Having made the decision to have ‘Star Wars’ as our case study for this year, I have researched how they are marketing the upcoming movie. 'Star Wars' has been around since 1977, and has generated a large fan base. The last 'Star Wars' movie 'Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith' made $108,435,841 in the USA opening weekend only! According to Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at box-office monitor Rentrak “Countless fans around the world are in a constant state of vigilance waiting for the release of new poster art, new trailers and other titbits and information. It’s hard to imagine any other movie franchise that could evoke a level of passion, enthusiasm and excitement.”

The devoted fan base got the official 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' Trailer to more than 69,103,801 views in less than two months! To put that into perspective, the official trailer for the final Harry Potter movie, 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2' only has 8,799,135 views in over four years! Since there is already a large loyal fanbase, it's easy for Disney to market this film as they have a guaranteed amount of 'Star Wars' series followers, that wouldn't miss it.

As well as making the long time fans happy, Disney intends to reel in new viewers. Disney has brought a whole new level of marketing savvy to an already popular product: Dergarabedian stated that the decision to make all six existing Star Wars films available on streaming services as “a brilliant way to stoke the fires and build the anticipation for the new film and reinvigorate the idea of Star Wars in the minds of the fans”. Rosser is referring to the three films Lucas directed between 1999 and 2005 – The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith – which chronicled the life of Luke Skywalker’s father, Anakin, who transforms into Darth Vader. Despite being greeted with less-than-stellar reviews, the prequels grossed $2.5bn at the worldwide box office, shortly after the release of restored and augmented “special editions” of the first trilogy had netted $469m in 1997. “It shows the power of Star Wars that although they were disappointing, the prequels still managed to make a lot of money,” said Rosser. “If you combine that drawing power with a great film-maker like JJ Abrams, you can understand why a lot of people will be excited.”

It is easy for Disney to promote their films using their website, theme parks, TV channels etc. Since Disney is one of the biggest, most famous media conglomerate's in the world, their website is bound to be visited by thousands (I could not find a statistic). On their website, they have the below eye catching advertisement, so anyone who visits their website can't help but pay attention to it.

The film has its own site.

On 'Good Morning America', the new LEGO 'Star Wars' toys were unveiled as part of a global unboxing of the new 'Force Awakens' line.
The company has also released 'Star Wars' clips during evening programme on the channels that they own ABC and ESPN.

Disney has also made a deal with a major YouTube channel operator, which is really going to get a lot of people seeing and talking about 'Star Wars'. They are 'Maker Studios', who are the largest operator of YouTube channels on the web right now and it incorporates a variety of shows from 'The Fashion Statement' for the stylish to 'Friend Zone' for the geeky.

On top of this, a YouTube channel with over two million subscribers was sent all the LEGO toys, which will promote the toy range as millions of people see it. It also obviously generates more hype around the film itself.


For Disney cross promotion like this where two or more divisions of a company increase value by working together is normal. After all, the company owns not only one of the biggest film franchises, but also a major sports network and a major broadcast network, not to mention Pixar, which has made some of the most popular movies. The company is able to appeal to different audiences with Star Wars comic books for super fans, LEGO toys for kids, and a trailer for the more casual viewer that comes on during regular TV watching.

Dergarabedian expects great success upon the release in December. “We are certainly looking at a record opening for December, and should go on to make at least a billion dollars worldwide. Truly, Star Wars is the ultimate movie brand.”