Star Wars Pez

A "Star Wars" Pez is a Pez candy dispenser themed after the "Star Wars" movies, and is one of the company's most prominent merchandising deals. Over fifty dispensers have been released on the market from 1997 to 2020, among the many collectibles spawned by the franchise.
The extreme interest of marketing executives in all things "Star Wars" has spawned a scholarly interest in the "materializing fantasy media" such as these PEZ dispensers. It has also led to several museums to feature such Stars Wars memorabilia in their exhibits and/or gift shops, as well as media attention on this fairly odd phenomena.
In museum exhibits and gift shops.
In recent years, several museums around the United States have featured Star Wars Pez in their exhibits and/or gift shops. These products are displayed and exhibited because they are classic Americana. Despite the dispensers' "popularity and cult status," the manufacturer's original factory in Austria does not give tours or sell fancifully-shaped memorabilia. Only in January 2012, this group of dispensers became prominently displayed at the company's new North American headquarters in Orange, Connecticut: one travelogue wrote, "The company has been making the cartoonish plastic heads for 60 years now, representing everything from Star Wars to U.S. presidents to the Geico chameleon."
The Clayton Historical Museum, in Clayton, California opened a new exhibit on the history of candy manufacture in January 2012 that featured these confectionery dispensers.
Pez with "Star Wars" characters have been featured prominently in the Star Wars Museum in Maryland. The "Star Wars" Pez dispensers are pictured on a fan website, which describes them as "some Candy Heads from 1980".
The Pacific Science Center sold Pez at a popular exhibit about "Star Wars".
These branded dispensers were among the "top sellers" at the gift shop at the Burlingame Museum of Pez Memorabilia, outside San Francisco. The museum also displayed "a whole lot of "Star Wars" Pez," in Plexiglas displays. This "unofficial shrine" to the collectibles is unaffiliated with Pez Candy, Inc., and the manufacturer sued the Burlingam museum in 2009 for copyright infringement. There was a notorious, giant Pez sculpture of C-3PO and Chewbacca locked in a slash fiction kiss. As of December 2019, the museum is now closed.
Another Pez museum in Easton, Pennsylvania also has featured prominently their obligatory "Star Wars" memorabilia, ("Of course, we had to include the Star Wars Pez Dispensers"), including an oversize Darth Vader figurine. As of early 2012, this museum appears to have closed to the public.
Other influences.
Carrie Fisher's "Princess Leia Pez dispenser" is one of the "merchandising horrors" she discusses in her one-woman show "Wishful Drinking".
These candy dispensers are featured prominently in the 2010 Emmy Award-winning fan film, "Star Wars Uncut".
"Star Wars" Pez has a gateway drug-like effect for some young collectors. One fan of Pez dispensers started her huge horde with "Star Wars" figurines at the age of three. Another fan calls Pez dispensers generally "a 'gateway drug' to hardcore collecting". "Pezheads" shopping for new dispensers frequently place "Star Wars" first on their shopping lists.
Chronology of releases.
Five Star Wars Pez were released in 1997:
Four Star Wars Pez were released in 1999 "in advance" of the May 19 premier of "":
Also released in 1999 was a Jar Jar Binks Pez Hander battery operated toy.
Three Star Wars Pez were released in 2002 for "":
Fourteen Giant Pez were released in 2005 to "commemorate" "":
Pez also released five standard-size dispensers in 2005 for the "" movie release:
For the 2009 animated release of "", Pez released three dispensers:
Pez released two dispensers in 2012 for the 3D release of ":"
One Star Wars Pez was released in 2013, a re-issued and re-painted Boba Fett – now with a green base.
Four limited edition crystal Star Wars Pez were released in 2015 as a gift tin:
In 2016 a "Rogue One" gift tin was released containing four dispensers:
From 2016 - 2017, seven individual Pez were released for "" and "Rogue One":
In 2017 a "Millennium Falcon" gift tin was released containing four dispensers:
For the 2018 theatrical release of " a gift tin containing four dispensers was released:
For the 2019 theatrical release of " four dispensers were released:
For the 2019 holiday season, a limited edition gift tin of which "only 75,000 tins" were produced, was released for ":
PEZ released 3 new dispensers in 2020. A giant Darth Vader to commemorate the 40th Anniversary of " and a gift set for "The Mandalorian"