Force Friday

Force Friday is a Star Wars merchandising event.

The original Force Friday event was held on September 4, 2015. The event was a celebration of the release of Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens and features the release of the film's toy and action-figure line, a number of new novels and reference books that are part of the Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens initiative, and other merchandise such as cosmetics.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, the upcoming Star Wars anthology film, is slated to receive a Force Friday event on September 30, 2016. Disney and Lucasfilm announced the release of new toys in conjunction with its "Go Rogue" initiative, which encourages fans to create their own stories or skits in the Star Wars galaxy.

Overview
As part of its marketing initiative, The Walt Disney Company has partnered with eight major brands: Covergirl & Max Factor, Duracell, FCA US, General Mills, HP, Subway and Verizon. Toys "R" Us has confirmed its participation in Force Friday, being held at all of its locations in the United States with the sole exception of stores located in Paramus, New Jersey. Visitors will receive a free Star Wars: The Force Awakens poster. As part of its event, Toys R Us held a contest with the winner offered an exclusive "Midnight Madness VIP Shopping Spree." The winner was Thomas Burns of Jacksonville, Florida. Walmart has also confirmed participation in the event and is offering an exclusive Star Wars collectible that was previewed at Comic Con.

In addition to in-store events, merchandise is also being offered simultaneously online at retailers such the Disney Store and Amazon.com.

Online leaks confirmed the existence of action figures for major new characters in the film, such as Finn and Rey, as well as bobbleheads of these characters and others like BB-8 and Kylo Ren. On August 24, 2015, Hasbro Inc. released a catalog of its planned offerings for the event. These include character masks, various action figures, a "Battle Action Millennium Falcon", Micro Machines vehicles and more.

Unboxing event
On September 3, the Star Wars YouTube channel live streamed a worldwide unboxing event by Maker Studios. The event was broadcast from fifteen major cities, leading up to the midnight release of Force Friday products.