TPM falling further and further behind Titanic ...

[Kyp Durron]

I agree that TPM was a blockbuster, but that's not all. It also had that 'intangible' aspect as much as Titanic had, maybe even more. No scratch that, a lot more. SW is a phenomenon, but you can't tell me that it's just a summer-of-99-phenomenon. No way. This movie had such an impact on everything: culture, generations, it changed advertising forever, not to mention merchendising, and even tourism. What other movie can have thousands of people from other countries come over here just so they can be part of its opening? And I don't believe TPM has faded either...not by a long shot. Titanic is a movie you would call a one-hit-wonder, much like Gone With The Wind. TPM will go on, believe me. Btw, I've seen it 12 times, and I don't see anything wrong with people watching it 30+ times. I've heard of Titanic fans just as devoted. Nothing wrong with getting a lot of what you love. To me, there's no such thing as 'too much of a good thing.'

[jjwr]

I never said it didn't do all those things, I was speaking strictly box office numbers, before Titanic was released no one could have guessed it would have made 600+ million, but well before TPM was released everyone was saying 400+ million, or even that it would beat Titanic. Yes its box office was huge, but the movie itself wasn't a phenom, everyone(well most everyone) thought it would make that much, and it did. And as for the rest, I don't think TPM's impact on everything was that huge, Star Wars impact was however that huge, I think TPM is just reminding everyone about the original series. As far as changing advertising, hell Blair Witch changed advertising a lot more than TPM could have hoped to do, the toys and merchandising you get with at least one big movie every summer, but TPM was figured to be big enough that they put it on everything. TPM was a summer of 99 blockbuster, it won't go down as the most memorable SW movie or the one people think of when they think of Star Wars, I don't think TPM will go on anymore than any of the other SW movies, probably even less so than the originals, but the series as a whole is huge, Titanic can't even come close to touching that. Yes TPM made a lot of money, but it was expected, yes they did a ton of advertising, but when you've had people waiting 20yrs for this movie, was that much advertising and hype really needed?

[Kyp Durron]

True that. TPM wasn't as big a phenomenon on the box office as expected. Although almost quadrupling its production cost was a great feat. As far as advertising is concerned, neither GL nor Fox hardly did any advertising for TPM. It was all media hype, fan-based hype, hardly any of it coming out of GL's pocket. As far as I'm concerned, it was TPM which started all this Internet related hyping. Blair Witch just followed suit.

[jjwr]

I think it was as big as expected, and thats why it wasn't such a phenom that Titanic was. I agree that it didn't really need the advertising, and they didn't do any direct advertising, but between the toys, books, and various merchandise that might as well have been the advertising. And I don't really think it paved the way for Blair Witchs advertising, with a movie that people have been waiting for for 20yrs they're gonna talk about it, hype it up, etc, I think the internet was just a medium used for the hyping, but not a specific advertising like Blair Witch.

[JonathanLB]

