Mash Me Up and I Shall Become More Powerful Than You Could Possibly Imagine.
by John Paczkowski
Posted on May 25, 2007 at 5:01 AM PT
If there’s one thing you can say about Lucasfilm, it’s that it’s not afraid to keep milking the “Star Wars” cash cow, er, bantha. And so, in celebration of the 30th anniversary of the film–whose franchise has earned more than $22 billion since it first debuted–Lucasfilm is making 250 clips from all six “Star Wars” movies available on its Starwars.com site, inviting fans to remix and mash them up to their hearts’ content.
“We see what’s going on at YouTube,” Jeffrey Ulin, senior director for distribution and business affairs at Lucasfilm, told The Wall Street Journal. “We see what’s going on out there on the Web generally. And we wanted fans to come to Starwars.com as the center of fan activity … [this is all] part of keeping the love of ‘Star Wars’ and the franchise alive.”
And revenue as well, of course. Ultimately, these mash-ups will feature advertisements that, given the size and fanaticism of the “Star Wars” fan base, will almost certainly rope in some high-profile sponsors. That said, sitting through a vapid preroll advertisement would certainly be worth the price of admission to an episode of Chad Vader, Day Shift Manager populated with some of Star Wars’ original cast members….
