The Star Wars revival began with a novel titled Heir to the Empire, which was based on the popular characters from the classic Star Wars Trilogy. Well-known science fiction author Timothy Zahn wrote the novel, which Bantam Books released in June 1991. Heir to the Empire skyrocketed to the top spot on the all-important New York Times Bestseller List, where it remained for months and sold more than one million copies. The events in the book occur five years after the fall of the empire in the final Star Wars movie, Return of the Jedi. Heir to the Empire and its two sequels, Dark Force Rising (June 1992) and The Last Command (May 1993), have more than five million copies in print.

The success of the novels surprised many observers, and even Lucasfilm. The passion for Star Wars, which many had dismissed as sentiments of a past age, was still remarkable and quickly increased with Zahnis successful trilogy. Skeptics questioned the power of the saga to create enthusiasm even after years of inactivity, but fans realized that a Star Wars renaissance had just begun. Zahn deserves credit for returning glory to the Star Wars name. Without his impressive writing and captivating stories, the franchise might have remained dormant for many more years. Lucasfilm tested the market with Heir to the Empire, attempting to gauge public interest in the saga so that the company could decide how to proceed with future Star Wars projects. George Lucas had to confirm that interest in Star Wars still existed, so the phenomenal success of the first novel convinced him that the saga had not lost its timeless appeal. The first several novels began a much more aggressive effort to place Star Wars in the public spotlight once again.

In 1991, the same year as Bantam Books published Heir to the Empire, Hasbro, one of the nationis leading toy companies, purchased Kenner Toys. Kenner had manufactured Star Wars action figures and other related products since the beginning of the phenomenon in 1977, but released the first Star Wars action figures in early 1978. Few people anticipated the success of the first Star Wars movie, which left companies unprepared to produce merchandise based on it. Even more surprisingly, studios rarely considered merchandising deals for movies in the 1970s. Aside from T-shirts and hats, studios did not often authorize movie memorabilia before Star Wars: Episode IV n- A New Hope changed the movie merchandising industry forever.

Although interest in Star Wars had seemingly disappeared after the final film in the original trilogy, the series only grew more popular over the late 1980s. An entire generation of fans who could not see the Star Wars movies in theaters could watch them on home video and play with previously released Star Wars action figures. Many people even believe that the action figures played a major role in keeping interest alive throughout the years following the release of Return of the Jedi. Videos played the most significant role in creating new fans, however. A poll conducted on the Official Star Wars Website revealed that 21% of the fans who voted became interested in the saga between 1984 and 1990. In a Variety article published on October 4, 1993, the trade publication explained Lucasfilmis plans to produce three new Star Wars films, although the article noted that Lucas would most likely not direct any of them. Shortly after the early speculation, Lucas announced plans to direct all three films. Gordon Radley, president of Lucasfilm at the time, said the company was not worried about diminished interest in the saga. He said, iWeire looking at these films as brand new franchises, separate from the originals.i Before the prequels began production, though, another major Star Wars project was underway.

In the early 1990s, Lucasfilm began negotiating with Twentieth Century Fox about the possibility of adding scenes to the Star Wars Trilogy and making digital improvements to many of the shots. After the studiois enthusiasm about the plan, which involved re-releasing the films as Special Editions in honor of the twentieth anniversary of Star Wars, Lucasfilm began working on the new versions. The total budget for creating Special Editions of all of the three films was not much more than $20 million. Still, Star Wars: A New Hope occupied nearly half of the budget, which was almost as much as the entire original movie cost to produce in the 1970s.

Proving that few people knew Star Wars was still a powerful force in popular culture, Entertainment Weekly placed a picture of Luke Skywalker on the cover of their January 10, 1997 issue, calling the re-release one of the biggest gambles of the year. In the article, a passage read, iOf course, with the prequel on track, thereis no turning the ship around if the reissues vanish into the black hole of low grosses.i Fortunately for Lucasfilm, Twentieth Century Fox, and the Star Wars Saga, Hollywood had never seen an event that compared to the first re-release.

On January 31, 1997, Star Wars fans and excited moviegoers lined up at theaters nationwide to watch the most popular movie of all-time. Playing in 2,104 theaters, the movie grossed $35.9 million during its first weekend of re-release, which was by far the highest grossing weekend ever recorded in January, or February. Its average gross per theater of $17,066 indicated sold-out showings across the nation. The massive weekend gross was not only the best ever for a re-release, but one of the top ten highest weekend totals for any movie in history at the time, yet the film had already been released five times before in theaters and had sold tens of millions of videos. The magnitude of the success shocked analysts.

The Star Wars Special Edition reigned for three weeks as the top grossing film in America, before losing out to its own sequel, The Empire Strikes Back, which premiered on February 21, 1997. In exactly three weeks, the first Star Wars movie reclaimed its crown as the highest grossing movie in box office history. In the same span, it also became the first movie to gross $400 million at the North American box office.

