Today is May the 4th, which is known throughout certain pockets of internet fandom (and on Disney’s Twitter feed) as “Star Wars Day” since it is, you know, the day where we all wish each other, “May the Fourth Be With You!”
I’m a Star Wars fan in the respect that I still play the Star Wars: The Old Republic online video game and enjoy the films and some of the TV shows. But I’ve felt like the enthusiasm for the brand has been fading pretty strongly since Disney started cranking out new films, and I thought I’d take a look on Google Trends to see how the franchise has been faring.
First of all, a caveat – Google Trends is a tool for measuring the popularity of search engine topics and not for assessing the worth of a brand. (And if you want to read a more detailed list of the uses and fallacies involving Google Trends, here you go!) With that in mind, let’s take a look at Star War’s popularity over time since the earliest available data in 2004:
Unsurprisingly, we see spikes every time a numbered entry in the prequel trilogy (Episode III in this case) or the sequel trilogy (Episodes VII, VIII and IX) came out, with a smaller bump around the release of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. The fever pitch was around the build-up to Episode VII: The Force Awakens in December of 2015, and I’d imagine if we had data back for Episode I: The Phantom Menace, we’d see a similar spike in 1999.
(2018’s Solo: A Star Wars Story didn’t attract the same level of interest, which is unsurprising, given that it didn’t do as well as the other films.)
Generally, Star Wars performs around a 7, 8 or 9 on Google’s 100-point scale, which means it’s popular, but not hugely so. In fact, popular terms like “Fortnite”, “Minecraft” and “Pokemon” (which appeal to many of the same fans) have absolutely dominated compared to Star Wars over the last 12 months:
What’s also interesting is that the Star Wars search terms that have been getting the most traction lately aren’t tied to the movies at all. Instead, they’re tied to The Mandalorian on Disney+, including both the eponymous character and “The Child,” better known (for now, at least!) as “Baby Yoda”:
Perhaps the future of Star Wars isn’t going to play out at the multiplex, but on a streaming screen near you?