George Lucas might not be making any more Star Wars movies, but don't think for a moment his famous franchise now belongs to a long, long time ago.
In fact, it's just getting started. Lego and Lucasfilm announced today their long-standing toy deal has been renewed for another ten years.
It's hardly surprising, looking over the numbers. Lego Star Wars is one of the biggest toy ranges in the world, racking up total sales in excess of 200 million across a three-hundred-strong set of kits. It also produced the multi-million-selling string of hit video games. And the biggest Lego set ever sold commercially (the three-foot-long Ultimate Millennium Falcon, now surpassed by a 6,000-piece replica of the Taj Mahal). And…yeah, you get the point. It's kind of a big deal.
At its inception in 1999, the Star Wars range was the first time Lego had ever incorporated licensed characters and settings into its toys. Now they're everywhere, covering properties as diverse as Prince of Persia, Harry Potter, Spongebob Squarepants, and Pirates of the Caribbean. This year, Lego will add Incredible Hulk and The Lord of the Rings products.
"Star Wars is a cultural phenomenon that shares many characteristics with the Lego brand -- cross generational appeal, versatile story and character content, creativity and imagination," said Jill Wilfert, Vice President of Licensing and Entertainment for The Lego Group. "We believe that we can continue to grow Lego Star Wars for many years to come."
Or until they run out of source material, we suppose. Getting all those years of products out of six movies and a few spin-offs ain't bad, but stringing it out another decade? That's going to make doing the Kessel run in less than twelve parsecs look easy.
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