Star Wars marketing at an all-time high

It’s less than 24 hours until the opening of one of the most eagerly anticipated movies of all time.

“Star Wars: The Force Awakens” opens in theaters across the U.S. Thursday at midnight.

From a galaxy far, far away to our TV screens, Americans are being bombarded with Star Wars products thanks to marketing.

It started back in 1977 when Stars Wars first hit the big screen and commercials hit the small screen.

By 2012, marketing for the blockbuster entered a whole new world.

You could find Yoda fighting for Brisk tea or a boy dressed as Darth Vader starting his dad’s car thanks to The Force.

“The Star Wars buildup has been one of the biggest ones I can remember,” said Roland Gau, Assistant Professor of marketing for the University of Texas at El Paso.

Gau tells ABC-7 the marketing for the movie is pushing something for everyone.

Even Cover Girl cosmetics is jumping on the Star Wars bandwagon.

“Star Wars was a science fiction franchise for the geeks but now it’s pushing toward everybody. You want to get kids involved you want to get males and females involved,” Gau said.

Gau said Star Wars has one advantage over other movies when it comes to marketing.

Its story and characters appeal to several generations of Americans.

“If you were born in the late 50s, you would have had Star Wars coming up in your formative years and some of those consumers are getting to be 60 years old now,” Gau said.

The film’s marketing budget, which could reach into the hundreds of millions of dollars, also helps, according to Gau.

“A rule of thumb is if a movie costs $100 million to make they spend another $100 million in marketing,” Gau said.

But how much is too much?

“As far as marketers, we’re giving the people what they want but we do have to have some scruples about it. We do need to think about the ethics behind things and we’re doing things in a smart sustainable way,” Gau said.

Analysts say there’s a good chance products with the Star Wars logo and images will generate $3 billion this year and $5 billion next year.