On Christmas Day, Duke didn't take a break or relax. After spending Christmas Eve with his mother and Scarlett Johansson, he boarded a plane with other members of the crew and left North America, beginning the overseas promotional tour for the film. Meanwhile, Star Wars: The Force Awakens continued its triumphant march in the North American market.
On Christmas Day, Star Wars: The Force Awakens earned 59.34 million dollars in North America, breaking the Christmas Day box office record of 24.6 million dollars set by Sherlock Holmes when it premiered in 2009.
The dazzling performance of The Force Awakens also pushed the North American box office to a new high. On that Christmas Day, the North American market earned over 100 million dollars, surpassing the 86 million dollar Christmas Day record jointly held by Sherlock Holmes and Avatar in 2009.
The 2015 Christmas and three-day weekend box office also seemed likely to break the 260 million dollar record from the same period in 2009, becoming the highest in North American film history.
For this overseas promotional tour, Duke specially invited George Lucas. After all, he wasn't the former Walt Disney, and George Lucas gladly agreed.
Lucas's presence also brought even more attention to this overseas tour.
Although media coverage kept bringing up the Star Wars prequel trilogy, in Duke's mind, George Lucas's position far surpassed that of Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola.
This had nothing to do with family ties—it was because George Lucas could be called the true founder of the modern film industry.
The Star Wars series, or rather George Lucas himself, fundamentally pioneered the concept of the modern film franchise.
It is widely recognized in Hollywood and the global film industry that Steven Spielberg's Jaws (1975) opened the era of the summer blockbuster, while the Star Wars saga elevated Hollywood blockbusters to an entirely new level.
In the late 1970s, film series were not well regarded in Hollywood. The Planet of the Apes series and the James Bond franchise were among the few successful examples. Yet, with the sudden emergence and spectacular success of Star Wars, everything changed. Hollywood began seriously exploring serialized film projects.
To a great extent, the success of the Harry Potter series, Duke's The Lord of the Rings trilogy, and the Marvel films all trace their origins back to George Lucas's groundbreaking creation in 1977.
Duke's famous line—"George Lucas is the Edison of cinema"—was not an exaggeration, for Lucas also discovered one of the most vital keys to Hollywood's profitability and survival.
Beyond creating a beloved film series, George Lucas also pioneered the business model of movie merchandising.
Before that, film-related merchandise was limited to T-shirts and a few small souvenirs, with little variety. But the Star Wars series changed everything—it offered products in huge quantity, high quality, and remarkable diversity.
Lucas collaborated with toy industry giants like Mattel, Hasbro, and LEGO, producing countless Star Wars toys—characters, settings, starships, and more.
This marked the beginning of the early-1980s "action figure craze," nurturing a massive group of "collector" fans and giving passionate young audiences, for the first time, the chance to recreate their favorite scenes at home with a "Luke Skywalker" or "Han Solo" figure.
It's worth noting that in the late 1970s and early 1980s, home theaters didn't even exist yet. Through its merchandise, George Lucas managed to cultivate future fans among the younger generation—even those who hadn't yet seen the films.
Many people, especially children, often fell in love with the Star Wars products before ever watching the movies.
This clever approach was later adopted by countless films and manufacturers, and it also helped establish the fanbase for America's 1980s "Saturday Morning Cartoon" phenomenon. Series like Transformers, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, and G.I. Joe are all examples where toy sales outperformed the shows themselves.
Even now, Duke still remembers that back in the 1980s, when he was in school, the most popular playground game in America suddenly shifted from "Cops and Robbers" to "Rebels vs. Imperial Soldiers." Everywhere, kids were swinging lightsabers and laser guns. As video games rose to prominence, the Star Wars franchise expanded into gaming as well, offering street-corner youths a chance to embark on interactive interstellar adventures.
In fact, up to this very day, the entire Star Wars franchise—including its films, video games, toys, and other products—has generated more than 30 billion dollars in global revenue.
It takes time for fans to deeply integrate Star Wars culture into their own lives, but Lucasfilm has possessed this unique skill since its very inception. This is what sets it apart from those other companies that constantly hide behind legal documents, forbidding this or restricting that.
Thus, the Star Wars fanbase has continued to grow quietly but steadily. As the children grew up, they became die-hard fans themselves. Now, there are already three generations of Star Wars fans and if you think about that carefully, it's quite astonishing.
At the first stop of the overseas promotional tour in London, a journalist asked Duke about his opinion on George Lucas establishing such a vast commercial empire through the original Star Wars.
