The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Disney might be having more problems than expected with the current wave of Star Wars films and merchandise. Yes, the films have been profitable, but since The Force Awakens made its successful theatrical run in 2015, it appears that box office returns have had less of an impact than analysts had anticipated.
Rogue One was a Star Wars spinoff film, but Disney had always stressed that it was an experiment and they wanted to see how the public reacted to Star Wars movies that were not part of The Episodes. Rogue One’s final box office worldwide total was just under $1.1 billion. For an experiment, it performed fairly well. Nowhere near the $2.1 billion that The Force Awakens did, but still very profitable for the company.
The Last Jedi, although praised by many critics, had a decidedly split view among Star Wars fans and audiences alike, and that may have impacted the box office. The Last Jedi pulled in $1.3 billion worldwide, but being a direct sequel to The Force Awakens and an episode of the Star Wars Saga, it did fall short of what many analysts expected as the final intake.
Solo: A Star Wars Story, the next Star Wars spin off to follow Rogue One, will open theatrically in less than 4 months and that movie seems to have had troubles of its own with the firing of original directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller, needing Ron Howard to come in and re-shoot a large portion of the film, hopefully salvaging what Lord and Miller had already filmed. We have yet seen a teaser trailer or much advertising and with so little time until it premiers, that could hint to something troubling.
The Wall Street Journal does make a good point and they aren’t the only ones to see a possible crack in the Star Wars franchise. I have no doubt Disney is fully aware of what is going on and hopefully they are rethinking the current direction that Lucasfilm has taken the Star Wars franchise.
From The Wall Street Journal:
Six years after Walt Disney Co. spent $4 billion to buy a single franchise, “Star Wars” is looking a little less stellar.
Despite being one of the past year’s most successful movies, “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” has fallen short of Wall Street’s expectations due to a faster-than-expected falloff at the box office, declining toy sales and a poor showing in China.
With $1.3 billion in global box office for “The Last Jedi,” the most of any movie released in 2017 and No. 9 of all time, Disney ’s problems are ones other entertainment companies would kill to have. Nonetheless, for a property as valued as “Star Wars,” any sign audiences are losing faith is concerning and could prove costly down the road if the trend continues.
“Disney started off with an incredible touch with Star Wars, but now it’s looking a little less magic,” said B. Riley FBR analyst Barton Crockett.
Across Hollywood, studios have prioritized franchises that spawn sequels, move toys and provide maximum negotiating power over movie theaters. If the Skywalker saga is starting to lose its must-see status, that could spell trouble for the company as it prepares to release new movies from this May well into the 2020s.
“The Last Jedi” will soon end its run with around $625 million in the U.S. and Canada, about $200 million short of several Wall Street analysts’ expectations. While few thought it would match the $937 million domestic and $2.07 billion world-wide gross of 2015’s “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” the franchise’s return to the big screen after a decade away, analysts forecast the new film would come closer.
Foreign grosses followed a similar pattern.
In the U.S. and Canada, “The Last Jedi” opened to $220 million, slightly behind “The Force Awakens,” which had a $248 million opening. With overwhelmingly positive reviews and an A audience rating according to CinemaScore, it looked like another “Star Wars” movie would have a long, healthy run.But by mid-January, it was grossing less than half as much each day as “The Force Awakens” at the same time two years ago and less even than 2016’s spinoff “Rogue One,” which didn’t feature iconic characters in major roles and opened to $155 million.
It’s been 40 years since the original Star Wars film was released and fans can look forward to a regular supply of new films and merchandise in the coming years. But, with the release of “Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” a small band of rebels—who loved the early films—just can’t take it anymore. WSJ’s Mark Kelly reports.
Disney theatrical distribution chief Dave Hollis said in an interview that “The Last Jedi” box office returns have been “the result we were expecting.” He noted that the second film in prior “Star Wars” trilogies also grossed less than their predecessors.
Not all series follow that pattern. Marvel Studios, which Disney also paid $4 billion to buy, has released 17 superhero movies in 10 years with no sign of a box office slowdown.
Star Wars toy sales during the 2017 holidays were the lowest since Disney relaunched the brand in 2015, according to NPD Group. For the full year 2017, it was the No. 2 toy brand in the U.S. behind Nerf and down from No. 1 in 2016. Worldwide, it remained No. 1.
Josh Silverman, executive vice president of licensing Disney Consumer Products, noted in a statement that Star Wars remained the No. 1 toy franchise during the holidays.
Electronic Arts Inc.’s tie-in videogame “Star Wars Battlefront II” is on track to sell between 10 million and 12 million copies compared with 14 million for the first installment in 2015, according to several industry analysts. That is partly due to a plan to sell virtual goods that appeared to give big spenders a competitive edge, which it canceled just before release due to fan outcry.
