"Force"-ful Sponsorship: "Star Wars" Commercials Through the Years

by Michael Lyons

 

This coming Monday is "Star Wars Day" - May the Fourth be with You. The fact that a date can be turned into a play on words to provide a reason to celebrate a movie franchise is reason enough to realize just how popular and enduring that movie franchise has become.

 

Since debuting in May of 1977, George Lucas's space opera has changed the movie landscape (for both the industry and moviegoers), become part of our lexicon, and is now stitched into our collective pop culture.

 

Star Wars has indeed done what few movies have, and in the almost fifty years since its debut, part of its immense popularity has come from commercials for an array of products.

In honor of "Star Wars Day," what follows is a video flashback to just some of those commercials from eras far, far away, but that still feel like just yesterday.

 

The First Star Wars Movie Trailer:

It's easy to forget that even though Star Wars wasn't set in any specific time and place, it was produced in the 70s, and the first commercials for the film have an air that's oh-so of that decade.

 

The Star Wars Early Bird Certificate:

All fans know the story, Star Wars massive success took everyone by surprise and toys weren't ready for Christmas of '77, so Kenner scrambled and created what was, essentially, an empty box for parents to place under the tree.

 

The Empire Strikes Back Burger King Glasses:

This glassware, which was sold at Burger King in promotion with the first Star Wars sequel, is featured in a meme that reads: "We're having company, go get the fancy cups." They were indeed, and this commercial seemed to play nonstop during the summer of 1980.

 

C3POs Cereal:

The first Star Wars-themed cereal not only featured "double O" shapes but also C-3PO in the commercial.

 

Star Wars: The Special Edition:

Oh, the excitement in early 1997 when the original trilogy returned to theaters with enhanced and added scenes, paving the way for the prequels that would bow just two years later.

 

Star Wars: Episode I KFC/Pizza Hut/Taco Bell:

A new Star Wars movie in the summer of 1999 was so big that three fast-food giants and their spokes characters got together for a promotional tie-in.

 

Volkswagen Passat "The Force":

Airing during the Super Bowl in 2011, this memorable commercial featured a pint-sized Darth Vader.

 

And, there were so many more - enough to fill multiple galaxies. These are just some Star Wars commercials that live on in the nostalgic minds of multiple generations, as squarely as the Star Wars movies themselves.

May the 4th be with You.

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Basket of Cheer: The 15th Anniversary of "Hop"

by Michael Lyons

 

Let's face it, there aren't a lot of Easter movies to choose from. Think back four to five months, to the Christmas season, when there were so many movies you almost had to start watching them before Halloween to get them all in (and some people did).

 

Come Easter season, take away Biblical epics and the MGM classic Easter Parade and there's a bit of a drought when it comes to seasonal movies, especially newer ones.

 

Thank goodness for Hop, an entertaining live-action/animated comedy that brings the Easter Bunny into our modern world and looks to put a Tim Allen/The Santa Clause-like spin on the holiday icon.

 

When it was released on April 1, 2011, Hop came with a slew of merchandise and other product promotions (in fact, 92 companies were involved in the film's marketing).

 

Generating $37.5 million in its opening weekend, it topped the box office for two weeks and became a hit for Universal.  

 

Since then, it’s become a seasonal favorite on home video and streaming, and it's also featured in annual TV showings. As it celebrates its 15th anniversary this Spring, it's worth looking back at this genial movie.

 

Hop tells the tale of E.B., a young rabbit set to take the reins of the family business and become the next Easter Bunny.  Wanting more from his life and harboring a passion for becoming a drummer, E.B. leaves Easter Island (home of the Easter Bunny and his factory, of course) and goes to Hollywood.

 

Here, E.B. meets out-of-work “slacker” Fred O’Hare, and they strike up an unusual friendship.  Fred helps E.B. realize his dream as a drummer by auditioning for the TV show “Hoff Knows Talent” (hosted by David Hasselhoff), and E.B. allows Fred to finally find a job, filling in for him as the Easter Bunny.

 

Russell Brand voices E.B., with James Marsden as Fred O’Hare, who delivers a likable performance and does solid work alongside the computer-generated bunny and the other CGI characters.

 

Hugh Laurie is excellent as the very proper Easter Bunny. The multi-voiced Hank Azaria is hysterical, doing double duty as the voice of Carlos and Phil, two chicks focused on a coup d’état to take over the factory and Easter.

 

Director Tim Hill does amazing work blending live-action and animation throughout Hop in a seamless way. It's some of the film’s best examples of this since 1988’s Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

 

The senior animation supervisor for the film was the talented Chris Bailey, who had directed the immensely entertaining Mickey Mouse short, Runaway Brain in 1995. He and his team employ great visual imagination in Hop in bringing the Easter Bunny’s factory to life with a wondrous, Willy-Wonka quality.

 

When Hop opened in 2011, film critic Nick Schager in The Village Voice said that the film was “…just demented enough to deliver a fleeting sugar rush.”

 

A perfect summation, as Hop is a worthy heir to a small list of Easter movies.

*For more of my articles, podcasts and books, head over to Words From Lyons And, use promo code SCREENSAVER to get 15% off your purchase of signed and personalized copies of my books!