Darth Vader Lords over Burger King

Darth Vader towering over your local Burger King. The same company that made the inflatable SpongeBob SquarePants balloons (many of which were stolen) also made the 9-foot inflatable Darth Vaders.

It was all part of the endless Revenge of the Sith merchandising, worth an estimated $20 billion in revenue. It's also the first time Star Wars characters have appeared outside their fictional film environment, interacting with people in commercials, according to Lucasfilm. In addition to the commercials, there are Legos, the dreaded Darth Tader Mr. Potato Head (and worse toys--can you say "Wrestling Buddy Vader"?), a Time cover story, an Organic Trade Association spoof, even a Darth Vader blog (which, interestingly enough, is posting journal entries from the climax of Episode VI: Return of the Jedi just as Revenge of the Sith opens).

Star Wars is actually credited with making movie merchandising the profitable arena it is today. For the holiday season in 1977 toy-maker Kenner sold 600,000 empty IOU action-figure boxes. In 1978 they'd go on to sell 42,322,500 action figures (Entertainment Weekly, subscription required).

And with two TV shows in the works, it's not likely this is the end of the Star Wars marketing juggernaut.