An EA spokesman declined to comment.
With blockbuster grosses expected for “The Last Jedi,” Disney was able to demand theaters play the movie for a minimum of four weeks, an unusually long period. That hasn’t been a problem for large multiplexes, but strained single-screen cinemas like Rodney Miller’s Elder Theatre of Jackson Center, Ohio, population 1,400, where screenings were nearly empty later in the run.
“The first week was good, the second week was pretty decent, and the third and fourth weeks were disasters,” he said.
The new film’s take on Star Wars mythology, in ways a rebuke to the nostalgia pervasive in “The Force Awakens,” alienated some hard-core fans who criticized “The Last Jedi” online and didn’t return for multiple viewings as they have for prior installments.
Mr. Hollis said the box office take for “The Last Jedi” was more front-loaded than he had expected and said the days that holidays fell on the calendar and strong competition from other films, particularly “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle,” may have impacted its January gross.
Overseas, “The Last Jedi” has grossed close to $700 million, about $180 million more than “Rogue One” but $430 million less than “The Force Awakens.”
The biggest chunk of that shortfall came from China, where “The Last Jedi” has grossed a weak $41 million, just one-third as much as “The Force Awakens” and 41% less than “Rogue One.” Despite aggressive promotional campaigns including pop songs and Stormtroopers on the Great Wall, moviegoers in the world’s most populous nation have proved less interested in Luke, Leia and lightsabers.
Mr. Hollis said the “Last Jedi” China gross was disappointing and said Disney is still “digging into” the reasons and potential solutions.
If audiences need a break from “Star Wars,” they won’t get one this year. A spinoff focused on a young Han Solo opens Memorial Day weekend.
Source: WSJ
I’m a HUGE Star Wars fan. I’ve loved every single movie that has been made. Except this one. J.J. did a great job setting up Rian for a memorable movie. Rian completely destroyed it. I always go see a SW at least twice. This is the first time in my life that a SW film didn’t get repeat viewing from me. Many fans feel the same, hence the box office numbers. The only reason I’m buying the Episode 8 bluray is to have a complete collection.
Not only did the wrong version of Luke Skywalker kill my own desire for repeat viewings, I am 100% sincere in saying I would not have purchased a ticket for the first viewing had I known this was the movie I would see. Of course, how many tickets were purchased like mine, weeks ahead of the actual realease with no idea of the disaster we had in store.
I am tired of being accused of “not getting the new and bold (gag) direction” of this franchise. I want to see the makers of this film admit to making mistakes instead of blaming not liking the movie on “alt right plebs”. Disney obviously does not understand what makes Star Wars, and in its hurry to “kill the past”, seems to forget that the past, and the Skywalker story is the SOLE reason anyone even gives a crap about this franchise 40 years later. Wait and see how lasting your new little SJW fantasy in space lasts without the heart and true originality of the originals. Good luck with that Mr. Mouse.
Exactly. I didn’t purchase TFA although I did get it as a present. I won’t be purchasing TLJ either.
Rogue One is the outlying film to me so far. I thought it was brilliant. Felt like a kid again once the credits rolled. With the other two I felt like, WTF?!
Now, with the Solo film, well, I’ve got a bad feeling about this.
Please do not buy the BluRay.
Please do not buy anything from Disney until Kathleen Kennedy & her Kabal are fired.
Pirate their stuff instead. ALL of it. Pixar. Disney animated. Marvel.
Pirate their stuff instead.
Send real paper letters to each division telling them so.
That’s the important part.
I agree. I saw ESB in the movie theatres when I was 4. What they’ve done is pamper to the PC snowflakes that have no idea what a storyline is. Disney needs to learn what the “Fans”, not the “Critics”, want. The critics don’t give a hoot about anything the public is interested in. They only see dollar signs. If they don’t appeal to the audience, such as me and my son, then they may as well declare bancruptcy with Star Wars. I would rather take 3 weeks to read a novel as long as “War and Peace” about Star Wars than deal with the PC crap they “THINK” people care about, which we don’t!
Well said Josh. Couldn’t agree more. Terrible movie and even worse Star Wars movie. Poor writing, complete disrespect for the original trilogy characters and mythos, abundant plot holes and no continuation of a coherent arc from force awakens. Just a complete disaster in every conceivable way. How was this allowed? Is anyone paying attention? Disney needs to take a long hard look at the decision making process happening at Lucasfilm. It’s already costing them millions and its only going to get worse if someone doesn’t right the ship.
Two major mistakes Disney:
One, you killed off the original stars too soon.
