GALACTIC EMPIRE–It’s been a long, exciting trip across the galaxy for both credit unions and the Millennium Falcon since 1977.
One of the most anticipated films of the year, at least on earth, arrives today with the opening of Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens, at theaters around the planet.
According to industry analysts the film is expected to debut to more than $170 million in box office when it opens and it could do as much as $400 million through the end of the year if word of mouth proves to be strong. If the opening projections prove true, those receipts would be close to the “average” asset size of U.S. CUs at mid-year 2015 of $189 million. (But just as Chewbacca skews the average height figures for the crew of any Tie Fighter, the CU average is also a bit skewed by the multi-billion-dollar CUs. As of September, there were 5,045 CUs of less than $150 million in assets in the U.S.)
As Yoda would certainly note, while the Star Wars films have been a revenue rocket, “Truly wonderful, this credit union asset growth has been.”
A long time ago (actually, 1977), in a galaxy far, far away (actually, Mann’s Chinese Theater in Los Angeles), when George Lucas unveiled the first Star Wars film, “A New Hope,” there were 22,382 credit unions in the U.S. representing 36.6 million members and total assets of $53 billion. By the 1980 debut of the second film, “The Empire Strikes Back,” there were 21,465 credit unions representing 43.9 million members and $68.9 billion in total assets. And by the time the third film in the trilogy, “Return of the Jedi,” hit the big screens in 1983—a time when “movie piracy” meant having a friend sneak you in the theater—there were 19,095 CUs in the U.S. with 47.4 million members and $98.3 billion in assets.
Of course, Star Wars movies I, II, and III are now IV, V and VI. (Yoda: “Truly bizarre this counting system is; not like, examiner would.”)
The Star Wars movies took a 16-year hiatus from 1983 to 1999, a period during which credit unions battled their own Death Star in the form of a banking industry lawsuit that was won only after the CU Han realized they could no longer go Solo and instead needed the Force of cooperation. Borrowing from credit unions, George Lucas and his co-writers created the “Force-sensitives,” beings that can tap “an energy field created by all living things [that] surrounds us, penetrates us, [and] binds the galaxy together.” (In credit unions, “Force-sensitives” are known as Development Educators.)
By 1999, as “The Phantom Menace” hit movieplexes, the stars in the U.S. credit union galaxy had shrunk to some 11,016 even as membership rose to 77.5 million and asset growth had gone lightspeed, hitting $422 billion. When the fifth (now second) installment, “Attack of the Clones,” arrived in theaters in 2002, there were 10,041 credit unions with 83.3 million members and $574 billion in assets. By 2005, when “Revenge of the Sith” completed the second trilogy, there were 9,011 U.S. CUs with 87 million members and $700.3 billion in assets.
Today, The Force Awakens, the first installment (seventh movie) opens at a time when there are 6,300 credit unions in the U.S. representing $1.2 trillion in assets and 104.8 million total members.
Since Luke Skywalker, Darth Vadar, Princess Leia and Chewbacca first appeared in 1977, the films have generated $4.38 billion in ticket sales and an estimated $30.7 billion in total sales including video games, DVDs and merchandise. While those numbers are impressive, even Obi-Wan Kenobi would acknowledge credit unions have been the real Empire, adding $1.15-trillion in assets over the same time period.
May the Cooperative Force be with you.
And for more info, put down your lightsaber and go here.