a) Distribution Star Wars: The Force Awakens was released into UK Cinemas on the 20 th of December 2015, many cinemas around the UK held screening at 12am on December 20th for the fans who want to ensure they see the film first, this would appeal to those within the audience who are older, as they are more likely to spend the extra money to go to a midnight screening, it’s unlikely that the younger parts of the audience, for example the children, would go to the midnight screening. Some of the wealthier demographic, who have children, may decide to go to a midnight screening of the movie with their friends or family who have also grown up watching it and then go to another screening with their children at a time when the cinema would have other children amongst the audience and at a more reasonable time, for example, in the afternoon. On its opening weekend it was shown in 640 screens and earned around £34,011,849 in the UK, as well as this it was shown in an additional 4,134 screens in the US earning $247,966,675. The DVD release for The Force Awakens was on April 18 th 2016, in the first week of its sale 2,960,255 copies were sold in the US, with around $73,887,965 being spent on the Blu-ray DVD. The fact that the majority of sales for the DVD were for the Blu-ray version, this also reflects the audience and demographic. The Blu-ray DVD is slightly more expensive than a standard DVD, the majority of people will have a normal DVD player, however it’s those who are tech savvy and prefer the sharper image that a Blu-ray DVD will offer, this relates to the Star Wars audience as they are usually tech savvy adults, if the audience was made up by children, the likelihood is that the standard DVD sales would be higher than the Blu-ray DVD sales, as children don’t notice the difference and parents would most likely opt for the cheaper option. To celebrate the release of the new Star Wars movie, all six previous movies became available to download digitally for the first time in history. For the original fans this would have been a very significant event as the movies have gone from being only available in the cinema, to VHS, DVD, etc. and can now be viewed on a smartphone, therefore many of the older audience would have purchased this bundle. However, children may have also purchased the bundle if they are a lover of the newest film to watch the previous instalments, the majority of children have a tablet or iPod now and therefore may have been able to purchase the movies from the store on their device, as well as this, parents may have bought it for their children to keep them preoccupied on a long journey.

b) AdvertisingThe advertisements that were released were quite vague and left a lot up to the imagination, whereas with other films this is unheard of, the newest Star Wars instalment didn’t need too much hype to be created, as enough excitement was created by just saying ‘there’s a new Star Wars film in 2016’, many viewers would not need to be told another detail and would see the film regardless, this may be because of the reputation of Star Wars being a good franchise or the fact that they are an original fan and want to see how the franchise has evolved with the newer technology that is now available. On November 28th 2014, Lucasfilm released an 88 second trailer as the first sneak peek at the newest instalment. The teaser trailer was released on YouTube and the iTunes Store as well as being shown in selected cinemas around the US. YouTube is now available to everyone, including the younger and older audiences that the film is aimed at, therefore this would be accessible to everyone, showing the teaser trailer in some cinemas would be aimed more at the older audience who are more likely to visit the cinema often, as shown within the demographic analysis that showed the majority of the audience is males who would have an advance pass for the cinema. The next trailer, lasting two minutes, was shown at the opening panel at the Star Wars celebration in Anaheim, California, many traditional fans would have most likely gone to this celebration, as they would go for a sense of nostalgia and to meet others who are interested in the same area as them, as well as this some families may have attended, especially fathers and their children, in order to allow them to grow up with what they did. After the trailer was shown it was said that “the entire room of almost eight thousand people just leapt to their feet and roared”. By showing the trailer at a panel, this showed that the new Star Wars production team wanted to see the reaction from original fans first to ensure it passed the most difficult critiques they may have towards the newest film. Once this second trailer had been uploaded to YouTube it had over 88 million views within the first 24 hours of the release, breaking a Guinness World Record, the next teaser trailer set another record for the ‘most viewed movie trailer on YouTube in 24 hours’, gaining 30.65 million views in 24 hours. Vanity Fair was the first magazine to release an exclusive cover issue devoted to The Force Awakens, with the magazine being released on May 7 th 2015. This reflects the demographic of Star Wars as the wealthy middle aged man, also Vanity Fair would not usually be something males buy often, the magazine is more expensive and is not something someone with a smaller income would buy regularly, as well as this it again shows the dedication towards gaining the traditional fans’ approval of the new film as children would not usually purchase a copy of Vanity Fair. One of the theatrical posters that was released to promote the movie proved the advertising strength and power of the Star Wars brand, the poster simply said “Star Wars: The Force Awakens – December”, despite the lack of information or images of the characters, the majority of the viewers recognised the film and this created further excitement for the movie. This would have also been aimed at the traditional fans as they would know the movie and what it would entail through just the name. As well as the basic posters they also created a range of others. This included character posters for each character that would be featuring in the newest instalment. The advertisement team for The Force Awakens created a modern poster that featured all of the characters, the effects on the images were flawless and it helped create a lot of excitement and create a lot of attention amongst the younger audience and they could see the potential the newest film held. As well as the newer looking poster, they also create an older, traditional looking poster, with only Rey, Finn and Kylo Ren featuring on it. Whilst the other poster was shiny and attention grabbing this poster was more relaxed and focused more on the characters than the effects to make the film appeal to younger audiences, the older looking poster will have been appreciated more by the traditional fans, as well as Han Solo featuring quite largely on the poster. Releasing the posters were able to create a lot of ‘hype’ around the release of the movie, as a sequel to the previous franchise had been long awaited by fans, therefore speculation about the return of previous characters was also at large and the posters that were released only added to the speculation. Upon releasing the poster of Rey many began to wonder whether the lightsaber in which she had with her in the image was that of Luke Skywalker who was yet to be confirmed in the sequel. This sent many fans into a frenzy in which they began to make predictions about whether Luke would return and how he would do so. When promoting Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Disney also advertised the movie through the game Star Wars Battlefront. When you pre-ordering the game you were unable to unlock the Jakku planet a week early, on December 1st. The DLC included two extra maps which were set on the desert wasteland, seen in Episode 7’s teasers, and taking place one year after the assault on Endor. The map was designed to bridge the Battle of Jakku, Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens. This was able to generate anticipation for the upcoming movie as it gave fans a glimpse at what the world within the new movie was like and how it came to be that way, giving them extra knowledge to enter the cinema with, producer Craig Mcleod said that the new DLC, “takes you beyond the Original Trilogy, but not far enough that you go into the New Trilogy era.”