With the production for Star Wars episode VIII already in motion and the start of Dubrovnik Star Wars filming less than a month away, we are beginning to see the real power behind Disney’s promotional machinery. You could say when it comes to marketing, the force is truly strong with them (this pun was so bad I couldn’t resist it). Although the release date for Episode VIII was recently pushed back to December 17th 2017, you’d have a tough time trying to navigate around any entertainment section of your favorite online news source without stumbling upon some information about Star Wars.

As Entrepreneur.com’s Nina Zipkin reports, with Episode VII grossing over $2 billion globally and experts’ predictions talking about estimated $5 – $6 billion of revenue from Star Wars merchandise during 2016, it is easy to see the media hype is not only possible to explain, but it would be foolish not to insist on it.

Of course, even without the advertising and PR efforts of world’s entertainment giants, the news and information about Star Wars would still be efficiently carried around our media space through the efforts of its legion of fans. So, can we call the situation today a „perfect storm“ of promotional efforts when one entertainment project enjoys both a support of probably the biggest fan base in movie history and at the same time is being pushed by what could be the strongest entertainment company to date? Probably. Why else would I write this entire text just so I can show you the first teaser for Star Wars Episode VIII. It’s a whopping 34 seconds long and shows no new material, but we’ll take it. It’s better than nothing.

Call it obsession, call it being a sucker for trends, but I can’t look at this short clip without it drawing a smile on my face.

Go Episode VIII!