adywan said:Do you really think that the few added changed that were done for the SE is what made Star Wars popular again? Are you sure you lived on this planet in 1997?
From what I have gathered from -1 comments, he sort of did live on a different planet from you and I, figuratively speaking. He mentioned seeing it as a kid and loving it, then forgetting about it until only recently rediscovering it. I believe his rediscover was post 1997. So he is only looking back on the "historical facts" with box office numbers (which totally do not work that way, with the increased prominence of the cinema from 1977 till present, as well as changes in marketing, when SW was released, the type of licensing and marketing they did with it was pretty much unheard of, today just about everything gets that kind of treatment, the way people way people watch movies and buy related items has changed significantly), comparing box office numbers from the various dates just does tell us much, even while adjusting for inflation, because not only has the value of the currency changed, but so have the culture and the market.
I don't think -1 experienced the 1997 period as we did. He saw it through the eyes of an outsider who didn't care about Star Wars, and so that is the veil through which he sees it all. Since to him Star Wars died out over that time, he sees it having died out for everyone.
In 1995 a new line of Star Wars figures hit the store shelves. Why is this? What interest should kids have in buying some silly figures? The only decent Star Wars media released around that time to make them interested in figures were a few video games (aimed at older audiences) and a small number of novels (mostly for adults and a few for kids). These figures were not based on the video game characters, not were they based on the books, these new figures were taken directly from the 1977 film. They sold like hotcakes. Why? That was nearly a twenty year old movie, yet ten year olds were rushing to the store and throwing down their hard earned cash (or their parents money) for these toys. If Star Wars was dead, and hardly any interest in it existed, why should these figures have sold? And why should the toy company have quickly expanded their line to include more and more figures, eventually spanning all three films as well as some aspects of the expanded universe, now including numerous ships and playsets, all prior to the 1997 SE, which supposedly revitalized the series. There was also a line of SW micromachines, which came out in 1995 as well, these were also greatly expanded, including a wide range of playsets, again, all before 1997. These things all sold well. Toy lightsabers with sound effects? Pre 1997, sold really well. I was there, I lived it, I saw it. I'd go to the toy store and see the SW figure section practically empty, ask an employee when they would be getting more in, then I would go back on that day to find the shelves packed full of SW things, and wind up nearly empty again a few days later. Before 1997.
Perhaps you did not experience this -1, because you had no interest in these things at that time. You look back and see that sometime around 1997 Star Wars took off again, and assume it must have been the SE.