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Is Disney's Star Wars Franchise In Trouble? (cosmicbook.news)
Disney's Han Solo movie was the first Star Wars movie to lose money. But is there a larger problem? dryriver writes:
Comic book news website Cosmic Book News reports that even though Disney put bucketloads of Star Wars out there in 2018, revenues from all things Star Wars have actually fallen, according to Disney SEC filings. Disney made more Star Wars money in 2017 -- when only Rogue One hit cinemas -- than in 2018, when Solo, Last Jedi and SW Battlefront 2 were released.
A Rian Johnson-led Star Wars trilogy appears to have been delayed or cancelled entirely. Rumored spinoff movies for Bobba Fett and Obi-Wan Kenobi appear to have been put on the backburner or cancelled. Disney's CEO has confirmed that the Star Wars movies are being slowed down.
A Rian Johnson-led Star Wars trilogy appears to have been delayed or cancelled entirely. Rumored spinoff movies for Bobba Fett and Obi-Wan Kenobi appear to have been put on the backburner or cancelled. Disney's CEO has confirmed that the Star Wars movies are being slowed down.
They've dumped hundreds of millions (billions?) into this franchise and produced 1 good movie, 2 mediocre movies, 2 mediocre TV shows, and 1 more or less bad movie, not to mention the controversy surrounding the games so far. I'm not surprised that Disney is looking to roll back their investment, it's been profitable but it wouldn't take too many more bad projects to kill off the brand. They're getting out while they're still ahead.
Personally I'd rather have my idiots at home glued to the TV than out doing idiotic things
STORY. Star Wars in the 1970s had a fantastic story arch. The current batch of Star Wars movie (sans Rogue One, and Solo) have had no heart and soul. Only a bunch of special effects that are unimportant if the story is good.
Mike @ The Geek Pub. Let's Make Stuff!
I didn't bother with Solo. Partly because of TLJ. But also partly because I had just seen a Star Wars movie and there was no anticipation or build up to wait for it.
Well, you can stream Solo now, and I can tell you that it's a drastically better movie than TLJ. I couldn't finish TLJ even by gaming while it was on, but I sat and actually watched Solo. I couldn't finish Episode IX either. I was so disgusted by the battle scene that I walked away. I don't go to theaters any more (just got tired of the whole hassle and expense, and I make better popcorn than they do) and the last SW movie I saw in the theater was probably TPM, which was definitely the right way to see that stinker (for the pod race.)
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Have you watched Star Wars before? Terrible dialogue and so so acting with the good vs evil story line. Sure the original movies set the bar for special effects but that was it. The prequels were 100% garbage. I liked Rogue One though.
Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
Unfortunately, the truth is the director of the Episode VII blockbuster DID have a three-movie plan, which Disney threw in the garbage and green-lit the Episode VIII they released. Only after it was DOA did they go out back and fish the plan out of the dumpster (where it was next to Bambi) and call their blockbuster guy back in to salvage their franchise from their own mistakes.
They seriously fucked Last Jedi for me, and technically them as well.
The scene where Leia and Poe were on that ship preparing to escape should have been totally different.
Considering the fact Carrie, you know, died, they should have reshot that scene to make Leia knock out the Admiral, put her on the ship, then had this back and fourth between Skywalker over the force about how she shouldn't do this, make it some really sad scene about the past and embracing the new generation, and she "needs to do this".
Then BOOM, ship obliterated, Skywalker fallen to his knees broken inside, and THAT is what eventually gets him involved with the battle.
Now they have to deal with doing the CG of a dead actress and voice. Great one, you morons.
Such a trivial thing to edit that one scene and it would have made the whole film even more impacting emotionally.
"b-b-but we have 2 other films with her involved!!!".
Do what any other company does, fucking adapt.
I'm not weirded out by the fact, I think it is amazing what we can do with CG now, but it was still the inferior story-line. They missed out big time.
Ask yourself this then. Did the SJW angle forced by Disney kill the possibility of a good story in the sequels? You know the answer is "yes". Just like the answer to the question "Did Lucas's obsession with irrelevant detail (of which the 'medichlorians' is the shining symbol) kill the possibility of having good prequels?" is also "yes".
And do you know what is the saddest part? That the image of the young Leia, leading a Rebellion while shaking her tits and looking like a heroine of a "next door neighbor" gonzo was much more of an "empowering girl role model" than all the vampiric old skeletons or the "wholesome", sexless Ridley of the new films.
The prequels and the sequels are a lesson in fail.
I don't think it necessarily did kill the possibilities. The bad writing and production did.
You can have a good story with strong female characters and weak male characters. It just has to be a good story with a solid plot.
Search your feelings. You will know it to be true.
Reductio ad SJW is about as good as an argument as claiming that men were responsible for all bad things that happened in history, because it was always men who were the leaders.
That's exactly why it failed...
And a T posing Leia doing a Mary Poppins in space was the moment the franchise "jumped the shark".
The purple haired sjw preachy lesbian was completely unnecessary and made zero sense to the plot.
Leia should have went out piloting the ship that suicide bombed the fleet.
Beside that a slow speed chase over running out of gas also had zero place and made no sense in star wars lore.
They should get Marcia in to edit. She was the real genius.
So here's the thing.
I also watched and found it to be a disappointing movie, basically a bunch of characters not talking for no good reason and making stupid decisions. And there were a couple weird bits that felt preachy, but this obsession with seeing it as a "SJW" movie is just on you.
