Char Ell Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 Star Wars:Top Toy License for 2008; Clone Wars is #1 Star Wars Is Top Toy License for 2008 As Star Wars: The Clone Wars Continues Hit Run Star Wars Holiday Sales for U.S Retailers Strongest In Over 30 Years; Star Wars: The Clone Wars TV Series Ranks #1 in Its Time Period With All Boys Demos Across All Television Driven by the popularity of the Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated television series, the Force remained strong in 2008 as Star Wars catapulted to the Number 1 spot of all traditional toy licenses, according to The NPD Group, Inc., Lucasfilm Ltd. announced today. U.S. toy retail sales for the brand in 2008 exceeded $450M. Star Wars: The Clone Wars was the single most popular licensed toy property in 2008 according to data released by the NPD Group. It was also, as a result, the top boys' toy license of the year. During the 2008 holiday season, U.S. retailers reported the strongest sales for Star Wars toys and products in the 31 years since the first Star Wars movie was released theatrically, even as the overall retail economy faced significant challenges. Sales of Star Wars video games also reached new heights in 2008, driven by the huge success of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. Following its release in September, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed became the fastest selling Star Wars video game in history with sales now exceeding 5.7M units worldwide. In addition, Star Wars books topped the charts with 14 titles appearing on the New York Times best sellers list, with both Star Wars: The Force Unleashed novelization, and Star Wars: Legacy of the Force: Revelation, reaching the number one spot. The smash-hit, animated Star Wars: The Clone Wars will return to Cartoon Network the fall of 2009 for a second season, continuing the adventures of Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Ahsoka Tano, and the heroic Jedi Knights. The October 3, 2008 premiere of Star Wars: The Clone Wars scored as the most-watched series debut in Cartoon Network history, according to Nielsen Media Research. Since its premiere, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (Friday 9p.m.) has ranked #1 in its time period on all television with boys 2-11, boys 6-11, and tween boys 9-14 through January 2009. It is also a worldwide hit, airing in 166 countries around the globe. Cartoon Network is scheduled to air the final first-season episode of Star Wars: The Clone Wars at 9 p.m. Friday, March 20. As the series has continued its popularity, the official Star Wars website http://www.StarWars.com has seen a 30 percent jump in site traffic with millions of fans now viewing free full video episodes of the animated series, playing new Star Wars games, reading the latest news and online web comic, or just watching some of the hundreds of exclusive Star Wars fan films and videos on the site. Produced by Lucasfilm Animation, Star Wars: The Clone Wars features the voices of Matt Lanter (Heroes) as Anakin Skywalker, Ashley Eckstein (That's So Raven) as Ahsoka Tano, James Arnold Taylor (Celebrity Deathmatch) as Obi-Wan Kenobi and Tom Kane (Wolverine & the X-Men) as Yoda. Dave Filoni is the supervising director of the series and Cary Silver is producer. George Lucas serves as executive producer and creator of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Your thoughts on Star Wars in 2008? Hot or not? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miltiades Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 Not. I can't seem to find anything that was listed in there that was really exciting enough for 2008 to have been a successful Star Wars year. Let's hope 2009 is different. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ctrl Alt Del Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 Not. Clone Wars sucked, TFU sucked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TriggerGod Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 other then everyone buying into the TFU hype (even though it sucked), LA had a pretty bad year for people outside of the 5-12 year old demographic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lynk Former Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 If there was anything good about Star Wars in 2008, obviously I completely missed it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prime Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 The CW series has grown on me a bit with some decent episodes, although some aren't so interesting. But I'm still watching... Really the only SW that has truly interested me with year are the KOTOR and Legacy comics... So I respond with meh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Titanius Anglesmith Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 The Force Unleashed was fun but nothing spectacular, and nothing I've seen from Clone Wars has interested me enough to watch a full episode. One good game is not enough to say Star Wars had a "hit" year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Da_man Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 TFU sucked, clone wars was just a plan to get more money, and the movie was just a crappy episode stretched out to an hour and a half. Not hot. I sure hope Star WArs comes up with something better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yar-El Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 We have The Old Republic MMO to look forward to. Maybe? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Da_man Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 We have The Old Republic MMO to look forward to. Maybe? Maybe, but there is no guarantee it is going to be released this year. Besides, a lot of people are miffed that TOR is an MMO, and not KOTOR 3. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yar-El Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 Maybe, but there is no guarantee it is going to be released this year. Besides, a lot of people are miffed that TOR is an MMO, and not KOTOR 3. That somewhat explains the almost empty forums. There are more people in the Knights forums. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonathan7 Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 Where is the Yoda option? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Litofsky Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 Mayhaps the forum polls should be altered in order to automatically include the Yoda option? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miltiades Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 That somewhat explains the almost empty forums. There are more people in the Knights forums. The Knights forum has been here much longer, though. About... 6 years? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jawathehutt Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 This just proves that if you market anything enough to children regardless of the quality, it will be "popular" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yar-El Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 The Knights forum has been here much longer, though. About... 6 years? Good point. Does anyone know how long it took to populate those forums? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ctrl Alt Del Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 This just proves that if you market anything enough to children regardless of the quality, it will be "popular" Discernance =/= children. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EnderWiggin Posted February 15, 2009 Share Posted February 15, 2009 Good point. Does anyone know how long it took to populate those forums? These forums, as in Holowan Labs? Not altogether too long. They were roaring when I got here mid-2004. The release date was Nov 19 '03 and I'm pretty sure that they really started going strong about the time that Tk and Sabre joined in Jan '04. So like 2 months after the release date, but that was really because that's when modding started. _EW_ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeneralPloKoon Posted February 15, 2009 Share Posted February 15, 2009 Not. The Clone Wars series seemed way to kiddish last year, although the upcoming Ryloth trilogy this year looks promising. TFU was way too overhyped and way to short for a game that was hyped so much. It lasted about a week for me, maybe less, I did beat it in a day. Not many exciting EU material came out in '08 also. 2009 looks to be much better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lynk Former Posted February 15, 2009 Share Posted February 15, 2009 Okay, who were the two misguided people who voted "Hot"? Were you guys high at the time or did you just choose it to be different cause everyone chose the other two options? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mimartin Posted February 15, 2009 Share Posted February 15, 2009 Okay, who were the two misguided people who voted "Hot"? Were you guys high at the time or did you just choose it to be different cause everyone chose the other two options? I like Clone Wars and I'm slightly out of the 5 - 12 year-old demographic at least physically. Mentally is another story. BTW I agree TFU was disappointing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ctrl Alt Del Posted February 15, 2009 Share Posted February 15, 2009 You gotta kow what's coming at you on the series after watching the movies.... And it isn't pleasant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mimartin Posted February 15, 2009 Share Posted February 15, 2009 Is Clone Wars to the original trilogy standards? No, but it is better than 90% of the crap on American Television. I’m also old enough to remember years with no Star Wars. Even weird cartoon Star Wars is better than no Star Wars IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ctrl Alt Del Posted February 15, 2009 Share Posted February 15, 2009 I’m also old enough to remember years with no Star Wars. Even weird cartoon Star Wars is better than no Star Wars IMO. True that, but since no Star Wars rates 0, crappy Star Wars is not much more significant. Really, after watching the first episode, I was on my best "bring Tartakovsky back NAO" mood. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lynk Former Posted February 15, 2009 Share Posted February 15, 2009 But supporting such crapiness will doom us all! DOOM US ALL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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