Kyp Durron is the one here who really knows what he's talking about. TPM changed a lot of things, and it was a true phenomenon in every sense of the word. Did you dictate, JJWR, that a phenomenon must be defined as "box office success," or that a phenomenon cannot be a movie that was huge before release? Since when have you ever seen the type of media attention bestowed on The Phantom Menace? Since never, and THAT my friend is a FACT. There has been no bigger movie in the history of motion pictures than The Phantom Menace. It was the most anticipated movie ever, and as well the biggest event in movie history. TPM is also the most profitable movie ever, far outstripping Titanic, the original Star Wars, Jurassic Park, or any other movie ever made. Never before has a movie had such a massive toy and merchandise campaign, and never before has a movie taken in $1 billion in merchandise sales within the same year of release. TPM will do that, and may already be very close to that mark... Titanic was a big deal, but what you're saying is really insane! You're saying that if the expectation was that Titanic would make $600 million, and it did make that much, it would not have been a phenomenon. That's friggin' crazy, and inaccurate. Is a movie defined as a phenomenon only by how it does compared to expectations? I don't believe so. Would Titanic's $600 million have been any less impressive if analysts expected it to do that well based on the large budget it had? Did you know that in a poll conducted on Yahoo.com, and yes I have a press release on this, over 50% of their users believed that TPM could make $1 billion at the US box office alone? So, are you trying to tell me that if TPM made $1 billion, it wouldn't have been impressive because most people already thought it would make that much? No way. TPM was not an average blockbuster, it ranks among the all time elite movie successes, it isn't a normal movie, and it isn't a normal blockbuster. EVERYTHING about that movie was phenomenal. The idea of people lining up for 30-45 days for a movie is awesome. The idea of people paying to see a trailer, is awesome. The idea of 1 million downloads in TWENTY FOUR HOURS for the 2nd trailer is awesome. These are all unprecented things. Never before has there been so much advance word, advance enthusiasm, and hype, on any movie before. It set some amazing records well before it was released. It's the biggest selling movie ever before release. The advance ticket sales far outstripped any movie in history. The declines of TPM at the box office were very good, and not matched by many other blockbusters. Only Jurassic Park had that good of staying power, and it was no better, just equal. But TPM sold more tickets. Trivia question: what summer movie in the 1990's sold more tickets than The Phantom Menace? ... Still guessing? You'll be guessing for a long time, and the reason is, there was none. TPM is the best selling summer movie of the 1990's, and yes I am talking about tickets, as in, adjusted for inflation. The only movie to come close was JP with about $409 million adjusted, still not that close to our final which will be probably $430 million or so. Biggest summer movie of the decade, and you claim it wasn't a phenomenon. Ok. I guess I'll just have to accept your "definition" of phenomenon, but I like mine much better, and I certainly think the facts are on my side. As for you making fun of the number of times I've seen TPM, that's rather sad. I'm a true Star Wars fan, so sue me if I love seeing the movies. That is what fans do for crying out loud. If there were more fans like me we'd not be discussing why TPM didn't beat Titanic, we'd be asking if Episode II had the same chance. If you want to see the SW movies only 3 times in theaters, that is totally your choice, and I don't care, if that is enough for you, that's great. Who am I to say how many times you should see them. But I am telling you now, after my 15th viewing I wasn't whatsoever satifisied. Nor am I now, I still want to see it more, and that's after 34 times. You CAN get bored of a movie, but we're talking about a new SW movie, and I've seen the originals probably over 75 times each, so I at least wanted to get my TPM "understanding" up to the level that the original trilogy is at... Like I said, you can see the SW movies as few times as you want and I won't comment, but you get way more out of them by seeing them more times. $250? Where do you live? It cost about $180 actually. That's not very much money whatsoever. Big deal, I spent over $3,000 on TPM merchandise and the year isn't even over.

[Kyp Durron]

Thanks Jon I also want to add that TPM made more money before it was released than many, many other movies after their run was over...of course I'm talking about its deals with Pepsi Co. and Hasbro.

[jjwr]

