20 Things You Didn't Know About Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace
10. It Cost The American Economy $293 Million In Missed Work Days
If you thought the hype surrounding The Force Awakens and the recent Avengers: Endgame were something, they weren't even close to the hysterical fervour leading up to the release of The Phantom Menace.
To that end, people were willingly ditching their employment commitments to see the movie at midnight release and on its opening day, with consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas estimating that 2.2 million full-time employees missed work to see the film in the U.S. alone.
This was said to have caused a $293 million loss of productivity in North America, to say nothing of the global economic impact across the world.
The Star Wars thirst was reportedly strong enough that some businesses simply decided not to open on release day, foreseeing the possibility of, er, a sudden "flu epidemic" spreading across their office.