Two, the movies have become more dark and violent, with PG-13 ratings, hence parents will not allow children to see, hence less toy sales as well.
HAHAHAHAHA you must have missed the part where Force Awakens made 2 billion
It didn’t “make 2 billion,” it made about half of that because of costs and the fact that Disney doesn’t get all the money from ticket sales. It was a bad movie and only did well due to hype and the star Wars name. The trend is what you have to look at to get an idea of how a franchise is doing, and the trend is looking very bad for Disney and their fan fiction movies.
I forgot to mention, Disney paid 4 billion for the franchise, they they haven’t actually turned a profit yet. The merchandise isn’t selling, Disneys merch numbers look good because stores buy the stuff, which then proceeds to rot on the shelves. Go to any store with star Wars merchandise, they still have junk from when the force awakens came out because it’s not selling. That never happened with star Wars before Disney took the reigns, now you can find star Wars merchandise and the force awakens Blu Ray on clearance. That is unprecidented in the franchise.
advice for disney: how about you stop with the preaching of political correctness and having a rainbow cast of sjws and just focus on an epic and compelling story?
Advice for Indy jones: they don’t care and neither do the rest of us. Go back to yelling at clouds.
“Advice for Indy jones: they don’t care and neither do the rest of us. Go back to yelling at clouds.”
-“They (Disney) don’t care” – Totally agreed. No argument here.
-“…and neither do the rest of us” – You’re either living in a bubble, or are a paid troll.
I care.
In each case story was sacrificed for SJW preaching.
I’m somewhere between a Social & Classical Liberal (US Centrist, British Tory), but I found the Progressive preaching heinous.
Worse than that, it killed the story. Ray would be fine if *she had to suffer to gain power like every other Jedi.* Instead of the Hero’s Journey we get The Last Mary Sue.
If you don’t get that, you don’t get Star Wars. At all.
I’m a BIG Star Wars fan, as well, and I thought the movie was brilliant… very entertaining with several exciting twists. Sure, there were a few “eye roll” moments (like Leia using the Force to float back to the ship)… but Star Wars has ALWAYS asked it’s audience to suspend belief when you come into the theater. You can’t please everyone… some people were upset with how similar “The Force Awakens” to “A New Hope,” and now people are upset because “The Last Jedi” is too different. And some people were upset because Luke turned out to be a flawed character like everyone else on Star Wars.
The big problem (IMHO) is the spacing of the movies… you’ve got to leave the audience hungry for more, and when there is a new Star Wars movie coming out every year, that’s difficult. A well-written Star Wars movie every 2 years will still give Disney a great return on its Lucasfilm purchase and will give us time to actually miss the series.
you’re obvioulsy not a big star wars fan and probably didn’t like star wars until the force awaken came out. The last jedi killed the lore and history of the last 30yrs of Star Wars. I gave TFA a break on Rey but the Last Jedi made her the biggest mary sue in the history of movies. its ridiculous that you would call yourself a fan then say you like this sell out movie. If the movie was called Gaurdians of the Galaxy 3, would you even notice the difference.
Amen
Ah yes…the “you’re not a fan because I disagree with you.” Guess what? WRONG. I’ve been a fan of Star Wars since the originals came out. I basically grew up with it (I was 2 when the first one came out) and it’s always been a part of my life. As a kid we had all the toys, played Star Wars in our backyard (I got to be Leia!), dressed up for Halloween as the characters. The first movie I ever got to see in the theatre was Return of the Jedi and I loved it even more. My love of it all waned over the years of course, other things took its place. I saw the prequels and hated them. I saw each of them once and that was far more than enough. Terrible acting, horrible ideas. Enough that I didn’t even want to go see The Force Awakens and I didn’t. Because I didn’t trust them. Then some friends went and saw The Last Jedi and raved about it and suggested I really see the new trilogy. So I watched The Force Awakens and loved it. And I went and saw The Last Jedi in the theatre and was blown away with how much I loved it. I’ve seen it 4 times. Today I go back for a 5th. YES I’m an actual real fan.
You pathetic fanboys and you’re “but the franchise has BLACK people and ASIAN people and OMG a WOMAN who is strong and takes no guff from anyone is TERRIBLE!” is just really really stupid (because Princess Leia wasn’t a badass who kicked butt and took names or anything). That’s what it boils down to. There’s a black actor (who’s great) and a woman (who is also great) and so it must be bad. That’s just pathetic and you should be embarrassed.
I was amazed at the character arc TLJ took Finn on. He’s so deep. And he’s black. Wow, so progressive. In 1980, Lando wasn’t black, and he wasn’t a pivotal character with a real character arc through Empire and RoJ. TLJ is taking Star Wars in new and bold directions. It is, it is, it is. If they’d made Lando run around in a leaky med suit, Empire still wouldn’t be as good.