Sorry I guess I don't really know what I'm talking about, so I guess I should just stop here, nahhh. I'd ask to borrow your soapbox, but I'm tall enough and don't need it. TPM really didn't change anything, yes the marketing was huge, yes the merchandising was huge, but so what? Does that really change anything? There was the hype, but you wait 20yrs for the next installment of the movies that a lot of 15-25yr olds loved as kids, your gonna get that kinda hype. As to your question of a phenom, lots of movies are box office successes(Sixth Sense, AP2, etc) and quite a few other movies are huge before release(Godzilla), but I don't think that would make any of those a phenom. But what about Blair Witch? Cost $40,000 to make, was very amateurish, yet made $100+Million, I'd call that a phenom, It would probably be safe to say that BWP was the most profitable movie in history. Of course theres never been this much media attention, as I stated above the movie has been anticipated for 20yrs, its gonna be huge. As far as being a FACT, well TPM starred Leonardo DiCaprio and was about a race of giant slugs that lived in Paris, that my friend is also a FACT Now your getting a little ahead of yourself, the biggest movie event in the history of movies? Please, it was good, it made a lot of money, but seriously do you really think TPM will go down as the greatest movie ever made! I know you didnt' use those words, but you seemed to call it he greatest of everything else. Take off your TPM tinted sunglasses and realize that TPM isn't the best thing since sliced bread. Most profitable? Check out my BWP comment above. I agree with your point on TPM's merchandising, its huge, Lucas is gonna make a ton of money off all this when all is said and done. "You're saying that if the expectation was that Titanic would make $600 million, and it did make that much, it would not have been a phenomenon." Quoted from you Yes thats exactly what I'm saying. If when Titanic had come out everyone had heralded it as the best movie of year, its gonna win 10 oscars, its gonna make more than Star Wars by almost 150Million, instead of saying things along the line of its gonna flop, its a huge 200Million dollar risk, etc. My point was no one expected it to do anywhere near that good, yet it controlled the box office for almost half a year, domitated the oscars, broke almost all the box office records, sent people in droves tot he theatres to see it, etc, that is a phenom in my opinion. 1 Billion at the U.S Box office? IF(big if) it had made that much it would have been very impressive, and with that staggering of a amount you could probably call it a phenom, to make that much it would have had to have stayed at #1 for the whole year, which would have been incredible. But on your same standard, if so many people thought it was gonna make 1 Billion, and it made less than half of that, what does that say? By the same token it made half as much so its not a phenom right? All of the pre-release stuff was incredible, but I'd also point you to my above statments about the wait 20yr wait. You couple that with how much people love that movie and yoru gonna get that stuff, I personally wouldn't have done it, but I thought it was cool that people did that, but again I was talking about the box office run, in differnet places I said that SW in general was huge, and it is. Now bear with me for a second, do you think all those people were lining up for this movie because they heard about Darth Maul, and little Ani and the somewhat weak storyline, or because they loved SW as kids, they grew up playing with the SW toys, they've seen the movies tons of times and had waited 20yrs to see the next one? Honestly which was it? If Star Wars had never existed and TPM got released this summer, do you think it would have made 200 Million? Maybe, it was a good movie, but I bet it wouldn't have done anywhere near as well as it did without the lineage of the Original Trilogy. Heck they could have remade Big Top Pee -Wee in SW terms and released it as Episode 1 and it would have made 300+ Million. Trivia Question? Which movie released in 1997 sold more tickets and made more money then SW? I think we both know this one, and I'm not bashing SW, I love SW and loved TPM, but TPM is not the end all your making it out to be. I'm sure you won't agree with this, I've seen a number of your posts and you seem just a little biased towards the things you like, but TPM success was not because TPM was a great movie, it was because it was a Star Wars movie. I know that doesn't change how much it made, or who went to see it, I thought it was a great movie, but part of its run was because it was Star Wars. As for my definition of phenom, I like it, everone knew TPM was gonna make a lot of money, and it did, so whats the big deal? Just like a few years ago everyone knew the Bulls were gonna win the championship, and they did so were they a phenom? If something is expected its not as great of a feat when they do as expected, but when its not expected than its more notable. If TPM had made 200 Million everyone would have called it a bomb, if Titanic had made 100 Million people would have said "I told you so". I wasn't bashing you for going to see TPM 30+ times, I was saying personally I wouldn't do it, maybe you wanted to see it that many times,a nd thats your choice, I was just trying to say I can't see going to see a movie that many times. Actually where I Live(Vermont) it would have been around $275, cause of my work schedule I can't make it to many Matinee's so I'd have to stick with the night showings.