The Empire Strikes Back re-opened with almost $22 million and held onto first place at the box office for two weeks. The final part in the trilogy, Return of the Jedi, grossed $16.3 million on the weekend beginning March 14, 1997; it reigned as the highest grossing movie of the weekend. Star Wars: A New Hope collected $138.3 million on its re-release, The Empire Strikes Back grossed $67.6 million, and Return of the Jedi ended with $45.4 million. The re-releases also catapulted all of the movies into the top ten highest grossing films of all-time. While the trilogy grossed $251.3 million in North America on re-release, it also added another $214.2 million in foreign ticket sales for a total of $465.5 million. The impressive success of the Special Edition Trilogy proved that interest in Star Wars was still strong. The value of all contracts surrounding the first prequel skyrocketed.

Even before the Special Editions arrived in theaters, PepsiCo never doubted the popularity of the Star Wars Saga. On May 16, 1996, PepsiCo signed a deal with Lucasfilm guaranteeing them the rights to link their products with Star Wars through the release of the first prequel. The agreement included PepsiCois beverage, snack food, and restaurant brands worldwide, allowing the company the opportunity to stage a massive cross-promotional campaign for the Special Editions and Episode I. PepsiCois deal was not the first major one struck with Lucasfilm for the prequels, but it was the largest. At $2 billion, the agreement was the most extensive promotional alliance in entertainment history. iLucasfilm has and will continue to change the way movies are made, and this partnership will forever change the way movies are marketed,i said Roger A. Enrico, the CEO of PepsiCo, Inc.

The success of the Special Editions also made the rights to distribute all three prequels extremely valuable because every studio wanted a percentage of the worldwide box office gross of the prequels. The toy rights for the movies were also highly valued, especially because the products released in 1997 in conjunction with the Special Editions sold very well. During the same year, the prequel toy rights sold for a record sum of money and Star Wars once again rewrote merchandising history.

Work on the first prequel began years before the Special Editions arrived in theaters, though, as Lucas began writing Episode I on November 1, 1994. iItis great to be able to sit by myself and just be able to do this. Itis a real luxury, actually,i he said on the first day of writing. He remarked that he could say, iWouldnit it be great ifOei but ithen pounding that into reality takes a huge amount of effort.i The immense effort began early and required years of work from thousands of talented people to bring Episode I to theaters and fans.

On January 18, 1995, Lucasfilm formed the Star Wars: Episode I Art Department. Doug Chiang, the head conceptual artist for Episode I, led the department, which produced thousands of drawings, paintings, and models to conceptualize the first film. The department worked with Lucas for more than three years and gave him the opportunity to visualize each element of the movie before he began filming.

Doug Chiang replaced Ralph McQuarrie, who was the production illustrator for the first Star Wars Trilogy. Chiang is a talented, award-winning artist who is well suited to the Star Wars universe because of his vivid use of colors and sharp drawing style. He began his career with the television show Pee-Weeis Playhouse, but soon began working on feature films such as Back to the Future Part II (1989), Ghost (1990), Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), The Mask (1994), and Jumanji (1995). He won an Academy Award for his work on Death Becomes Her (1992), a British Academy Award for Forrest Gump (1994), and advertisingis highest honor: A Clio Award for Best Art Direction. His design work on Episode I helped give the film a unique style, but one that also fits with the past Star Wars movies.

The sixteen-year wait between Return of the Jedi and Episode I helped create an unprecedented frenzy surrounding information relating to the movie. The media began its hype machine years in advance of the filmis release while fans had speculated about the fourth installment of the Star Wars Saga since the day they saw Return of the Jedi. The longer wait, more developed special effects techniques, and higher budget created even greater expectations for Episode I than for the past films.

No movie had ever suffered from the same degree of expectation, but no movie had the advantage of such a massive built-in audience either. Lucas had to rely not only on his own considerable fortune and hired talent, but also on his writing and directing skills, which ultimately decide the quality of a film. Though he is young as a director, most people recognize his considerable talent. Nevertheless, Lucas had not directed a film since the first Star Wars installment more than two decades earlier, so many people wondered whether he could handle the task.

After Lucas began writing his script and the Episode I Art Department convened for its first meeting, the casting process soon began, eventually followed by the start of filming on the most anticipated movie in history. The process was long and arduous, but ultimately rewarding and fulfilling for nearly everyone involved.

Would tens of millions of dollars and years of work from thousands of talented professionals create one of the most impressive movies of all-time, and a worthy addition to the Star Wars Saga, or would the weight of expectation crush the first prequel? Fans everywhere speculated about the movie and its plot, anxiously anticipating the first prequel to the greatest trilogy in movie history. The story of Episode I is full of glorious triumphs, technological advancements, incredible difficulties, fan backlash, and inaccurate media reporting, but few failures. With millions of fans awaiting its release, major companies striking unprecedented deals with Lucasfilm, and every studio in Hollywood wanting a piece of the filmis box office gross, analysts knew that its theatrical premiere would be a major event. Some people doubted that Episode Iis quality could match its hype, though nobody could deny the power of the Force to attract fans.