This weekend sees the release of the highly-anticipated Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, the ninth and final film in the Skywalker Saga. However, for one to fully appreciate and understand everything in the movie, they have to watch multiple TV shows, spin-off films, and even play the popular battle royale game Fortnite.
At the beginning of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, moviegoers are treated to an opening crawl that helps to set up the plot of the film, like in every main series Star Wars movie. The opening crawl makes mention of a broadcast that has been sent out across the galaxy featuring the voice of Emperor Palpatine. The Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker opening crawl reads: "The dead speak! The galaxy has heard a mysterious broadcast, a threat of revenge in the sinister voice of the late Emperor Palpatine."
However, Emperor Palpatine's broadcast isn't actually heard at all in The Rise of Skywalker. The movie starts some time after the broadcast has been sent out, as the first scenes feature Kylo Ren trying to find Palpatine. If Star Wars fans wanted to hear Palpatine's broadcast, they had to play Fortnite during the recent Star Wars event. For those curious, here is what Palpatine's broadcast said: "At last the work of generations is complete. The great error is corrected. The day of victory is at hand. The day of revenge. The day of the Sith!"
Since this broadcast is what kickstarted the events of The Rise of Skywalker, one would think that Disney would want to include it in the movie itself instead of relegating it to Fortnite. Then again, Fortnite remains one of the most popular video games in the world, and Disney has an established relationship with Epic Games. Prior to the Star Wars event in Fortnite, the battle royale game also featured Avengers content, bringing Thanos into the game to promote Infinity War and Endgame.
Moving forward, fans can expect Fortnite to feature more crossovers with big movies and even other video games. After all, Borderlands was featured in Fortnite earlier this year, and it wouldn't be surprising to see other big game releases market themselves through the battle royale as well.
Fortnite is out now in early access for Android, iOS, PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.