Rey is a great character. But not just because we forgot to include Asoka. And Disney didn’t neuter Phasma. And Purple Hair isn’t a single dimensional joke character. And Rose/Finn’s story thread could definitely NOT be cut from the film because if it were the whole story would be confused. Rey is badass, Leia wasn’t:
Leia: Governor Tarkin, I recognised your foul stench when I came aboard
Rey: You’ll never be as powerful as Darth Vader
Leia: You’re a little short for a storm trooper
Rey (to BB-8): Where do you come from?
Leia: When you came to rescue me didn’t you have a plan to get out?!
Rey: I know all about waiting….for family
Leia: Into the garbage chute flyboy!
Rey: Stop taking my hand!
Leia: Get this walking carpet out of my way!
Rey (to Finn): I don’t know your name
etc etc etc etc etc
TLJ is so awesome.
Your comment is about as bad as the movie. There’s a lot of us out there that take no issue with the gender and/or ethnicity of a character, but still detest this film. It relies so heavily on current events, seeks out to appease the vocal groups that lobby their cause by negative review bombing rotten tomatoes (everyone already guesses Disney checked that and told em to appease certain groups), it’s plot was ludicrous, even the basic logic one would expect from a cohesive sci-fi universe was cast aside in an effort to “surprise”. Well I wasn’t surprised; I was embarrassed to watch Luke brush his shoulder off during what should have been the epic final climax of the film. They missed the mark on timeless values in favor of appeasement. Everyone knows racial and gender equality is morally righteous, but this doesn’t just have stereotypical feminist leanings, it’s propaganda-esque: Poe was a religious fanatic suicide bomber, Finn rather than continue his character development into a courageous baddie-turned-goodie, he’s still a selfish coward, they killed Luke with CGI in editing because Mark Hamill didn’t agree with the direction of the film, Leia literally survives the vacuum of space rather than dying a meaningful death, the only female character portrayed in a poor light was Phasma, so she had to go unceremoniously so we can forget evil isn’t exclusively a male trait, the first order leadership mirrors Donny T and his cronies at times (incompetent, yet somehow in power because they’re all white guys? Were they meant to be symbolic in contrast to the rebels? Because the rebels represent leftists, progress, and progressives; and I am quite leftist, but I can tell you here and now, feminists are our ideological leadership, nor do they represent equality.), Kylo, while still an interesting character at times, displays a lot of traits that confine him as a man-child. And I can look past all that, but come on, it’s so overt. It’s not even clever or subtle or intelligently expressing anything. It’s just “men are second class, women are strong, and if you disagree, you’re sexist”. Well guess what? Fuck that. Women ARE strong, but no one is a second class human being for their gender or color ya fascists. Give me a movie with 50 Leah characters and 50 han characters and fuck off with this pink haired personification of the modern woman who needs to pull rank on men simply because of their genders. It’s a military operation, Poe is up there chain of command wise. Space Jesus.
Here, have a ranty list of other stuff: space bombs falling into the gravity well of that ship? Cool WW2 influences bro, but I think Lucas nailed it with the British space Nazis. (Be more creative Rian, ya said this was that new shit!) Multiple religious suicide bombers on the rebel side (that’s not how good guys operate((“may the force be with you” -FTLs their world trade cen-capital ship)? And you wanted something “never before seen in a star wars film”? How about when snoke dies, kylo reaches out and Rey accepts his offer to train her. Boom. Why did they miss this perfect, natural, low hanging, high quality fruit? People speculated on it, it’s never happened before, and they could go any direction with it. The characters could both have split from their pasts and the paths they were on (which would’ve been even more impactful had kylo committed matricide) and what’s more, it would’ve represented growth, unity, and cooperation (pretty essential for a timeless message like equality). Instead I’m sitting there watching the good guy refuse to compromise or negotiate!?
Kylo and Rey diverging from the past together- that alone would’ve saved this movie for me. I mean, could rant endlessly about every technical issue, philosophical issue, every criticism I have with the shoddy pandering writing style, or how the writer’s voice came through as “I don’t have name recognition so I really wanna make this my own and do something unexpected, but Disney told me SJWs, feminists, 99%ers, etc are the most vocal critics online, so characters and plot developed around those issues are my criteria. Also, China’s an emerging market, so a lead role has to be Chinese” (can’t even believe I have to address that. It’s not a race issue to me, but holy sh*t, the plot was so thin I could see through to their marketing strategy).
