How do you convince consumers that a $2,500 OLED TV is worth the upgrade? That’s easy. You tie it to one of the most popular film franchises of all time with one of the most rabid fan bases and voila: you get LG’s new impossible to resist(ance) Star Wars-themed TV packed full of exclusive content.
First announced about five months ago at CES 2022, LG is partnering with Lucasfilm to customize the 65-inch version of its relatively new C2 OLED evo TV, and the collaboration is being revealed just in time for the start of Star Wars Celebration 2022 that gets underway today in Anaheim, California.
The Star Wars LG OLED evo TV features a handful of upgrades over the stock model including Star Wars-themed packaging and updates to the user interface. The TV powers up with the imposing sound of Vader’s breathing, and the included LG Magic Remote is not only branded with the Star Wars logo, but the on-screen cursor that can be controlled by moving the remote around now looks like a lightsaber.
The other notable update is to the TV’s Gallery Mode. Normally it’s used to turn the display into a giant photo frame or a digital canvas, but on this version classic pieces of art are replaced with two collections of Star Wars imagery: “The Conceptual Designs” section includes storyboards and illustrations created as part of the pre-production process for the original film, while the “The Journey of Darth Vader” section includes digitized movie posters, pivotal scenes in the movie, and artwork inspired by its iconic characters.
Details on pricing and specific availability are promised to come at a later time, but LG has revealed one peculiar decision about the TV: in the U.S. it’s being limited to just 501 units. Given the last Star Wars Celebration held in Chicago in 2019 attracted some 65,000 fans who traveled from all around the world to attend, LG could probably easily sell 5,001 of these, if not more. Each one includes a numbered certificate of authenticity to theoretically increase its value, but the manufactured scarcity could mean that finding one before someone with eBay aspirations does may be tricky.
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