In a galaxy far away

The “last” Star Wars film, Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, is slated to hit theatres nationwide on May 19th. With that in mind, LucasFilms has a bevy of products at the ready to entice fans into the retail scene looking for items to add to their collections.

However, it's not just about the diversity and amount of products, but what each product has to offer the fan that should get retailers to take notice. Lucas is adding extras to all its interactive products to help cross-promote merchandise.

The easiest place to offer extras tends to be in video games. The Episode III video game—scheduled for a May 5th release—not only follows the movie precisely but has exclusive content that was cut from the film. The cut footage was left in the game because “Lucas felt it adds more to the story for the fans to enjoy,” says a LucasArts spokesperson. In addition some of the scenes it features from the film will be extended.

There is also a Lego video game set in the Star Wars universe that takes advantage of all the characters and vehicles developed by Lego, including some of the new vehicles and characters from Episode III. There are even a few created from scratch especially for the game because Lego didn't have them in its stable of characters.

While adding extras directly to a video game may be easy, it isn't the only way. There was an exclusive action figure available with the pre-order of Star Wars Battlefronts (see playthings.com, Sept. 22, 2004).

When customers pre-order the upcoming Republic Command game customers can get a squeezie Thermal Detonator stress ball.

There is also a limited edition 31st toy in the kids' toys distributed at Burger King (see playthings.com Nov.18, 2004) and licensed video game controllers (see playthings.com Sept. Sept. 30, 2004). Extras help sell items but Lucas also has cross-marketing down to a science.

So while Lucas has toys and video games surging with The Force it didn't let its DVD selections get left out. With the release of the original Star Wars Trilogy on DVD, Lucas placed a full playable level of Star Wars Battlefront on the fourth disk.

Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment will be releasing the first two seasons of Star Wars: Clone Wars on DVD March 22nd. Originally airing on Cartoon Network, it served to further the story after Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones. Extras included are an Episode III Game Trailer and movie teaser, Planetary Forces PC game demo, and the Republic Commando X-Box Demo.

According to an interview with Nowplayingmag.com, Genndy Tartakovsky, Clone Wars series animator, is quoted as saying, “Basically, if you cut out the scroll [from the beginning of Episode III: Revenge of the Sith], it would be completely seamless where we end [the third season] and the movie starts.”

As it stands, LucasFilms is not only trying to get the word out about the movie, but give the retail channel many product options based on it.