Instead of the timeless message of equality, or good fighting evil, or even that life can be morally gray, it leans on special interest groups to prop it up in the public forum with flimsy arguments when we pick it apart, as we should with any art, but because marketing this movie, and making money off the brand is more important than the product, we’re left with this soulless thing.
No matter how mad Disney was at Mark Hamill for the things he was saying, dragging down his iconic role and putting Skywalker for it- well I won’t be paying to see any more Disney movies.
Anyways sorry for the long rant, I was just bored and had some time to kill when I read the “you didn’t like it because you’re racist/sexist” thing, so I thought I’d lend some initial thoughts. Would love to hear back from ya.
Do you know what a Mary Sue is Crysania?
It’s a character (not necessarily female) who is perfect & really can’t be developed. Can’t have an arc.
(S)he can, for example:
+Beat a Sith Lord even though she’s never held a lightsaber before today.
+Beat Luke Skywalker with a stick even though she barely heard of the force a week ago.
+Fly the Falcon better than Han Solo.
+Fix the Falcon better than Han Solo.
+Translate Chewbacca to Luke… who speaks Wookie & has known him for 40 years….whereas I don’t see a whole lotta wookies on [knockoff Tattoine.]
+Hit 3 Tie Fighters with one shot even though Vader has to work to hit one X-wing.
+Speak droid even though she’s never had a droid.
+Beat the Emperor’s guards 3 at a time (has she even been a Force user for a week? Not sure.)
+Use Forcebook messenger to chat with her new hatecrush Darth Vampire Diaries.
+
…good lord, need I go on?
If you don’t get what the Hero’s Journey is & how it applies here, please stop calling yourself a Star Wars fan.
Princess Leia was a GOT TORTURED.
Her PLANET WAS GENOCIDED.
She failed. Plenty.
She was a badass who EARNED IT.
Ray is the Last Mary Sue, and it’s just awful, as is this movie, Kathleen Kennedy, her “Story Group” (supermassive plot hole cluster group), & Rian Johnson.
Ray is no more a successor to Leia than Trump is a successor to Churchill. You are very much out of your depth here.
Who were the great actors (black, female) in TLJ that you speak of? I have to wonder if you know what great acting is when you say that Liam Neesom, Ewan McGregor, Ian McDiarmid, Samuel L. Jackson, Jimmy Smits, should I keep going are bad actors? Your words, “Terrible acting, horrible ideas.” Would you care to re-think them? If you think that Ridley and Co. were better than these folks, you need help. You say you were a fan of the originals, then why didn’t you have a problem with the way they treated the original characters in these. It’s been a case of let’s set em’ up and kill them, bring on the new. I don’t care what color/sex the characters are, does anyone? In the originals we had a woman in charge, Leia, we had a Wookie, we had Billy Dee Williams and everyone loved them all. The problem with this film, no, these films are they are poorly constructed, period. I love Laura Dern, she’s in one of my fave movies of all time, “The Fault in Our Stars”. Her character in TLJ sucked, not because of her being a strong woman, I mean if you are going to say we all hate that why was Aliens such a hit? Come on, you liked it, others didn’t, a lot of others based on the numbers. Stop your PC garbage as the reason we didn’t like it, just accept that there are different opinions, I’d tell anyone that disagrees with you the same, but don’t discount our dislike because of bad story telling by making us out to be bigots or something. Your entire argument lacks cogency, as I think I pointed out. Now, before you go calling me all those names, let me really shock you, I’m a liberal, gay man that still thinks they suck. Chew on that for a bit.
Preach ON.
The Last Mary Sue was SO bad.
Hearing interviews with the various creators on the new star wars movies makes it clear why they’re having problems and leaving Star Wars fans upset. There is way too much independence in the creation of the story line between films. The best trilogies and series are meticulously thought out and planned so that events that happen in one have payoffs down the road and things that happen have been set up. You cannot write a film and throw tons of foreshadowing in and then tell the next guy – “here you go, do what you want with it”. Here’s my take – either Force Awakens or Last Jedi was a great film. Take your pick. As stand alone movies I thought they were both very good. The problem was the disconnect. Last Jedi diminishes Force Awakens. Force Awakens makes Last Jedi a let down. Individual things like Snoke’s fate, or Rey’s parents are fine – but there seems to be a disconnect between the creators of the two films.
This is the best argument I’ve read regarding the actual creation of this trilogy and you hit it on the nail. This series was not well planned out plain and simple.
Clearly the problem is that very few people saw Rogue One or Last Jedi multiple times. Rogue One is just too sad to watch twice, and Last Jedi is too flat. There’s no nuance, no mystery to explore. It rather kills mystery.
