marketing
George Lucas is at it again. Now, I should preface this post by saying I am a big fan of the original Star Wars trilogy. With that said, now I’ll bash the Star Wars brand creep a bit.
It appears that George Lucas just can’t come up with any new ideas. His latest Star Wars endeavor – a feature film version of the computer animated Star Wars: The Clone Wars will debut in North American theaters on August 15, 2008 and international theaters shortly thereafter. But that’s not all! An animated Star Wars television series will also debut in fall 2008 on the Cartoon Network (later to be shown on TNT).
George Lucas defends his latest Star Wars plans by saying, “I felt there were a lot more Star Wars stories left to tell. I was eager to start telling some of them through animation and at the same time, push the art of animation forward.”
I’m not saying the new Star Wars incarnations won’t be good. On the contrary, I hope they’re great. However, I have doubts based on the pathetic Star Wars I, II and III films – what a disappointment. What do you think? Can George Lucas actually produce another extension of the Star Wars brand that’s actually good? Is it time for him to hang up his Star Wars hat before he becomes another Sylvester Stallone/Rocky (and Rambo) over-extension story?
Tags: George Lucas, Star Wars, Star Wars Clone Wars, Star Wars cartoon, new Star Wars movie, animated Star Wars, brand extension, branding
I am looking forward to the cartoon versions because those 30 minutes of shorts were massively better than the 8+ hours of prequels. With almost non-stop action scenes and the daring ‘camera’ angles, the Cartoon Network series was everything that the prequel movies lacked.
Generally, animation is an underrated medium in the US and Europe. The Japanese will not hesitate to produce a ’serious’ story in animated format, whether it’s sci-fi, fantasy, police drama, etc. I say we do more like that.
Also we should note that the reason the Clone Wars cartoons were awesome is because Lucas wasn’t sitting there over everyone’s shoulder the way he was during Eps I, II, and III. Back up, buddy, we know what we’re doing.
SEE ALSO: The People vs George Lucas, a documentary that seeks to force George to admit that the prequel trilogy was rubbish.
http://www.peoplevsgeorge.com/
I agree with Prescott that animation hasn’t gotten the attention it deserves from the mainstream. Hopefully, with Disney/Pixar getting kudos for their type of animation, true anime can move closer to center stage.
I don’t think I’ll pay to see the Clone Wars in a movie theater, but I’ll give the cartoon a gander when it comes out.