[yoda900]

There is one thing I must add, the original trilogy rerelease had actually been the first time people went to the movies to watch previews, I remember everyone going to see the previews of the Special edition. Also, I think SW trilogy original is defintily a phnomena, being that 20 years after it was made,(20 year old flick) and it opened number 1 for 3 weeks in a row, not beaten until ESB came out and took the #1 spot for 2 weeks, only until it was surpassed by ROTJ at #1 the next week, no THAT is impressive. all 3 movies were in the top 10 weekend gross the same weekend as well for 2 weeks. a trilogy of 20 year old -14 year movies made over $250M. Not to mention a 20 year old movie which peopl lined around the blocks for. And all this considering that everyone has the videw and has seen it hundreds of times. Titanic was a total fluke, and its $600m was like winning the lottery given what it was. I am still shocked to my foundation it made over $200M, given the short attention spans of americans today, how could a 3hour movie make that much? Because we are also TV zombies, lazy americans who in most part are controlled by the media, who pretty much told us if you don't see titanic you will be branded a dolt for the rest of your life. Whereas TPM was the first critic proof movie essenitaly, though if they would have stayed out of it, I think it may have gone to $600M easy, because they would not have swayed the critic only people form not seeing it.

[CraigFaris]

It was a stupid comparison to begin with. You can berate Titanic as much as you like, think it was only a fluke, that it was only a "chick flick", but the numbers don't lie. TPM had a great run at the boxoffice and broke many records. Your excuses of why it didn't beat Titanic only come across as sour grapes. TPM didn't make as much as Titanic simply because it didn't have as broad a market! How can you compare a Love Story to a Thriller/Adventure film? They are two completely DIFFERENT types of films. TPM's target market wasn't the same as Titanic's. Don't get me wrong, I am a huge Star Wars fan, but as I said in my posts back in early June, TPM didn't have a snowball's chance in hell of making almost 2 Billon! Yet it broke almost every other record available, as I expected it would. As for the release date, Titanic was originally scheduled to come out during the Summer of 1997, but Cameron kept pushing back the date and finially moved it to the Christmas season. Any true comparison should have both films running during the same season. If you think Titanic would have done badly during the summer, you are only kidding yourself. Titanic's primary market, young women, are also out of school during the summer and Word of mouth was what fueled Titanic. Star Wars had tons of advertising, toys, Web advertising, tee shirts, etc. to help it along, but what did Titanic have. No one rushed out to buy "action figures" of Bruce Ismay or ships that break into! The film had to earn its money totally on the history and the love story. The summer would have provided only more opportunity for the silly girls to flock to see it. Would it have done better, while up against the summer competition? Absolutely! Titanic was also a special effects film, the likes of which (in 1997) had never been seen before. Yet Titanic was released during Christmas, which has always had much lower boxoffice figures than the summer season and it was STILL able to take in 1.835 BILLON. I can only imagine how much it would have made, given a full summer's worth of screaming teen-age girls. Star Wars vs. Titanic? I think it was the studio's that WON!

[jjwr]

I definetly agree with your last point, why should all of us care how much money someone else is getting from these movies

[Kyp Durron]

Keep in mind however that word of mouth is also what fueled TPM's success. Most every critic and their mothers bashed TPM like it was the worst movie ever to come out, and yet it made $400+ million. Titanic on the other hand, as Yoda pointed out, had critics saying if you don't see it, your banned from society for life. And every pro-Titanians always seem to forget about its lack of competition. On a week-by-week basis, here is what it fought against: Mousehunt, Little Mermaid, Tomorrow Never Dies (this is the only one that made $20+ million on its release weekend), As Good As It Gets, American Werewolf In Paris, Jackie Brown, The Postman, Wag The Dog, Good Will Hunting, Firestorm, Amistad, Fallen, Hard Rain, Kundun, Phantoms, Spice World, Deep Rising, Desperate Measures, Great Expectations, Blues Brothers 2000, Replacement Killers, Zero Effect, Wedding Singer, Palmetto, Dark City, Big Lebowski, Hush, Twilight, US Marshalls, Man In The Iron Mask, Mr. Nice Guy, Primary Colors, Wild Things, Grease, Meet The Deedles, Newton Boys, Lost In Space (finally broke Titanic's #1 weekend run), Mercury Rising, City Of Angels, My Giant, Species 2, Object Of My Affect, Paulie, Big Hit. No offense to these movies, but c'mon! If TPM had this kind of competition, how much money do you think it would've made??? I don't want to repeat the kind of competition TPM had this summer, but here's a summary: 10+ movies made $100+ million, 2 made $200+ million, almost all of them made $20+ million on their first weekend. And this is EVERY weekend in TPM's run. You do the math.

