WASHINGTON — Damien Higdon and his 3-year-old daughter, Nashira, arrived at a Northern Virginia mall around 3:30 Friday morning on a mission: To nab some toys from a galaxy far, far away.
Nashira, sporting Princess Leia-style side buns, was bleary-eyed as they held their position at the front of the line of about two dozen people waiting to get into the Disney Store. But she lit up once she got her hands on a First Order TIE fighter ship, a BB-8 drinking cup and a T-shirt featuring Yoda and other characters. All went in Damien’s shopping basket, alongside the full line-up of Elite Series die-cast action figures that his own inner child just had to have.
“This is the most excited I’ve been about one of the movies since the ’80s,” Damien Higdon said.
The predawn shopping kicked off Disney’s effort to cash in on fans eagerly awaiting the debut of “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” which is slated to hit theaters this holiday season. The company even crafted its own holiday — Force Friday — for devotees to finally get a look at the toys and merchandise.
After purchasing Lucas Films in 2012 for $4 billion, Disney now must show it can keep the franchise alive — and profitable. The film is expected to become one of the highest-grossing in box office history, and experts say that “Star Wars” toys could blow past the $500 million in sales that Disney’s smash hit “Frozen” delivered to the toy industry last year. If they do it right, Disney could be feasting off “Force Awakens” merchandise sales long after the movie leaves theaters.
Until now, Disney’s efforts largely have been cloaked in secrecy. Toy industry reviewers were not given much early access to “Force Awakens” gear. Even Disney Store employees have been kept in the dark about the specifics of the toys.
But the Disney Store’s effort to connect with devoted “Star Wars” fans has been a long time in the making.
In 2014, it invited about a dozen fans and memorabilia collectors to its Pasadena, California, headquarters to give them a sneak peek at some toys before they hit store shelves. The goal, a Disney Store official said, was to convince these tastemakers that Disney would not let them down.
“It was new to Disney. And we knew that this was an avid fan … they love these characters, and we wanted to provide comfort to them that we love these characters as well and have taken very good care for them,” said Elissa Margolis, senior vice president and general manager at the Disney Store.
These super fans were given a tour of Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California, met some of the “Star Wars” toy designers, and, after signing nondisclosure agreements, checked out some final versions and near-final versions of action figures, role-play toys, costumes and other items.
“They just said, ‘Give us your honest opinion, and we want your reaction to this,’ ” said attendee Steve Sansweet, a onetime employee and sometimes-consultant for Lucasfilm who is president of Rancho Obi-Wan, a museum that houses his vast private collection of “Star Wars” memorabilia.
Sansweet said it was a line-up of coffee mugs he saw during the trip that convinced him Disney was approaching the toys thoughtfully. Instead of just slapping an image of the characters on a traditionally shaped mug, Disney Store showed him something different: The R2-D2 mug was short and round while the C-3PO mug was long and narrow, reflecting the familiar profiles of the famous droids. The Chewbecca mug was sculpted so it looked like the furry Wookiee’s face.
“It was clear to me that they got it,” Sansweet said.
Disney said its toy designers were obsessed with the tiny details, including one toy designer working on a Darth Vader costume.
“There was a certain chain that went across the chest, and when she saw it for the first time in samples, she knew that the color wasn’t exactly what the color should be,” Margolis said. “And that was something she went back and worked on.”
Casual fans might not have noticed such a small discrepancy, but Disney says it is keenly aware that when it comes to “Star Wars,” you’re often dealing with an unusually persnickety enthusiast.
Disney aimed to train store employees to speak as fluently about Yoda’s quirky wisdom as they do about Princess Elsa’s “Frozen” ice palace or Aladdin’s magic-carpet-riding skills. Employees, who were encouraged to watch the all of the “Star Wars” films, were given trading cards featuring photos of key movie characters and participated in a six-week long trivia contest. For the trivia contest employees were put into teams — the dark side or the light side, naturally.
“To do their role effectively, they need to know more than just the very basics of the story, of the film, of the characters, “ said Jonathan Storey, Disney Store North America’s vice president of store experience.
The hope is that this extensive training will make the Disney Store customer experience stand out in a crowded toy marketplace and will impress die-hard, detail-oriented fans.
“They will go to the stores and they will look for mistakes in the packaging,” said Jim Silver, editor-in-chief of toy review Web site TTPM. “They are looking for any little thing wrong.”
Key to Disney’s efforts will be making “Star Wars” toys appeal to adults as well as kids. The franchise has a vast audience of adult collectors, and these loyalists are likely to fuel early “Force Awakens” toy sales.
“Nostalgia plays well, especially with parents,” said Matthew Hudak, toy industry analyst at Euromonitor. “Nearly every parent grew up with ‘Star Wars.’ That was the toy of their youth.”
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