I hate projections and I hated last projected Jedi. It broke every rule of star wars. Now you can be a Jedi with no training and ghosts can hit people. Worst of all it tried to be a Marvel movie with witty jokes and no plot. I still do not understand why there were bat horses, cute Pokemon birds and ice foxes instead of monster human eating alien animals like the other movies
The Porgs were a sort of logistical thing. The island is home to many many Puffins and they couldn’t get shots without the puffins flying around. So instead of trying to meticulously edit them out, they created Porgs. So when you see the birds flying around in the backgrounds, you assume they’re porgs. Plus they’re adorable marketing for kids. Like Ewoks.
There were also witty jokes in the orginal trilogy. It wasn’t all doom and gloom. Things like calling Chewie a “walking carpet” and the like.
No need to “dig in” to anything. It’s the quality of the movie. The Last Jedi was bad. People heard that. They didn’t go. Solution keep Rian away from the films
There is clearly an ideological problem. You believe in no longer catering to it’s primary fans. Kathleen Kennedy, in interviews, said White Men are no longer who they make these movies for. Whether or not it’s true, the message itself is loud and clear. With Mark Hamill bickering over his role and with how many roles were assumed by females, seems like alienating people has worked.
auidence don’t need a break from star wars, they just need to watch a star wars. Last jedi felt like a marvel movie. which is why i hated it
How can any movie making over a billion dollars be of a concern?
I honestly thought that The Last Jedi was awesome. Many others I have talked to also really enjoyed the movie. Not everyone hated it and thought negatively about it.
People have to get over the fact that Luke, Han, Leia and all of our old school favorites can’t be around forever. Disney has to move Star Wars forward, The new characters are fantastic. And Rian Johnson did a great job of giving us a different type of Star Wars movie. Which was greatly needed. They all can’t be the same! Things change.
I am an old (near fifty) Star Wars fan and have been all my life. I grew up with it.
Seeing Han and Luke die was difficult but very necessary to move things forward.
How long can we expect the Skywalker saga to continue??? There is so much more to see and discover in the new Star Wars universe. Fans have to give that some thought and go with it.
Enjoy the movies for what they are.
Keep in mind, without Disney we would not even have a Star Wars movie to see and enjoy.
Be grateful that Disney is creating and giving us something new to be excited about.
You folks that say “can’t be about the Skywalkers forever, these new characters are great” are just so blind to defend this stuff. Of course the old characters had to fade to the background for new characters, no one who dislikes this film dusputes that. What we dislike is the tear down of the old characters, turning them into unrecognizable (and creepy). shells of themselves. This movie also gets hailed as “new and creative”, there was no creativity in this thing at all. Simply doing the opposite of what a previous attempt at a set up does is not bloody creative!! Rian Johnson didn’t create anything new, too busy destroying old stuff. And is this the nihilistic way forward for society now? Just kill the past, burn all those old uppity books. No heroes any more, don’t look up to people, especially old out of touch because we all have our own truths, the world is grey! You are your own hero, you know everything you need to know.
The message of this film to young people is that they don’t have to work or study or train for anything. You are entitled to that top job, well just because you were born!! Let’s see how our economy comes to a grinding halt once the workplace is flooded with entitled millennials who can’t even do long division math anymore, didn’t have to work their way up to anything. Seriously?
And I am upset not happy that Disney is giving me “more Star Wars”. If this is their idea of Star Wars I don’t want it. Like I’ve said elsewhere, for a movie that is touted as this wonderful looking at ones “failures”, the makers of this film sure are good and stubborn about admitting to doing anything wrong, and calling me dumb for not liking it. Wow.
indeed sir indeed
TLJ will be the first Star Wars movie that I will never watch again. What they did to Luke was unforgivable, I have no Idea who that character even was, it wasn’t the Luke Skywalker from the previous films. This movie was a total disaster and Disney would be smart to pull this new trilogy from RJ. He’s made the worst Star Wars film to date. This will be the first Star Wars movie I will not be purchasing. If they thought TLJ was bad just wait until his new trilogy comes out if he’s lucky enough to make it. It’s going to do worse.
This movie was set something like 28 years after the originals. You can’t really expect life to not have done SOMETHING to Luke and for him to be the same guy he was almost 30 years ago. Just amazing that people expected such a thing. Frankly, with the backstory they made, it made sense for me.
If you’re going to toss a character in the trash, you have to set it up. You can’t just say “he made a costly mistake in a moment of weakness” and then have that character perform a complete 180 and exile himself for years. Even at the end during his “redemption”, Luke was ideologically a different character. He didn’t try to save his nephew; he didn’t try to stop his nephew. He mocked him and told him he wasn’t going to succeed and then peaced out. And then Luke died anyway?