[Comrade Smoke]

JonathanLB, $3.000?! That's huge? About 6 times more than I. And TPM count 34? Biggest fan I've seen in a while. Still, how did you do that? What did you buy? Jedi Council as 1:1 statues, made from silver? I think Episode I might cost me about $500, Episode II about $2.000 and Episode III about $4.000. But Im a fan and collector also, I buy all sort of SW stuff all the time. But SW certainly comes expensive to me, but that's my choice I want to see it again and again. And decorate my room with posters, wear SW T-shirts etc... "How can you compare a Love Story to a Thriller/Adventure film? They are two completely DIFFERENT types of films" You say SW is thriller/adventure?! Well, excuse me but it just is not! It's Star Wars. Period. This is one discussion! Anyway, TPM had realistic chances in beating Titanic. If things would have developed other way. Titanic was certainly one-time-phenomena. Re-release any time near might not be so succesfull. But WE HAVE TO REMEMBER that films box-office success is largely dependent from advertisement. And believe it or not TPM was far less advertised than Titanic. This discussion could go on forever. But I think it's simple FACT that odds were strongly against TPM. And I think it's important to understand that. Yes, Titanic was more succesfull but things could be very differently. The point after all is that for me, The Phantom Menace was a movie of the decade. No matter how well would it do in box-office. I love it!

[jjwr]

TPM was not released by Lucas to beat Titanic, thats obvious by the timing of its release, if he had wanted to beat Titanic he probably would have released it around the same time Titanic was. As far as Titanic's competition, thats been beat to death, everyone knows it wasn't what TPM's was, there were some $100M+ movies there, but they took a while to mak that much, whereas with TPM they were making 40-50M a weekend and it was still doing well.

[Scarloc]

Hell, this has been the biggest discussion in a fair while here.

[JonathanLB]

