Star Wars Franchise (1977-∞)

[Shrew]

Rouge One

Is that what they called the porno version?

Or, the film failed in China because the audience thought it was a prequel to Stanley Kwan's Ruan Lingyu biopic.

ETA: Oops, mixed that one up too.

[Ribs]

Is the Daldry/Obi-wan thing anymore than rumor? Given that nothing of that has been announced yet, nothing has come up to replace whatever Josh Trank was working on, and the only news of new Star Wars is Johnson's trilogy, I wouldn't be surprised if Disney were stepping away or reconsidering the one-off films. Each project in "Star Wars Stories" has had its share of behind the scenes troubles, so perhaps they prefer the greater control and direction that trilogies might offer them. Or, as Ribs sort of gets at above, maybe Johnson's films take up the main/trilogy mantle, and then the new spin-off films focus on Finn/Rey/Poe/etc. rather than another trilogy centered on those characters (single films probably being easier to negotiate contracts for). I imagine this is McCrutchy's nightmare scenario.

And while I don't think Rouge One was a failure or disappointment to Disney at large, it does seem to have failed at the secondary task of building up an audience in the Chinese market. Despite Donnie Yen and Jiang Wen, Rouge One earned half the receipts of Force Awakens in China, and now Last Jedi has flat-out bombed there. That, more than any distancing from the original trilogy, is probably the biggest threat to the franchise's future/Disney's main concern. Indeed, it makes it more likely that Disney will pursue new avenues, characters, and settings, rather than lean on nostalgia for the original films (which is non-existent in China).

It wasn't a rumor - he is in development on the film. That doesn't necessarily mean it will be made, but it's the only whisper we've heard of anything brewing on these other films in the past year or two so it's not unreasonable to assume it's the next one in line. The Boba Fett film was seemingly thrown out with Trank (and was probably intended to come out in Solo's place - thankfully Disney avoided such production headaches by getting rid of Trank before the film was seriously in the pre-production phase.) I don't necessarily see why Ewan McGregor would need to have committed to such a thing at this point, a solid 18 months out from the earliest they could start filming (he's a busy working actor, but he's got no other franchises short of his Christopher Robin reboot becoming a runaway success). He clearly would love to do it, I don't imagine it'll require much persuading on his part.

Ultimately, it's almost certain that when all's said and done Solo will comfortably have put Disney in the point where it's made its money back from acquiring Lucasfilm (if you were to go entirely off box office, it already has, but to factor in the billion they've spent making four blockbuster films it'll take one more film to push it over the margin). And so it really doesn't matter - Disney's successfully bolstered their library with the most valuable franchise on the planet and have gotten Indiana Jones for free on top of it. Anything from that point on is just adding to that.

I don't really think of an Obi-Wan film as theoretically being reliant on nostalgia for the original films! I guess it's possible that these "Star Wars Stories" (they're not really called that) are actually *all* direct prequels to Star Wars and they'll each end with the characters the moment before we see them in the original film, which'd be an interesting path to take, but I'm hopeful that at least Solo won't take that path and leave things a little less pat (and I'd be more willing to believe an Obi-Wan film would just be an independent space adventure rather than, like, doing the Searchers but with the Sand People). I think a part of Rogue One that was ignored is the way it really did lean into the recent revisionist take on the Prequels, that they were worthy and inspired (the latter I can kind of see), and Rogue One really worked to ingratiate the nostalgia for the original films to be inseparable with characters and actors we didn't really care about in the prequels. Again, it's just a savvy move that increases the worth of the prequels as part of the set, and an Obi-Wan film seems like a culmination of that idea. But I think the idea of having the main films be the *new* things and the other films be the old things would be a smart way of separating the two into distinct entities.

Oh, and also: there is a very high probability Episode IX outgrosses the Last Jedi, because people like turning up to see "the last one." Same happened to the last two third films.

[mfunk9786]

The problem is, I don't think you can make a film like Solo or an Obi-Wan film without near-constant winking at the audience to make them feel smugly satisfied in their knowledge of references to past material with those characters. It's all franchise movies seem to do anymore. I would figure as much as Chinese audiences are looking for something new, American audiences practically demand to be made to feel smugly satisfied in their knowledge of deep franchise lore, and not be challenged with too much new stuff (I haven't seen it yet, but aren't any and all new additions to The Last Jedi the things that are garnering the most anger from hardcore Star Wars fans?)