Luke was assassinated in order to make way for Luke 2.0. Only Rey is a bland Mary Sue, and I have no desire to see her continue to be perfect at everything she does.
This is one of my favorite films in the saga. I thoroughly enjoyed it. By the way, the books and novels are consistently entertaining.
I grew up watching the original trilogy on vhs as a kid growing up in the 80’s. To me, Luke has a similar path to Obi Wan’s in A New Hope.
My understanding of Leia might be different from most, but I love what has been done with her character. Claudia Gray does amazing work as well.
I might catch hell for this comment, but I’m confident I can handle it.
YES! Obi Wan ended up a hermit in much the same way Luke did. Like master, like apprentice and all that. I really loved this movie (so much so that I’ve seen it 4 times already and plan to go back again today before it goes out of theatres to see it again).
1) Obi Wan was in hiding biding his time until Luke was old enough to bring into the struggle. He did not retreat just to die. And as soon as Luke was ready, Obi Wan was optimistic and ready to introduce Luke to the Force. He was a willing participant and he actually confronted his nemesis at the very end
2) I’m pretty sure Obi Wan never tried to murdrer kids (nephews, neices) I their sleep for having “bad thoughts”.
That is the travesty of this fever dream of Luke. Give me a break with the “life does things to you”. Really? Would life turn you into a child murderer? Pathetic lazy excuse to make the character “edgy”. Yes, it is completely lazy writing to put that tar on Luke’s “life experience”.
Whatever you need to believe…anyway enjoy your new franchise. I hope there’s enough of you new “fans” to keep the billions flowing. :)
TLJ is a good movie, but it’s a terrible “Star Wars”.
KK and RJ insulted all the original trilogy fans, almost directly. And now the two morons expect those same OG fans to go out and buy all their merchandise? And those same morons expect those same OG fans to go out and buy that merchandise for their children as well? Ha! Not on this watch.
I’d rather buy my kids Rick and Morty toys this year, at least that cartoon doesn’t try to sell the idea that all men are weak or evil – it’s just really weird in a good way and doesn’t end up killing all the characters from the first two seasons in the third :)
How on earth did they insult original trilogy fans? I’m one and I sure don’t feel insulted.
I was insulted when luke threw the light saber, when Kylo repeated over and over “let the past die”, when my childhood hero (THE Luke Skywalker who turned Darth Vader back to the light) turned out to be a broken shameful mess, when Leia got reduced to mary poppins, when Admiral Ackbar got thrown out of a window into the vaccum of space with not even a goodbye, when they hardly acknowledged Han’s death, when they created a character supposedly more powerful than the most powerful villain in Star Wars and then killed him like fucking greedo. Should I continue?
And no one thinks this has anything to do with the onslaught of horrible online reviews and bad publicity “The Last Jedi” has received from some so-called Star Wars ‘fans’? For example, there are at least two different groups that claimed responsibility for manipulating “The Last Jedi” audience scores on Rotten Tomatoes through review bombing. They left a LOT of negative reviews to bias its audience score downward. The first one I listed below has since been taken down.
https://m.facebook.com/Down-With-Disneys-Treatment-of-Franchises-and-its-Fanboys-464301390617317/
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1676634972374511&id=1423401954364482&__tn__=%2As%2As-R
Those 2 groups even bickered as to who was more responsible for “The Last Jedi”‘s low audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. In fact, they both probably left a gazillion bad reviews all over the internet. One group claimed to be using bots. The other group claimed they got like a over a hundred people together and had them all just constantly leave bad reviews. Either way, it certainly worked because everyone then started jumping on the bandwagon of ‘this movie sucked’ etc.
Anyone can claim anything to spread a narrative, the fact of the matter is that Rotten Tomatoes confrmed the reviews were legit. This movie is far from universally liked like the laughable critic’s score would lead you to believe. In fact, I know more people that hate it than people that liked it some are Star Wars fans and some aren’t. People are realizing the problems with this trilogy, they gave a break to TFA but after TLJ, the deficient storytelling and gaping plot holes have become too obvious to ignore and Episode 9’s box office and the Star Wars merchandize, especially for the new trilogy will suffer from it, you’re already seeing it in toys stores…
Oh please with the “it didn’t make money because of the troll campaign”. I can’t tell you how much I wanted to love this movie and I would have gladly seen it multiple times if it was a good Star Wars film.
Stop deflecting the fact that the movie is awful and that’s why people like me only saw it once, and regretted that viewing. I don’t care about what some silly troll campaign is about, I make my own judgements and this movie is bad. The mental gymnastics the fans of this movie do to protect its abhorrent quality is beyond me. But hey, I’m happy for you if you liked it, I really am. Enjoy your version of Star Wars, but it’s not my version and don’t insult me because I hate it.
