| MERCHANDISE - MISCELLANEOUS - INFORMATIONAL & PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS |
| Magazines |
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Starlog published the Willow Official Movie Magazine and the Willow Official
Poster Magazine; in addition, several issues of Starlog featured articles and interviews
related to the movie. The Lucasfilm Fan Club magazine ran several articles on
Willow in its first six issues. The ARTICLES section contains many of the Willow
articles from these publications. You can see the posters from the Official Poster
Magazine in the MERCHANDISE/POSTERS section.
Other publications printed articles on Willow as well. Cinefex magazine devoted half of issue #35 to the movie's special effects; this highly technical 30-page article is heavy reading for the layman, but does contain some excellent pictures. Starburst magazine devoted the cover of issue #125 to the movie; strangely enough, the article inside is relatively short and rather nasty. It has some nice pictures, though. Prevue Magazine #72 has a nice Willow article with lots of pictures. American Cinematographer Vol. 69 No. 7 (July 1988) has a 10-page article on the technical aspects of the film with several excellent pictures. The August 88 issue of Twilight Zone has a nice double article, with a movie preview and an interview with production artist Jean "Moebius" Giraud. Several magazines printed articles on Willow that I haven't actually seen. Issue #7 of Cinemacabre magazine had a Willow cover, as did What's Hot for Kids (a 1988 issue, probably the summer one). There were also non-English magazine articles on the movie. The Brazilian magazine Set, the Belgian Flemish-language magazine Kuifje (issue 49), and the German magazine Moviestar (issue 10) all had Willow covers. I've only seen a picture of the covers of Set and Moviestar, but Kuifje has a four-page article with some cool pictures. Kuifje is one of several foreign-language editions of Tintin magazine. The June 1989 HBO Guide didn't have an article but featured Willow on the cover. There was also a full page ad for the movie on page 13. Click here to see the magazine covers and issue numbers. Just for fun, the collection includes a video guide that featured Willow on the cover. |
| Press Kits and Publicity Photos |
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A press kit was issued to theaters during
the film's release. It included a color folder, a twenty-five page
report on the film, and five black-and-white 8x10 photos. Numerous other
photos were also distributed as part of the film's promotional
campaign. You can read the press kit information in the ARTICLES section.
The U.K. publicity folder had different cover art but appears to otherwise be fairly similar to the U.S. press kit. It appears that there was also a promo pack, which was similar to the U.S. press kit except that it contained five logo stickers instead of the publicity photos. Note the Willow logo on the postage meter tape on the envelope. A press kit promoting the movie's initial video release included a color folder, a form letter from Columbia Home Video to distributors, a color brochure, production notes, and a script for a radio ad. Click here to view the U.S. press kit cover and a collection of publicity photos. |
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In 1994 Metro Goldwyn Mayer released a press kit supporting television broadcasts of the movie. The press kit came in a generic gray and gold MGM The Lion's Pride folder. Contents included an instruction letter, a one-page story synopsis, cast and crew biographies similar but not quite identical to those in the theatrical press kit, a list of major credits, four 8x10 inch black and white photos and 4 color slides, three pages of ad slicks, and a script for a 30-second commercial. The press kit covered a broadcast window of November 1, 1994 to October 31, 1999. In 2001 20th Century Fox released a press kit supporting the movie's DVD release and VHS re-release. The press kit came in a generic 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment envelope. Contents included a press release about the DVD and VHS, a reprint of the production notes and performer biographies from the original theatrical press kit, and a color slide of the DVD's front cover. Instead of providing any other photos Fox referred users to a website where scene shots and box shots could be downloaded, adding that Willow artwork would not be available in any other format. A password is required to get into this website, alas, which means that we can't take a look at the offerings. |
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| Press Book |
| This promotional press book was released to film exhibitors 6 months before the film was released in theaters. The book was meant to give insight on the new George Lucas and Ron Howard project that had been kept top secret. It measures about 11 inches tall and 15 inches wide, contains 22 pages with large full color pictures and is beautiful! |
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| Promotional Video and Book |
| This is a promotional video of the film Willow and a book released to potential corporate customers by Quaker. The campaign was called 'Quaker Brings You The Magic of WILLOW'. |
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| Dust of the Broken Heart |
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This strange little item was apparently distributed to video retailers and/or renters
to promote the 1996 re-release of the video. It consists of a 2 ½ by 3 ¾ inch
printed paper, supported by a slightly larger piece of thin brown cardboard, packed into a ziploc
bag with 'dust' that resembles chips of iridescent mica but apparently is actually some kind of
thin, flexible plastic.
The RCA/Columbia Home Video logo appears at the top of the paper. Beneath that is "Dust of the Broken Heart from WILLOW" in large letters. Smaller print instructs the owner to "Toss this love dust into the air to cast a spell over your customers. They will be unable to resist the charms of 'Willow' and its magical characters!" This is followed by the logo for Artec, apparently the manufacturer. I hope that no one followed this advice, and not just because it would be a shame to waste this rare, interesting item. The 'dust' would be BAD stuff to get in one's eyes, nose, mouth or ears, and would be more likely to produce lawsuits than enchantment. There's a lot more of it in the bag than what shows up in the picture - I shook most of it behind the card so the print would be visible. |
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| Theater Programs/td> |
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Here are pictures of Willow theater programs the US and Japan.
(You can figure out which is which ;) The Japanese one is
28 pages long and includes many photos. The US theater program has the same
content as the Willow poster magazine, minus the posters, plus the Making of Willow
article from the official movie magazine.
Also shown here are movie ticket stubs from both countries. The Japanese one is larger and much more colorful, but the American one worked just as well for getting you in to see the movie! |
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| Here's a UK theater program from the movie's Royal Charity British Premiere on December 8, 1988. The event was attended by the Prince and Princess of Wales, and the theater program includes a full-page picture of them with their children. The theater program included cast biographies and a list of credits. | |||||
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| Screening Passes/td> |
| The lucky few received invitations for themselves and a guest to attend special previews of the movie. The folded invitation is 4 inches high by 9 inces wide, with the fold across the top, and opens to reveal the invitation text. The sample presented here is for a screening in San Diego, and was accompanied by several 1-7/8" x 2-3/4" black-and-flame colored promotional stickers. |
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| Advertisements |
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| Ad Slicks: On May 5, 1988 MGM/UA Distribution Co. issued a pad of advertising slicks to exhibitors and agencies. The pad consisted of six sheets of 18" x 24¼" glossy paper. The front page contained a letter instructing the recipient to contact their co-op administrator for instructions on how and when to use the ad slicks. The remaining five pages contained nineteen black and white pictures with various designs to be used in theater newspaper advertisements, ranging in size from 1 x 2 inches to 11 x 17 inches. Three of these pictures are displayed above. The ads were printed by Kater Litho, Inc. | ||
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| Other Material |
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