[movielocke]

why isn't solo coming out in december 18? makes more sense than may at this point.

[willoneill]

why isn't solo coming out in december 18? makes more sense than may at this point.

They already have the Han Solo Lego sets ready; there's no going back now.

[Ribs]

I expect it's that they *don't* want Star Wars in December to become a thing everyone associates with the franchise, because Avatar 2 and 3 *needs* to come out in December to have any hopes of even coming close to replicating the success of the first (now that Disney will own Avatar).

[swo17]

I haven't seen it yet, but aren't any and all new additions to The Last Jedi the things that are garnering the most anger from hardcore Star Wars fans?

The most frequent complaints I've seen are the inclusion of a certain socially conscious minority character and Luke not being the same person he was in his twenties.

[Big Ben]

I haven't seen it yet, but aren't any and all new additions to The Last Jedi the things that are garnering the most anger from hardcore Star Wars fans?

The most frequent complaints I've seen are the inclusion of a certain socially conscious minority character and Luke not being the same person he was in his twenties.

I had one gentleman tell me this was much more okay than Rose who happens to be Asian telling me she didn't fit within the lore and was shoehorned in for Social Justice points. These are the same folks who tend to ignore Watto. Who is totally not a caricature. When I pointed this out to him he hand-waved it away.

[Brian C]

I haven't seen it yet, but aren't any and all new additions to The Last Jedi the things that are garnering the most anger from hardcore Star Wars fans?

The most frequent complaints I've seen are ... Luke not being the same person he was in his twenties.

This could have been solved by casting Bruce Willis as the old version of the character, thus dramatizing the way that even though it's the same character, they're really more like two different people.

[swo17]

Also, Todd Solondz should've directed

[McCrutchy]

I haven't seen it yet, but aren't any and all new additions to The Last Jedi the things that are garnering the most anger from hardcore Star Wars fans?

The most frequent complaints I've seen are ... Luke not being the same person he was in his twenties.

This could have been solved by casting Bruce Willis as the old version of the character, thus dramatizing the way that even though it's the same character, they're really more like two different people.

If Bruce Willis is going to play Old Luke, then the obvious solution here is to have Rian Johnson get the Star Wars negatives back out, and make a new Episode IV: A New 3rd Rock from The Suns of Tattooine, with Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Young Luke, John Lithgow as Obi-Wan Kenobi and Kristen Johnson as Princess Leia. Jane Curtin could be Yoda, and French Stewart could play all the Stormtroopers.

[R0lf]

I guess it's possible that these "Star Wars Stories" (they're not really called that) are actually *all* direct prequels to Star Wars and they'll each end with the characters the moment before we see them in the original film, which'd be an interesting path to take, but I'm hopeful that at least Solo won't take that path and leave things a little less pat

why isn't solo coming out in december 18? makes more sense than may at this point.

SOLO is going to end with Solo sitting down in the Mos Eisley cantina, shooting Greedo first, cut to STAR WARS UNALTERED EDITION DEC 18.

[MoonlitKnight]

The most frequent complaints I've seen are the inclusion of a certain socially conscious minority character and Luke not being the same person he was in his twenties.

Don't forget the porgs shaming Chewie for eating meat (their only real purpose in the movie). Between that and the big fuss made over the treatment of the racing animals, you'd think Johnson was a member of PETA or something.

[Rayon Vert]

Is that what they called the porno version?

That would be Rough One.

[matrixschmatrix]

The most frequent complaints I've seen are the inclusion of a certain socially conscious minority character and Luke not being the same person he was in his twenties.

Don't forget the porgs shaming Chewie for eating meat (their only real purpose in the movie). Between that and the big fuss made over the treatment of the racing animals, you'd think Johnson was a member of PETA or something.

The porgs' literal purpose in the movie is that Skellig Michael has a protected puffin population and they kept wandering through shots, so the porgs were something to paint over the with. They're also obviously comic relief, which I would say is the clear purpose of that scene with Chewie- it's just something goofy in an otherwise very serious subplot.

