Editing Star Wars (section)

==The Advanced Concept==
{{topquote|Merchandising!  Merchandising!  Where the real money from the movie is made!|Spaceballs}}

Star Wars fundamentally changed, perhaps even created, the concept of consumer entertainment.  Prior to Star Wars, cinema had been an artistic enterprise.  While money-making was always a subtext of Hollywood, the concept of a media "franchise" was almost non-existent, save for cult fandoms of (then) niche programs like Star Trek or Buck Rodgers.  Movies were made because they had a story to tell, or to put a studio's leading talent to work.  

Star Wars was different.  To the studios, the story was cliched garbage, the actors were nobodies, and there seemed nothing about it that would compete with the likes of DeMille for raw spectacle.  They were certain it would fail, and so they made one critical concession in the negotiations...

They gave George Lucas total control over the merchandising rights.

In hindsight this decision goes up alongside IBM letting Microsoft sell DOS to anyone for all time business fails.  Because obviously Star Wars didn't fail, it sold like $2 heroin, and so did all the toys.  

Today, studios desperately try to recreate that model, scrutinizing movies not for their artistic or entertainment value but rather for their potential to create a merch franchise.