A long time ago in a galaxy not so far away, Star Wars became a monster movie hit.
Now, history is repeating itself--on home video.
The long-awaited four-disc DVD box set of the original Star Wars trilogy racked up impressive sales in its first day on shelves Tuesday. The DVDs, combined with the separately released hugely antipated new videogame, Star Wars Battlefront, generated a stellar $115 million, according to figures released by 20th Century Fox Home Enterainment and Lucasfilm.
Although the studios didn't break out the exact figures for the DVD box set and the videogame--an action-shoot 'em up in which gamers can reenact all the epic battles from the movies--Variety reports about 90 percent of the sales came from the DVDs, or about 2.5 million copies. The sets retailed for $70 but were available at deeply discounted prices, usually $40-$45, at most big boxes.
That means that George Lucas's revised "special edition" versions of 1977's Star Wars (now known as Star Wars: Episode IV--A New Hope), 1980's The Empire Strikes Back and 1983's Return of the Jedi easily shattered the record for the top-selling film compilation on DVD.
However, the estimated 2.5 million DVD copies isn't in the same star system as the all-time champ, Finding Nemo, which moved about 8 million copies on day one.
"The reason [20th Century Fox and Lucasfilm] put that out that way because it's a huge number. It's a tough game the publicists play and it's all about bragging rights," says Scott Hettrick, editor of industry trade Video Exclusive.
Hettrick says the box set won't sell nearly as many units as the year's other top-selling release, The Passion, mainly because the latter is priced cheaper--it can be had for as little as $12 a copy.
"There's no way a set of titles with four discs is going to sell as many copies at about $40 as that film," says Hettrick. But, he adds, with the holidays approaching, the Star Wars set "could get into the $300 million range which could rank it one of the top five titles of the year. And if you include all the different versions over the years, it's by far and away the top-selling franchise of all time."
A potent force for sure.
The original Star Wars films had ranked 1-2-3 on Amazon.com's most requested DVD list and topped most-wanted polls at several DVD-centric Websites. The box set does not include the original versions, but the revamped editions that came out in 1997.
Aside from beefing up the special effects, such as a better-looking CGI Jabba in the first Star Wars, the box set features other noticeable changes from '97--like the addition of Ian McDiarmid in a scene in Empire and a young Hayden Christensen replacing the ghost of Sebastian Shaw next to Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda at the conclusion of Jedi.
The set includes feature commentary from Lucas and a two-and-a-half-hour documentary that includes interviews with cast and crew and never-before-seen archival footage. There are also featurettes on storyboarding, production design, costumes and special effects.
The DVD debut is being timed to revive interest in the blockbuster space opera in the months before May 2005 opening of the final prequel, Star Wars: Episode III--Revenge of the Sith. (The first two prequels, Star Wars: Episode I--The Phantom Menace and Star Wars: Episode II--The Attack of the Clones are already available on DVD.)
Some diehards have expressed disappointment over Lucas' refusal to release what they consider to be the holy grail?the original theatrical versions.
But a Lucas isn't backing down--at least not yet.
"I'm sorry you saw half a completed film and fell in love with it," the filmmaker told Yahoo recently. "But I want it to be the way I want it to be...they [the fans] think it should be their way. Which is fine, except I'm making the movies, so I should have it my way."