Let me take a deep breath so I can try to post without bashing the hell out of some posters here. I want to like you, but I must say, TPM bashers are dick heads. Total dick heads, I don't associate with the enemy side, and that is the enemy side, SW fans or not. "Most profitable? Check out my BWP comment above." You need a dictionary or you need to rewrite your post. Look it up, profit is defined as the money you make after expenses. In fact, here it is, American Heritage Dictionary: "The return received on a business undertaking after all operating expenses have been met." Once again, I am RIGHT, you are WRONG. So next time get a dictionary if you're going to argue with me, and do your homework because I'm not going to keep arguing with someone who can't hold his own in a debate. So that means you have $140 million for Blair Witch, minus the ad budget of about $30 million, and you get $110 million. For TPM you have $430, minus the $115 budget, minus the $20 million ad budget (yes I can confirm it was no more than $20 million), and you get $295 million. You tell me which one is more profittable based on the definition of profit. I'm serious, I won't sit here and debate unless you get in line and start making sense. "There is one thing I must add, the original trilogy rerelease had actually been the first time people went to the movies to watch previews, I remember everyone going to see the previews of the Special edition." That's not true. The first time that Exhibitor Relations reports that people stood in line for a movie trailer was recorded as 1989 when the first Batman movie was released. Just so you know... "If you think Titanic would have done badly during the summer, you are only kidding yourself." That's true. You are right, it would not have done "badly" whatsoever, nobody here thinks that do they? I believe it would have done *MUCH* worse, but bad? No. I think it would have still made the top 10 of all time with about $300 million at the box office. That would be awesome, but it wouldn't have made any $600 million. "Titanic was also a special effects film, the likes of which (in 1997) had never been seen before" BS!!!! Jurassic Park had far better effects than Titanic, and if you want to talk about 1997 alone, Starship Troopers was clearly the best movie of the year effects wise, and it should have won the Oscar. The CG in Titanic was downright awful, the reason it won is because it had *excellent* real visual effects such as the ship breaking in half, the stunt work, the dummies, all that. The CG was horrible, the rest was excellent. The sound, excellent, the costumes, excellent, the sets, top notch, the CG was the only thing lacking OTHER THAN the plot. "the somewhat weak storyline" What the hell are you talking about? The Phantom Menace is one of the best movies of all time, it had an excellent story line just like the other 3 SW movies. I have a serious feeling you don't know crap about TPM. You saw it about 3 times, and you are sitting here bashing it. You expect to win an argument when you probably don't even know half of what I do about the movie? Puh-lease. Go see it again and get back to me, see it again maybe 10 times and you MIGHT understand it. The story is extremely deep, and if you don't understand that it's not my problem or Lucas', he didn't make the movie for people who are unwilling to see past the special effects. And, yes, I very much stand by what I said, The Phantom Menace was the biggest movie in the history of Hollywood. Box office or no, it doesn't matter, Titanic was very large after it came out and was one of the biggest movies ever, TPM was the biggest before and still huge after with excellent success, it was the biggest movie of all time. The biggest "event" I should say. You really don't understand the box office in the slightest and it is getting frusterating arguing with you, I'm not going to go on much beyond this. Listen, a movie does not do well simply because it has a brand name attached. If TPM was a bad movie it would have done sh*tty, simple as that. What about Batman? It did awesome, then the next Batman movie did well because it was good, then Batman Forever did respectable because it was also good, Batman and Robin still had the Batman name, it still was a Batman movie, how the crap did it do so bad then? That's EASY!!!!!!!!! Because it was NOT a good movie, that's why!!! Movies with good word of mouth have excellent box office declines, and The Phantom Menace did. Let me say something that should be very simple to understand. *Movies with GOOD box office declines have GOOD word of mouth. Conversely, movies with GOOD word of mouth have GOOD box office declines. *Movies with BAD box office declines (35-50+%) have BAD word of mouth. Conversely, movies with BAD word of mouth have BAD box office declines. A movie doesn't just happen to stay in the top 20 for 22 weeks, and the top 10 for 11 weeks if it is a bad movie but it's Star Wars. You really need to do some more fact searching here, because you aren't coming up with the right answers my friend. I believe it's pretty obvious what the deal with you is, you didn't like TPM so you think clearly everyone else must not have liked it either, they must only like "the experience" that it "reminds" them of that they had with the original trilogy. Surely, you could not be in the minority, MOST people must hate TPM just like you obviously do. Well spend some time on the other forums and check out the voting threads on Jedi.net and TheForce.net, you'll notiice that over 95% of all respondants liked The Phantom Menace, AND thought it was worthy of the SW name. You'll find the same polls wherever you look, it was a well received, excellent movie. The Phantom Menace WAS the be all end all of the Star Wars movies in my opinion, and certainly in many other peoples too. Next: That list Kyp Durron gave you is a very good one, you should study it real closely if you don't understand (this isn't directed at jjwr anymore). That list was the cotton-candy schedule Titanic had. What you are telling me dude, is your ignorance of the box office and how it works, and how movies effect each other. Here's a little trivia for you, if my basketball team never has a game against a winning team, and has a really easy schedule, are they more likely to have a better record than a team that plays the Blazers a bunch of times, the Lakers, the Spurs, and all the other good teams? Just answer that question and there is your answer. Titanic had "matches" against easy "teams" (movies), and that is why it was easily able to have a better "record" than a "team" (movie) that had a very difficult schedule but still managed to come out a winner. How else do you explain it when a team like Denver makes it to the playoffs in 1997 and ends up winning the superbowl even though they were the wildcard team? Their record was not as good whatsoever. Why did they win? They were the better team, that is why they won. That is also why TPM would "win" vs. Titanic if they were both re-released on the same number of screens at the same time, or if they had been released at the same date. Also, now back to JJWR, you are telling me that if Titanic made $600 million but analysts thought it would make $700, it would not have been a phenomenon. That is a load of crap. It still would have been the FIRST movie to break $400, $500, and $600 million in a single domestic run, and no matter whether analysts expected it to make $1 or $1 billion dollars, it still would have been a phenomenon. A phenomenon isn't just determined by how big something is in comparisson to the "expectations." Here is what the Dictionary has to say "An unusual, significant, or unaccountable fact or occurance; marvel." Was The Phantom Menace "significant" and was it unusual? I think the answer to that question answers whether TPM was a Phenomenon, and I think the answer again, is yes. I can prove that TPM is unusual. Usual is defined as the normal, or the mean of something. If something is usual it occurs commonly, or habitually. Do movies that sell 90 million tickets come along every year...or every few years? The answer to that question is no, they do not. The usual movie does not break $100 million, for example, while TPM did. The usual blockbuster sells maybe 65 million tickets, or if really big 80. But the usual blockbuster does not reach 90 million tickets. That alone defines TPM as an "unusual occurence or event." It is also significant because it is the primary movie event, and even entertainment event, of the year 1999. Therefore The Phantom Menace is a phenomenon.

