He lucked out there. He retained merchandising because it was considered worthless. Star Wars set the pattern for this kind of film-plus-merchandising blockbust

He lucked out there. He retained merchandising because it was considered worthless. Star Wars set the pattern for this kind of film-plus-merchandising blockbuster. Although there was no advance merch when Star Wars came out, this quickly changed when the toy manufacturing partners realized they had a real gravy train.