[miless]

I would have loved that Chewie scene to end with him tossing the carcass aside, only for the living Porgs to devour it.

[McCrutchy]

The Last Jedi is down to four showings (all regular 2D DCP) at my local AMC multiplex. For some perspective on that, it's the same number of showings as Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, and startlingly, one less than Lady Bird, both films that have played there a few weeks longer than The Last Jedi.

And on top of that, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle and The Greatest Showman are making a killing at the box office here in the States.

I would love to know the mood at Disney/Lucasfilm right now, as it seems that The Last Jedi may actually come in well under $1.5 billion (more like $1.35 billion), which I never would have predicted after opening weekend. Obviously, the film is an absolute success in normal terms, but in Star Wars terms? Maybe there's just a bit of nerves, now.

[movielocke]

Umm, lady bird is 90 minutes last Jedi is 155 minutes there should be at least one less showing because of how math works.

The length is very bad for repeat viewings because most theaters operate from 1000 to 2200 and won’t start screening past 2200 the sweet spot for maximizing ticket sales is 1800 to 2100, and lady bird (or force awakens at 120 minutes) can get two screenings into that window, whilst a longer film cannot. Longer films also sell much fewer tickets to shows starting at 2100+ because if your movie ends at midnight that’s fine, but ending at 0100 or later makes most people blanch. Note, avengers and ultron had similar fall off after thirty days and were a similar length (and benefitted from summer vacation), but Jurassic world and force awakens at 120 minutes both had much stronger legs.

Disney is probably not blinking because of the marvel and Disney animated feature experience. Not every marvel film performs as well as every other marvel film. Sometimes they’re shocked by a guardians or disappointed by an ant man, but they keep putting out product and stay the course. Retooling in over reaction after every film release results in far worse performance, just look at DC, for example.

And aside from phantom menace, the prequels also performed like generic IP action films, Star Wars at the box office does not automatically perform magic, just ANH, TPM, and TFA are world beaters, otherwise the IP is not really different from Marvel or Potter or Bond, reliable performer once or twice a year, sometimes over performing, but not crushing records.

[Ribs]

While worldwide gross is indeed discouraging (mostly due to China), The Last Jedi's still on pace for a final domestic cume of ~$625-630 million, which is really not that far off from where most reasonable guesses of where it'd end up would be ($650 million was the average number I'd heard). The movie's been out for six weeks - it's inevitable it'll dip down to one screen due to the absolute flood of new product that appears with the regular January garbage dump along with the awards contenders (re-)entering wide release.

[movielocke]

If the guess was 650 a month ago and the final number is 625, that’s underperforming by FOUR PERCENT! Quick! Someone get the torches and tar and feathers!

[matrixschmatrix]

For all three Star Wars trilogies, the second movie made about two thirds of what the first one did, at least domestically- given that TLJ is right in line with that, the top grossing movie of its year domestically AND internationally, and likely to crack the top five grossing movies of all time, it's hard to imagine the studio head who wouldn't feel pretty good about this. If they're worried about anything, I would guess it would be Pirates of the Carribean or Cars 3, the only Buena Vista products to come in under $200 million

[colinr0380]

Always the best part of the release of a new Star Wars film - a Nerd Crew trailer reaction video!

[aox]

I've watched the new Solo teaser, and I just don't think Alden Ehrenreich looks or sounds anything like Ford/Solo.

A friend recommended Anthony Ingruber and sent me this clip. Wow, it's almost a perfect mirror image to me. Same voice, intonation, and sly facial movements.

[domino harvey]

I think people are getting pretty hung up on whether or not one actor looks and sounds like another, as though that were the only factor for this being good or not. I suspect this film's success or failure as a film will have little to do with how Harrison Ford-y the lead is

[bearcuborg]

I won’t deny he doesn’t look or sound like Harrison, but Ingruber has definitely nailed Ford’s mannerisms. However, it seems self conscious? I don’t know him well enough.

I’ll say this, it was gonna be a tall order for anyone to immediately sell us Han Solo. I would give the benefit of the doubt to Solo for having Kasden involved. Still-what seemed, at once anyway, to be light hearted looks quite brooding.