I think Disney has saturated the market with one Star Wars movie, sequel, theme park, TV show after another. A bit too much of a really great thing.
The Last Jedi was just a bad movie whether you are a Star Wars fan or not. It broke many of the rules of drama that have been established over time. Example. If you want to set up a “bad guy” that you are suppose to fear you do NOT do jokes that make the bad guy look like a fool (Poe’s “your mama” joke on the bad Star Cruiser captain at the beginning of the movie).
I was 14 years old when Star Wars came out; the remainder of my teenage years and my young adult life were spent engrossed in Star Wars. My excitement at the prospect of the prequels was off the charts…until I saw The Phantom Menace. The only reason I’ve ever been able to enjoy the prequels is thanks to RiffTrax. Then Disney bought the franchise. I saw how they handled the Marvel movies and my hope soared again.
To me, The Force Awakens was “meh,” but good things were set up that kept me hopeful. Then came The Last Jedi.
Long story short, in my universe, there are only four Star Wars movies: the original trilogy and Rogue One. I just saw the first Solo trailer today; maybe a fifth movie movie will be added to my list this summer. Maybe.
The only people saying this movie was good were casual movie goers with little connection to the history of this franchise. They are the nameless masses who were weaned on Transformer movies and others that were nothing but CG nightmares with no plot worth mentioning. Disney has lost its hardcore fan base with this one, you know, the ones who buy the toys, wait for days in lines and more importantly, see movies in theaters multiple times, unlike the casual film goer. This is the reason it only made 1.3 billion and is basically forgotten by Feb. 6. I saw the last one, which had flaws but wasn’t a disaster by any means, five times in the theater, this one only once. This is the fan they have lost with this visually stunning turd of a movie. I don’t even want to buy the comics anymore, what’s the point since I hate the futures of legacy characters now and don’t like the new characters as much anymore either. I don’t need to go into detail as to why it was terrible, plenty have pointed out the obvious points, I just want to state what Disney has lost going forward and doubt will get back.
People can scream ‘fan boy rage’ all they want, all that shows is that they feel the need to marginalize a significant portion of the public that made this franchise what it is with silly insults.
Star Wars should never have become the plaything of SJW and feminist social engineering. Want woman in lead roles, great! But give them new movies….. don’t bastardize and flip the genders based on some loopy gender-diversity claptrap.
I actually likes the females in the latest Star Wars, but I severely resent the social engineering that placed them there. On that basis I won’t watch it a 2nd and 3rd time as I used to with StarWars movies.
The Last Jedi is a horrible movie. Just awful. Doesn’t matter whether you are a Star Wars fan boy or not. The plot is…pathetic. I am not blaming the actors who did their jobs as best as they could. I am blaming the “creative powers”…the director/writer Rian Johnson and the head of Lucas Films Kathleen Kennedy.
I’ve been a avid Star Wars fan all my life (watched all the movies dozens and dozen of times) but this last movie was so terrible I left early and didn’t even watch the end. Thank you Disney for ruining on of my favorite series. I have 0 expectations that the next movies will be any better. Also thanks for making Luke a punk ass whiny pig. ????????♂️ They not only ruined previous characters but most of the new ones are trash. Star Wars without Jar Jar just ain’t the same either. Also that Yoda puppet was worse than the old one from previous movies. The hell up with that??? So many issues with the last movie I found myself questioning the movie will watching and not much enjoyment.
I left the movie theater FEELING UPSET, PISSED and A N G R Y ALL AT the same time.
RIAN JOHNSON’s message of “Killing the past” was a SLAP IN THE FACE TO EVERY STAR WARS FAN.
I WANTED TO [SEE A MOVIE] NOT ATTEND AN OCCUPY DEMOCRAT RALLY WITH THE ENDLESS PC BULLSHIT.
I DON’T THINK JJABRAMS CAN FIX THIS MESS. IT’S TOO FAR GONE.
The movies are Disappointing.They ruined Star Wars just to pump out quick bad movies for quick cash. They have not done anywhere near the justice to Star Wars that they have to Marvel. All they have to do is ask any Star Wars fan. Since taking over, Disney has killed off 2 fan favorite characters. Destoryed the Coruscan, the core planet the Star Wars galaxy revolved around. Created a weak copy cat story of the original trilogy. Created weak new characters that nobody cares about. Oh did I mention completely started doing what ever they wanted about force abilities like freezing lasers in the air. The new episodes are a complete mess and a disaster, who knows or cares where they go from here.