At the recent TGA2021, in addition to the dust settled on many awards that have attracted much attention, many games have also released new trailers and demo videos. After the release of these videos, they quickly caused a craze of attention on major video websites, and among many games, "Star Wars: Eclipse" stood out, and on YouTube, its promo film was more than 6.7 million+ views twice that of the second place "Warhammer 40000 Space Marine 2", becoming the deserved king of traffic.
So, what is the magic that makes this game stand out for a while, even overshadowing blockbusters such as Eldon's Circle of Law, Sonic Frontier, and Horizon 2: Forbidden Lands? The answer is simple – IP. Yes, "Star Wars", which was born in 1977 and has been inherited from the present, has unprecedented influence in the world, and it can be said that in the entire West, Star Wars is the existence of national IP. It can be said that the 44-year-old Star Wars series is a living legend.
The "Star Wars" series is now 44 years old
Speaking of the author's Star Wars enlightenment, there are also some serendipitous coincidences. I remember that when I was still in elementary school, I pulled my grandfather's clothes in a small bookstore and begged him to buy me some colorful picture books that were very attractive to children of that age. When I got home, I couldn't wait to plunge into the book: it depicted a world full of spaceships, warplanes, robots, lightsabers, and superpowers. Although in retrospect the story is fragmentary and the painting is rough, for me at that time, it was like opening the door to a new world. It was probably then that I began to have all kinds of science fiction dreams in my mind.
Lightsabers, ships, robots, the Force, this is my first impression of Star Wars
After this initial experience, until junior high school, the author never touched the Content related to Star Wars. After entering junior high school, with the gradual popularization of the Internet, watching movies on the Internet has become a common pastime. So one day, after clicking on the movie "Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith" because of its cool name, the author couldn't help but exclaim: "Isn't this what I read in the picture book when I was a child?" ”
From that day on, I knew its name, Star Wars.
The IP of Star Wars can be said to be a perfect realistic example of the classic quote of Wei Gong Shilang when facing the golden flash, "A fake product may not be able to defeat the genuine product".
In "Star Wars: A New Hope", which is the origin of IP, people can see the shadow of many of Akira Kurosawa's classic samurai movie "Warring States Heroes". The corresponding character images, similar contradictions and conflicts, and even the direction of the plot are quite consistent. It can be said that in addition to the original super power plug-in of "Force" and the background changed from the Warring States era to the future (spit a sentence: the lightsaber in Star Wars, it feels like a glowing wooden stick. In addition, Star Wars: A New Hope is almost a "U.S. localization" version of Sengoku Heroes.
In Star Wars: A New Hope, you can see the shadow of many of Akira Kurosawa's classic "Warring States Heroes"
Seeing this, you may feel: "It is difficult to become a big tool for copycats." But "New Hope" tells us with its own achievements: "Localization" is done well, "borrowing" is appropriate, and it can become "New Hope".
The premiere grossed $ 1.554 million.
In the three weeks of release, the stock price of the distribution company 20th Century Fox doubled. Before 1977, the company made a maximum annual profit of $37 million, and in 1977, the profit came to $79 million.
It grossed $460,998,007 in the U.S., $337,000,000 overseas, and grossed $775,398,007 in total. After adjusting for inflation, it is still the highest-grossing sci-fi film to date.
He won the 50th Academy Awards in 1977 for Best Art Direction - Set, Best Costume Design, Best Sound, Best Editing, Best Visual Effects, Best Music, and was awarded the Special Achievement Award for Sound Effects Production.
Blockbuster, fame and fortune. It can be said that from the debut of the series, "Star Wars" has revealed the potential of "national IP".
"Star Wars: A New Hope" was a huge success, and the potential of the Star Wars National IP was just beginning to emerge
With such a huge success as a driving force, the second game in the series, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, came into being. Nearly three years after the release of "New Hope", "Empire Strikes Back" just like its name, has launched a beautiful "counterattack war" against the various doubts and controversies caused by the "plagiarism" of the first work.
As the name suggests, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back with a beautiful "Strike Back War"
If "New Hope" is still a child who has to imitate and borrow from his teeth, then "Empire Strikes Back" is already a healthy adult. Compared with the slightly thin and lack of personality and depth of the first mid-era character image, in the second work, the proportion of love and hatred between different characters in the film has increased significantly: whether it is the growth and maturity of the protagonist Luke, or the romance between Han Solo and Princess Leah, the audience has been deeply impressed.
And the major secret that was not revealed in the film until the classic duel near the end of the film - the number one villain Darth Vader is actually the father of the protagonist Luke, which pushes the contradictions and drama of the film to the peak. This brilliant plot arrangement and character design also paved the way for Darth Vader to become the most successful villain of all time in the third part of the series.
One of the most successful villains of all time – Darth Vader
The next third work, the end of the Star Wars trilogy, Star Wars: Return of the Jedi. Although compared with the previous two works, the excessive pursuit of special effects technology makes the film as a whole somewhat top-heavy, and even its ending is somewhat abrupt and sloppy, but as a commercial film, "Return of the Jedi" is undoubtedly a success, and the box office of more than 470 million US dollars is the best proof.
Despite some problems with the plot and characterization, Star Wars: Return of the Jedi was a huge success
In addition to the huge commercial success, the biggest achievement of "Return of the Jedi" is to complete the portrayal of the most successful villain of all time, Darth Vader. In the film, the director tells the audience through Master Yoda's last words that Darth Vader is actually anAkin Skywalker, a Jedi knight once known as the "Fearless Hero", (and later described and interpreted in detail in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith).) He was seduced by the Sith Lord Darth Sidiousus and threw himself into the dark side of the Force. After learning the truth of all this, Luke chooses to sneak into the Sith Lord's ship alone to find his father, Darth Vader, and eventually impresses Vader in a deadly duel with Vader and the Sith Lord, evoking the good side of the Jedi that he retains in his heart. So at the critical moment when Luke was attacked by Darth Sidious with The Force Lightning, Anakin struck a blow and used the Force to throw Sidious into the abyss of the Death Star's reactor, and then peacefully passed away, transforming into a Jedi hero.
Darth Vader is the former Anakin Skywalker
It can be said that the complex entanglements and multiple reversals in the character of Darth Vader (Anakin Skywalker) have made his popularity even far beyond Luke as the protagonist of the series, after all, people are always more empathetic to the "people" full of passions than the flawless superhero.
With the completion of the canon trilogy, "Star Wars" has become a phenomenon-level IP of the entire Western world, and various peripheral products related to it can be said to have sprung up like mushrooms and become popular. It can be said that "Star Wars" has relied on its excellent story content and groundbreaking special effects expressiveness to deeply imprint this sci-fi world of lightsabers, force, spaceships and robots in the hearts of countless audiences.
Hand-made, lightsaber... There is still a huge market around various Star Wars today
From imitation to transcendence, the story of Star Wars becoming a national IP tells us that imitation is not shameful, as long as we can finally complete the transformation from imitation to creation, and make truly outstanding works, we can open up a new and own path.