A New Hope 50th Anniversary in 2027, thoughts on collecting?

[TC-14]

Alongside vintage acquisitions, I've been collecting some modern stuff for a couple of years, now- some with 30th anniversary stickers attached, others with the 40th. It occurred to me that A New Hope will reach its 50th anniversary in 13 months time (at the time of writing this post). I'd be interested in hearing members thoughts in regards to collecting when the anniversary celebrations start to ramp up over the next year. Do you think there'll be a renewed scramble for items circa 1978/79? It could lead on to a new era for vintage collecting, more people getting in to the hobby, especially for the more rarer international MOCs and the like. We could see a new era dawning for SWFUK, too. And rightly so!

 

[TC-14]

As a side note to this thread, I have to admit it felt odd typing "A New Hope' in the title- being the age that I am, that first film in the original trilogy will always just be Star Wars, to me! Those formative years of a 7 year old in 1977

 

[Cazza]

I think we may well see a decent uptick in collecting next year. There will be quite a lot of hype about the re-release, followed by, what could be, a real return to form with Starfighter. Gosling is gold dust at the mo and everything coming out about it is very, very positive.

 

[Beeper383]

Whilst it may generate renewed interest, I'm not sure how much of that will transcribe across to collecting. I guess when the interest grew in the 00s the economy was doing relatively well, with a very high £ to the $ which was great for importing vintage from the US and Canada. We're now in a different situation and average disposable income will be down. Mortgage interest rates up. Fuel and household bills almost certainly up. Therefore, justifying a potentially expensive hobby will be tricky, especially for those who have never drunk of the cup before. I guess this applies more so to Vintage. Having said that, people may feel the financial need to sell their childhood collections, thus increasing the availability within the market and potentially decreasing prices.

In summary, it's very difficult to predict! Although, it's inspired me to set a timeline on my goal of clearing the space and properly displaying my stuff by then.

 

[StarWarsFan]

Hard to say really. Be great to see at the cinema the very original one before they added the additional things. A special line of figures no doubt. Just hope prices don't get more crazy.

 

[monkey_roo]

I think the 50th will cause an uptick in vintage interest and things like original artwork/posters (Which is already bonkers priced) - but not a massive one, most 'old' fans like me have everything they want - or know what they want to get so no change, there will be some younger fans that obviously won't have seen the films in cinema who will get caught up in the wave - and if they are already collectors of Disney era stuff might indulge in so 70's/80's goodness, Hasbro will of course push out a bunch of new stuff and which may or may not be interesting - the 30th was a great line as I recall and the 40th, certainly at Black Series was good - but I do struggle to see what new they can offer us now - and with two films out this year I see a lot of 2026 merch still hanging around.

But, yes looking forward to seeing what new things appear and what is of interest.