If you would like some examples here goes...ALL MEN in the movie are shown as either weak, incompetent, reckless, or just plain idiots.
Luke was none of these things.
Admiral Gender Studies OTOH is brought in after killing a character everyone actually liked for no damn reason (Akbar) and then made out to be a heroine when SHE KILLS MORE REBELS THAN HUX DOES
She was a crappy leader for keeping her plan secret (the lazy screen writer's version of dramatic tension) but basically played the one move she had.
Then you have Mary Rey who can defeat trained Sith with ZERO studies cuz...vagina I guess?
If Rey was a male it would have been one of the most standard character outlines in existence. Absolutely nothing was unusual about Rey except her gender.
Oh, and she got personal training with Luke Skywalker plus we know she's super-powerful in the force which gives you a bunch of bonus bad-assery.
It certainly is never explained in the damn movie how she is able to defeat all these trained warriors when she was literally a scrap rat a week ago
Well actually in her introduction in the first movie it was shown that being a "scrap rat" involved her learning to be a pretty competent fighter.
Which is rather insulting that Lando in the 80s got to be a hero and the only black guy in the new trilogy is a pathetic bumbling sidekick but I guess being a guy trumps his being black in the Oppression Olympics.
Or your massive obsession with race and gender means you'll find a flaw with anything.
"Girl is the hero??? That's so preachy and SJW!!! Black guy is the B-plot comic relief protagonist? Ha! They're being racist!!""
Hell even Phasma which was built up to be this bad ass evil super trooper got stuffed on a bus and run off screen because God Forbid she actually be able to fight as gasp! Shock! that would mean someone would have to raise their hand to a wamens oh noes!
I'm not even sure what you're talking about now.
So I'm sorry but Kennedy and Johnson made it quite clear on social media this movie was down with Social Justice,
Maybe, but that's not why it was an underwhelming movie.
the entire plot is based on the premise the females are never wrong and all the guys are evil or incompetent,
They inverted some gender roles, it's not that big a deal. I've seen plenty of films with super-sexist bits and enjoyed them just fine otherwise.
this is right up there with Ghostbusters 2016 on the SJW scale
A decent movie that insecure guys massively overreacted to?
I stole this Sig
I'd argue that Luke's characterization make perfect sense; from a certain point of view.
Look what happens to him:
Ep 4: ... a couple of days?
He starts out as the idealist with lots of faith, sure. Then, one day, with no expectation it's be any different than any other; his surrogate parents are murdered. He sees their bodies freshly dead and realizes it was only dumb luck that he wasn't there and killed too. So he latches onto an alternate father figure who converts him to a new religion and lead him off to save the princess. Next thing you know, he's flying into the scene of the mass-murder of several billion people. He rescues the princess, sure, but then he sees his new farther figure murdered right before his eyes. He then joins the war and fires the shot that destroys the Death Star; and incidentally kills its crew of several million. That's a LOT of death to see and cause over the course of... what?
Ep 5:
He's been running for his life for a few years from Vader and the empire. He gets into a love triangle between Han and (unknown to him yet) his sister. He almost dies, sees the ghost of his father figure, sees many rebels slaughtered by Vader's forces, and takes off to meet Yoda. Yoda continues Luke's indoctrination into the Jedi religion, scares the living bejeezus out of him at the tree, shows him that his friends are in deadly peril, and tries to prevent him from going to help them. He goes anyway, is totally ineffectual, and gets his ass kicked and hand cut off by Vader. Then he finds out that Vader, who is basically space Hitler, is actually his father. Luke attempts suicide and only survives through stupid luck.
Ep 6:
Luke rescues his friends. Great. But he's already using dark side powers to do it as he romps around force-choking guards. He also personally racks up a fair body count in the process. Then he goes back to Dagobah, sees his THIRD father figure die, and finds out from FF#2's ghost that the girl he's been lusting after, and sometimes making out with, all this time is actually his sister. He endangers his friends by going with them to Endor and lets himself get captured. Palpatine torments him psychologically, has DS2 start blowing the rebel fleet into atoms, and lets him know that his friends on Endor are doomed. Luke snaps to the dark, tried to kill Palpatine, and then goes dark with anger again when his dad threatens his sister. He nearly kills his own father, is then saved by him, and then watches dad die anyway. He escapes the Death Star, with millions more deaths (Imperials plus civilian construction workers.) in his wake.
At this point alone, Luke should, by all rights, be a barely-functional quivering mass of PTSD, survivor's guilt, brain injury (Near-electrocution isn't good for you. One of the SW novels actually brought this up.), depression, and who knows what else. He wouldn't just be seeing a therapist at this point. He'd be making a whole team of psychologists and psychiatrists rich for life. And he's not the only one. Leia should be in nearly as dire straits. And the rest of the heroes hardly got off lighten the psychological trauma department. But Luke also has the pressure and burden of being the one tasked with (and the only one who can) rebuilding the Jedi order.
He would have been barely hanging-on when he did go out to train more Jedi. And, setting aside whether the details of the Luke/Ben/Kylo bit were well thought-out; he did fail and many of his students did die. That failure pushed him over the edge; so he took off to the island of the Jedi, quit using the force (ie. abandons his religion) intending never to return and to die there. For all intents and purposes, he attempts suicide a second time here. He's out there, living like a hermit for years, maybe a decade or more. That sort of solitude erodes the social graces, part of which is the concern for others.
Personally? Considering what he's been though, I'd cut the dude some slack.
Imagine all the people...