Star Wars will always hold a special place in the cinematic lexicon. Not only do the movies hold steady in the hearts and minds of movie lovers the world over, but the series is also a marketing behemoth. With each release of a new Star Wars movie comes a plethora of tie-in toys, apparel, games, cereal, and basically anything else you can think of. While the same can be said of just about every new series of movies that comes along these days, there’s no denying the draw of Star Wars as a merchandise seller.
Indeed, we’ve seen this more and more in the run up to Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which won’t hit theaters for about two and a half more weeks. Companies everywhere are doing all they can to catch a slice of that sweet Star Wars pie and the list just keeps on growing. While many of these tie-ins are served up for a limited time basis, some of them are a bit more permanent.
Alamo Drafthouse, long known as a movie theater chain with a true passion for cinema, has revealed the permanent décor for its new Omaha, Nebraska location, and it’s more than enough to awaken the force within you. As Entertainment Weekly showcases, the lobby of the new theater is designed as an Imperial battlestation, complete with a Death Star and Emperor Palpatine’s iconic throne. According to EW, Alamo Drafthouse said that:
Indeed, just looking at the pictures of the lobby is enough to send even the most jaded Star Wars fan into fits of giddy excitement. From the signage to the paneling, Drafthouse has left nothing to be desired and it feels like a certainty that they’ve created a huge location for Jedis and Sith to make pilgrimages to, even if Star Wars isn’t showing at the time. Drafthouse has always been a theater that encourages fanaticism, and it even co-sponsors Fantastic Fest, an annual genre film festival in Austin, Texas. This marriage between Star Wars and Drafthouse feels like the perfect alliance, keeping the spirit of the movies alive and giving fans a special, one of a kind experience.
“The idea behind the lobby is that we wanted to construct and install a lobby theme that would make us unique in our Omaha market as well as the Midwest. We also wanted a theme that was built around an iconic film and to completely own that theme to immerse our guests in the experience. That is when Star Wars came into the picture and it just so happened that we timed it out just right with the announcement of the huge plans for a new Star Wars legacy starting this December. It is a permanent installation and will be the destination to see all of the new Star Wars films.”
Even if you can’t make it out to Omaha, there are still plenty of ways to taste the Star Wars experience, however. Ample Hills Creamery, purveyors of high quality, gourmet ice cream, have announced two new limited edition flavors to help you tap into your inner Force. Called simply The Light Side and The Dark Side, the ice cream is sold in sets of four, with two pints each of both flavors.
The Light Side is billed as “a bright marshmallow ice cream with homemade crispie clusters, as well as a smattering of handmade cocoa crispies (to represent the dark side still lurking within the light)” while The Dark Side is “an ultra-dark chocolate ice cream with espresso fudge brownies, cocoa crispies, and white chocolate pearls (to represent the light still hiding in the dark, waiting to burst through).”
The ice cream is only available online and can be purchased via Ample Hills’ website. At $36 plus shipping it’s definitely not cheap, but it’s hard to deny that they’ve put a lot of thought into trying to capture the spirit of the movies and their philosophy into each spoonful.
These are, of course, only the latest in a long line of marketing tie-ins for the Star Wars brand, and with a new movie expected every year from now into the foreseeable future, they certainly won’t be the last. But that’s always been part of the fun of the franchise, hasn’t it? As we move forward, it’ll be interesting to see what else comes out of the marketing world to stoke the flames of our excitement.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens hits theaters on December 18th, 2015, followed by Rogue One: A Star Wars Story on December 16th, 2016, Star Wars: Episode VIII on May 26th, 2017, and the Han Solo Star Wars Anthology film on May 25th, 2018. Star Wars: Episode IX is expected to reach theaters in 2019, followed by the third Star Wars Anthology film in 2020.
Source: EW, Ample Hills