"The first thing that comes to my mind," Duke replied, "is that when the original Star Wars came out, Hollywood didn't even have a merchandising industry."
Indeed, Hollywood at that time had no concept of an industrial chain. Duke's words were simply stating facts. "I believe that George securing the merchandising rights for the Star Wars series was the single most crucial step in the entire history of the Star Wars franchise."
After a brief pause for thought, he added, "Movies have always been a business, but few films have ever achieved what Star Wars did in this regard. When the first Star Wars was released, the world had not yet seen these billion-dollar-level merchandise industries—there was only the Star Wars story itself. But it was precisely on the foundation of those ideas—such as all minds and life being bound and connected by the Force; the eternal struggle between good and evil; and the notion that a farm boy from some remote, unknown place could become the key figure in resisting nearly insurmountable darkness—that the vast Star Wars commercial empire was built."
Fans influenced by Star Wars to choose their own career paths were not limited to film directors like Duke. Many of those who grew up watching the original trilogy went on to work for NASA or in the aerospace industry.
For example, NASA astronaut Kjell Lindgren also accepted the crew's invitation to attend the Star Wars promotional event in London, and during an interview, he said, "I think Star Wars by itself is imaginative enough just in terms of storytelling. Plus, the high-tech elements and the idea of working and living in outer space are incredibly inspiring. Our generation of astronauts all watched A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi as kids. Personally, Star Wars is one of the many reasons why I became interested in space exploration."
During a program on Sky TV, Duke said, "Star Wars has retained its charm over 40 years, and if I had to sum it up with one word, it would be: 'legendary.' Like Greek mythology, Western folklore, or the works of Shakespeare, these stories have withstood the test of time and continue to captivate new generations of audiences. One of the most appealing aspects of The Force Awakens is that parents can take their children to the theater and lead them into this unique universe—just as our parents did for us many years ago when we were kids…"
Of course, not everyone would praise the movie. No matter how powerful the combination of Duke and Star Wars was, it could not conquer the entire world.
On the Internet, there were still plenty of people who refused to buy into Duke or Star Wars.
"There are two universally recognized deceivers in this world: fame and profit. And beyond them, there is another important deceiver—fashion! Undoubtedly, Star Wars: The Force Awakens has set this year's end-of-year trend, but such blockbusters are often total artistic failures—utterly vulgar commercial films crafted by Duke Rosenberg purely for money and profit!"
"The reason movies like this can dominate the box office and sweep through the Christmas season isn't because of any artistic achievement we can be proud of, but because of sensory stimulation—stimulation for the eyes, stimulation for the nerves, and stimulation for the endocrine system."
"Our society cannot stay this vulgar forever. People will one day crave elegant art that awakens their numb minds. Even if the utterly commercialized Duke Rosenberg can dominate the box office now, he will inevitably be abandoned by audiences in the near future!"
"Filmmakers represented by Duke Rosenberg have already forgotten cinema's original purpose and mission. They are increasingly betraying the essence of film itself, pushing movies further and further away from real life…"
Even so, the crew's overseas promotional tour was still welcomed in every city. Not to mention anything else, the hundreds of reporters flocking to each event were already the best kind of publicity.
In addition, many wealthy and leisure-loving fans had followed the crew ever since the Los Angeles premiere. They were exactly the kind of customers businesses loved to see.
Wherever they went, the Star Wars: The Force Awakens crew became the center of attention. Each promotional stop was like a full-scale campaign—being surrounded and chased by thousands of people became routine. Many times, after signing so many autographs that their right hands went numb, they had to switch to their left. Fortunately, it was only for autographs—otherwise, they surely would have embarrassed themselves.
"On December X, the Star Wars: The Force Awakens crew held an event in XX City. When Duke Rosenberg and the cast appeared, the entire city erupted into chaos and excitement…"
News like this, which at first could still attract public attention, eventually became routine. In everyone's eyes, it was perfectly normal for Duke's crew to be welcomed everywhere—if they were ever received coldly, that would be the real news.
All of Europe was shaken by the promotional tour led by Duke and his team.
Those artsy filmmakers—especially the European directors who prided themselves on making "pure art"—were, of course, unwilling to accept it. They dismissed the film as nothing more than a vulgar story paired with computer-generated visuals, stripped of the authentic charm of cinema.
Such sour remarks, however, weren't even believed by European audiences, and North American media couldn't be bothered to respond at all.
As for the film and its ordinary fans, those comments carried almost no weight. Star Wars: The Force Awakens unsurprisingly retained its crown as the weekend box office champion in both North America and across the globe.
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