Disney Triples Down on Star Wars Branded Merchandise for 'Force Friday'

By Brendan Menapace

Disney has never been shy when it comes to self promotion. There's a reason everyone wore watches with Mickey Mouse on them for decades. Now that the Star Wars franchise is down with the Mouse, we're not only seeing a lot more content than when George Lucas was solely in charge, but also a corresponding branded merchandise effort on an intergalactic scale.

Disney is preparing for not only an upcoming film release—with the highly-anticipated ninth chapter of the Skywalker saga coming in December—but also a new video game (Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order) and a TV series on the new Disney+ streaming platform ("The Mandalorian").

So, Disney is launching a Sith ton of merchandise corresponding to the three releases, dubbing it "Triple Force Friday." It's like the "Force Friday" event they did in the past, but tripled!

According to Mice Chat, the event started at the Grand Californian convention center at Disneyland, where Star Wars fans could shop for apparel, bags, caps and much more.

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The toy game was also strong, with that red Sith Trooper that we know next to nothing about being heavily featured. They even sold Sith Trooper zipper bags.

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Here's the interesting thing about the merchandise: A lot of it is exclusive to Disney's theme parks, at least for now. And while the franchise is gearing up for these three releases, this acts as a catch-all hype machine rather than specialized, brand-specific advertising.

Not that Star Wars even needs to market itself at this point, right? But, with the Galaxy's Edge theme parks and the fact that in 2019 it can produce this much content to this much fanfare, Disney understands how much of a cash cow it is.

Well, cash Tauntaun maybe.