Category: Misc

Also, today from the archives, let’s celebrate the Magic of Willow with this Willow lunch box!

While metal lunch boxes as we know them first became common in the 1920s for men and women in the workforce, licensed lunch boxes date back to 1935 when a company called ‘Geuder, Paeschke, & Frey’ from Milwaukee, Wisconsin was authorized to use the likeness of Mickey Mouse for the top of its “Lunch Kit.” This was a metal container sealed at the top with a rigid wire loop that doubled as a handle.

From then on, movie and TV characters of all sorts on the side of a lunchbox, became common for kids taking their lunch to school as the design and licenses changed through the 20th century. Metal lunch boxes were pretty much discontinued in 1985 when a group of Florida parents petitioned against their use in schools, claiming they could be used as weapons, with the final metal lunch box ever made printed with Sylvester Stallone’s Rambo. Just a bit violent, right?

Following the ban on metal, vinyl lunch boxes were produced for a short time in the late 80s, but ultimately were not durable enough and soon gave way to hard plastic lunch boxes. Plastic remained the standard through the 90s until soft, insulated Neoprene lunch bags began to dominate the market. Anyways, here’s my 1988 Willow lunch box and matching thermos.

The Willow film turns 37 years old today! I figure there’ll be a new Willow item from my collection to share here for the rest of the month. Happy 37 years to the Magic of Willow!

Recommended music: James Horner – Airk’s Army

From the archives today, we’re still celebrating the Magic of Willow with the Willow Official Comic Adaptation!

I don’t know too much more that can be said about the comic adaptation of the Willow film that I haven’t already shared about the graphic novel version. While the cover dates are August, September, and October of 1988, it appears the actual release dates were 4/26, 5/31, and 6/28/88.

This means that by the time the film hit the big screen (opening at #1 on 5/20/88), the first third of the story had already been spoiled in comic book form. Even though the film added a few theaters for Memorial Day weekend, it slid to #2 at the box office behind the debut of Crocodile Dundee II. The following week, the 2nd volume of the comic was released in comic shops. The comic and additional advertising/merchandising were not enough to keep audiences interested amongst stiff competition the following weekend either as Crocodile Dundee held the top spot, followed by the debut of Tom Hanks in Big (which, rated PG, likely took some of the family audience), Rambo III, Funny Farm, and then Willow rounding out the top five.

In Willow’s 6th weekend in theaters, the film actually added 172 more screens, which it kept through the following week (a long 4th of July weekend), with the remainder of the story coming out in comic form in between these two weekends. By this point in the summer, Who Framed Roger Rabbit had debuted, removing any chance of Willow rebounding to be the top-grossing family film of the summer, as Roger Rabbit was the highest-grossing film overall in 1988 with over $156 million in US ticket sales compared to Willow’s $55 million domestic gross.

The Willow film turns 37 years old TODAY! I figure there’ll be a new Willow item from my collection to share here for the rest of the month. Happy 37 years to the Magic of Willow!

Recommended music: James Horner – Willow’s Journey Begins

From the archives today, we’re still celebrating the Magic of Willow with this Willow Graphic Novel!

In 1982, Marvel Comics began publishing a line of graphic novel trade paperbacks. These were labeled “Marvel Graphic Novel” and printed in a larger format, 8.5″ x 11″. This style was similar to European albums, which had been popular for decades.

The Willow comic book adaptation was published from August to October 1988. Soon after that, all three single issues were collected into this graphic novel. While this adaptation, written by Jo Duffy, features a number of scenes that were deleted from the film (some of these were also in the novelization), the artwork really stands out to me here.

Co-creator of Marvel Comics’ West Coast Avengers, Bob Hall, was the penciller for the story panels while Romeo Tanghal was the inker. Joe Jusko is credited with the amazing cover art, only found in the graphic novel version. Yesterday’s General Kael art is the back cover. I also like the slick paper and print quality of this version compared to the single floppy issues. 

The Willow film turns 37 years old this week! I figure there’ll be a new Willow item from my collection to share here for the rest of the month. Happy 37 years to the Magic of Willow!

Recommended music: James Horner – Death Dogs

From the archives today, we’re still celebrating the Magic of Willow with this Willow VHS!

Willow was released to home media when many different physical formats were on the market. On November 22, 1988, RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video made Willow available on Betamax, LaserDisc, VHS, and Video 8 (little 8mm tapes that topped out at 120 minutes). Columbia TriStar Home Video later put out a “deluxe widescreen presentation” of the film on LaserDisc in 1995, spanning three sides for the 126-minute film (Yay, flipping and replacing the disc to watch the full movie). 😄

This Columbia Tristar Family Collection Willow VHS was released simultaneously with the same cover art in a gold clamshell case. This new clamshell packaging was meant to compete with Disney and other studios releasing children’s videos in something more durable than the standard cardboard sleeve.

I always thought it was an odd choice to have Joanne Whalley’s Sorsha appear on the cover in her nightgown. It is an outfit that sees just a few minutes of screen time. It makes the unfamiliar consumer think twice about whether the film is more fantasy or romance. 

The Willow film turns 37 years old next week. I figure there’ll be a new Willow item from my collection to share here for the rest of the month. Happy 37 years to the Magic of Willow!

Recommended music: James Horner – The Nelwyns No. 2

From the archives today, we’re still celebrating the Magic of Willow with this Willow (Junior Novel)!

My copy of the Willow novelization has been well-loved. Adapting the 275-page novel down to just 125 pages aimed at readers aged 10-14, this version could be skimmed through quickly by young readers following the film’s launch.

My favorite thing about this book is the cover art. Most of the recognizable Willow movie poster art was done by John Alvin. He had previously done artwork for several Ron Howard and George Lucas films of the 1980s. His Willow art covered practically every version of the posters seen at theaters. It was also featured on the eventual VHS and the regular novelization, etc. While it is wonderful art, the junior novelization seen here was painted by Michael Pangrazio.

Pangrazio already had quite the Lucas connection. He provided matte paintings used for Empire Strikes Back (Hoth) and Return of the Jedi, and even had an appearance as an extra in Empire as a Rebel pilot. He later won a Visual Effects Emmy for The Ewok Adventure. 

The Willow film turns 37 years old next week. I figure there’ll be a new Willow item from my collection to share here for the rest of the month. Happy 37 years to the Magic of Willow!