Empire makes history with 30 Star Wars collectors' edition covers

LONDON - Emap's Empire magazine will make history today by delivering to shelves 30 different covers featuring different characters from the six film 'Star Wars' films to celebrate 30 years of the saga.

The marketing activity will celebrate the 30th Anniversary of the release of the original 'Star Wars' film, released on May 25 1977.

Emap will make all the covers available to buy online, with discounted rates for collectors making multiple purchases.

Characters featured will include: Han Solo, Darth Vader, Jabba the Hutt, Anakin Skywalker, Mace Windu, and droids C3-P0 and R2-D2.

The covers have been designed in partnership with the creators of the saga, Lucasfilm, and the initiative is exclusive to the UK, which should make the magazines instant collectors' items.

In addition to the 30 covers there will be an extra 10 'golden' covers featuring Jar Jar Binks, a character who first appeared in 'Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menance'.

In the style of the story Willy Wonka, any reader that finds one of the 10 golden Jar Jar Binks covers will win a "money can't buy" goody bag direct from Skywalker Ranch in the US.

The initiative will be supported by message board, chat room and Star Wars fan site activity.

Empire Online will be hosting the Ultimate Star Wars challenge on June 11, 18 and 25. The winner will also win a prize direct from the Skywalker Ranch.

Last month, Empire celebrated its 18th birthday with a special 'grown-up' sealed section, depicting the 18 greatest moments from 18 certificate movies.

Moments included a man's discovery of a severed horse's head in his bed from 'The Godfather', the possession of the little girl in 'The Exorcist', and the transformation scene from 'An American Werewolf in London'.

The section also included the top ten shower scenes and celebrity film nudes.

In the latest Audit Bureau of Circulation figures for July to December, published in February, Empire edged up 0.1% to 175,854, but was down by 7.6% year on year. Future's rival title Total Film lost further ground, by dropping 5.5% to 86,036 for the six-month period, and was also down 5.1% year-on-year.

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