[JonathanLB]

Isn't it fair to say that TPM is a phenomenon SOLEY based on the fact that the highest grossing 4th part to any series has never before taken in over $150 million, but TPM made almost 3 times that much? I mean, I guess you may not see that as a big deal, but I really do. What about the term "highest grossing sequel ever," does that ring a bell or does it just kind not interest you? I mean, I think personally that's pretty damn impressive, in one run no sequel, or I should say "no movie based on another movie" has sold so many tickets in a single run. I think that is a phenomenon in every sense of the word, and it ads to the overall Star Wars phenomenon.

[Auriga]

Wow I can't believe I just read that whole thing! How much free time do you guys have anyway? Pretty good essay by the way. jj isn't a **** head though

[JediNemesis]

TPM was a phenomenon. It made more than any other movie in history (including adjusted figures). You have to look at the 2+ billion that Pepsi paid Lucas for merchandising rights. I'd say that puts it over the top. I walked into my local KB Toy Works last Sunday and 2 endcaps, 2 bins, and one side of an isle were dedicated to Star Wars. This of course didn't include board games, video games, apparel, and a few other minor things I saw throughout the store. 6 months after the Titanic release, I didn't see little Jack and Rose action figures there. What about a $100 model of the titanic (There because of the movie, not because of the actual ship.)? Where is the "Titanic: Shadows of the Big Ship" video game. I'm still waiting to don myself in a halloween Leo costume. TPM was more successful than Titanic, the BWP, Gone with the Wind, and any other movie in existence. Nemesis, Genius@Large

[JonathanLB]

Hey... I saw you at the TFN forum. Didn't I? I remember you had that really awesome post... Anyway, hello. Also, "jj isn't a **** head though" I sure hope I didn't imply that. I don't think he is at all, but I do think he is misinformed about a lot of topics, but that's ok.

[zoar]

TPM was a phenomenon. It made more than any other movie in history (including adjusted figures). You have to look at the 2+ billion that Pepsi paid Lucas for merchandising rights. I'd say that puts it over the top. I walked into my local KB Toy Works last Sunday and 2 endcaps, 2 bins, and one side of an isle were dedicated to Star Wars. This of course didn't include board games, video games, apparel, and a few other minor things I saw throughout the store. 6 months after the Titanic release, I didn't see little Jack and Rose action figures there. What about a $100 model of the titanic (There because of the movie, not because of the actual ship.)? Where is the "Titanic: Shadows of the Big Ship" video game. I'm still waiting to don myself in a halloween Leo costume. TPM was more successful than Titanic, the BWP, Gone with the Wind, and any other movie in existence. Nemesis, Genius@Large ****************************************** So in brief what you are saying is that TPM was a commercialized cash-cow for madison avenue sharks that milked the movie for every penny they could get.