PT What was the hype/anticipation for The Phantom Menace like?

I was a kid but i do remember anticipation being high, and merchandise being everywhere pretty early before it came out. The acceptability of nerd-ism was very different back then so people camping out, dressing up or even simply being very excited were regularly parodied in the media. I always found that weird, the way ads were plastered everywhere but the same things playing those ads would be like 'but don't care TOO much!'. Very different than the way pop culture works today.
Anyway, i remember that the general adult attitude was that the movie was bad or disappointing after it came out, but these same people were buying ep.1 toys for their kids. I think that's why there's this confusing contrast between popularity and success. Adults pretty much universally hated Pokemon at the time too, and yet it was so successful that it's still a powerful franchise.

 

For me it was extreme excitement and the hype was everywhere. Everywhere you looked (in my part of Australia anyway) it was Star Wars everywhere

 

The hype was huge. It was all over the TV and magazines. The merchandise was everywhere and you couldn't escape it. It was great to see SW back in a big way.

No doubt TPM did great numbers at the box office. But the numbers don't mean it was a great film, but it was certainly popular. But it was new SW, its hard to imagine it not doing well with all the hype surrounding it. The telling thing is the drop off for AOTC and I wonder how much of a negative effect the overall opinion of TPM had on AOTC box office.

 

The drop for AOTC was no different than the drop for Empire. In the case of both trilogies, the "final" entry grossed more than the second movie, but still behind the first.

Star Wars Fox $307,263,857
The Empire Strikes Back Fox $209,398,025

Return of the Jedi Fox $252,583,617



Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace Fox $431,088,295
Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones Fox $302,191,252

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith Fox $380,270,577


The exact same pattern, yet I don't think anyone would argue that just because Empire grossed almost $100 million less than the original SW in its original run that it was any less popular. And let's not forget that perfectly timed, post 9/11 superhero movie that came out the same month as Episode II. Certainly such variables should be considered.

 

The world is a big place outside of just America.

I must say that I don't think I've ever seen hype for a film in my lifetime as there was for TPM. Looking back there was probably too much hype and expectation for it to live up to.

 

It was huge. I remember waiting all night for the trailer to load (those were the days with dial up internet and Quicktime.) And the midnight toy run at Toys R Us was crazy fun too.

I was very, very excited because Star Wars meant so much to me as a little girl. I remember everyone feeling equally excited. It was nice to be in theatre with kids younger than I was when I saw the first Star Wars. Their enthusiasm was fantastic. I hope I can experience that again with the new films...

 

It was extraordinary. Like nothing I've seen before or expect to see again. I remember all the talk about a box office showdown between TPM and Titanic. Early on it looked like Titanic would be blown out of the water (sorry for pun).

 

It was extraordinary. Me and my group of friends had kind of drifted away from Star Wars at that time (early 20's) The Matrix was the big thing. TPM trailer blew our minds! Suddenly Star Wars was back in a big way

 

they are now but avengers is coming may 1st and we're just getting into the hype for sw. the next few weeks will be insane and it will just increase from there.

 

I wish there was the same amount of hype for TFA.

 

It's a different world now. TPM was the first new SW material outside a bit of EU since 1983. These days there's SW stuff everywhere you look. Also, expectations are not as they were then. Having said that, as December approaches things will heat up. Nowhere near the level of 1999 though.

 

I wasn't there to experience it, but it was really huge. Look at news videos on YouTube. It was insane.

As mentioned in the post above mine, it was the return of a culturally significant and wildly popular franchise that hadn't had much new material in recent years.

The real question is: How much hype was there when it was announced the prequels were gonna be made back in 1993, and also during the special edition releases?

 

The prequel announcement was pretty big, but there wasn't the internet madness that occurs today. The SE's, especially ANH, were very successful. I guess not everyone had a huge flat screen tv and home theatre back then, so seeing it on the big screen was, well, big! Also, as with TPM release, expectations for anything SW were immense at the time.

 

I remember when TPM was just about to come out and all the hype that followed it. It really had a communal feeling to it and it was very positive. There is a lot of hype for TFA only it is done in a different manner. The hype for the new film is mostly found on the internet these days. When the film releases in December, there will be a much more self centered take on it. Like how they have "fan reaction" videos on YT. There was more of an interactive feeling when the PT came out. This type of hype will never be seen again I personally feel anyway.

 

Also, I don't remember much divisiveness at the time of TPM. Pretty much everyone wanted it to be good and successful. These days a lot of people seem as concerned about how TFA will reflect on other movies as anything else.

 

I don't remember about the anticipation of The Phantom Menace.

 

I remember there being an overall feeling to the whole thing that this is what Star Wars fans have been waiting for, for the whole story to now be told. For the longest time the big elephant in the room concerning Star Wars was that it started on Episode FOUR.

Which (in Professor Frink's voice) by my calculations would indicate that there are THREE episodes prior to thaaat.

Anyways, that was just always something in the back of every Star Wars fan's mind since it first came out. So now, after all these years, for it to finally be Episode One, was like a second coming.

 

back in May '99, I remember an article in the L.A. Times reporting that Lucas had instructed 20th Century Fox not to run too many TV spots and not to take out full page newspaper ads, because with all the free hype and publicity they were getting, he was afraid that by the time the movie was released there might be a backlash from casual moviegoers. By the time opening day finally arrived, Lucas was thinking that a lot of casual moviegoers might have grown sick of being bombarded with all the SW hype. That's how big the anticipation was.

 

I want to add that everyone knew "this time" George Lucas was a) calling all of the shots, b) going into it with a half-billion dollars, and c) Fox was rolling over backwards to support him. At that time we were all thinking "there is no way this could go wrong". I remember parents with small children making sure their kids got to see it, pretty much to mark a seminal period in their lives.

Agreed. As for fan reactions, there wasn't the same level of output. It the internet, computers and cell phones were barely developed then - the internet was too low-speed, computers couldn't handle some of the movies, web-cams were always accessory products, and just getting cameras on cell-phones was still a couple years off. As for platforms, there were a huge number of small-scale fansites (geo-cities anyone?), youtube didn't or barely existed, and Napster was still around, lol.

 

My local fan club was going nuts. I admit I started being very enthusiastic, but I was one of the few who didn't much like the trailer and went to the premier with lowered expectations. With that in mind, I did not have a huge let down, though TPM was mostly a failure IMO. Many of my friends who were super hyped up (camping out for the premier, etc) were HUGELY disappointed. In that sense, I weathered the event better than they. Hype can kill.