r/saltierthancrait•8 yr. ago

Does Disney/Lucasfilm not understand? Do they not care? What's the answer?

This is only my opinion - no science to back it up. But, hardcore fans (people like us) create 90%+ of the buzz/excitement about upcoming movies. When TFA was on its way, I was buzzing about it - essentially marketing the movie for Disney. I did the same thing when TLJ was on its way. Everywhere I looked (YouTube, Facebook, etc.) I'd see excitement about the upcoming movies and I was an active part of that buzz.

But, look at Solo, there was very little "buzz" about Solo - as many of us were (are) still upset about TLJ and the way we've been dismissed by Disney, etc. As we all know, Solo bombed hard. There won't be near as much buzz about IX - regardless of Lucasfilm's marketing efforts. First, there's nothing to buzz about as TLJ left us with nothing. Second, Disney/Lucasfilm/Rian Johnson seem to be dumping on the hardcore fans - that's the perception. TLJ was so bad, and the reaction to hardcore fans was so damaging that we won't create much positive buzz about Episode IX - and it will be a box office disappointment.

So, the big question is this - am I wrong? Am I right? If I'm right, does Disney not get it? Do they not care? Obviously, Disney is in the business of making money. So, why would they attack (or alienate) their biggest marketers - the hardcore fans? Did they really believe TLJ would go over well with us? Was this an honest mistake by Disney and they still don't know how to handle it? I'm genuinely confused...

Posted Aug 15, 2018, 10:56 PM UTC

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nakedsamurai•8 yr. ago

I don't think they expected anything to divide the fanbase. They thought fanbases were just a given and it was easy money. Really, there hasn't been a fanbase revolt like this that I can remember.

Disney half-asses things all the time. They have corporate guidelines, but otherwise they just go for whatever is easiest and most lucrative. Look at ESPN. Their sports coverage is relentlessly one thing all the time until they move on to the next item. It's Kobe Bryant 24/7, it's LeBron James 24/7. Back in the day, SportsCenter was good at giving recaps of all games going on, but now it's annoying people yelling at each other and endless coverage about a very narrow range of things.

This is what Disney does to everything. How Marvel has managed to steer clear so far is a miracle.

ThePlatinumEaglemiserable sack of salt•8 yr. ago

> How Marvel has managed to steer clear so far is a miracle.

Honestly, all accounts I've heard say that Disney grants both Marvel and Lucasfilm tons of creative freedom. So I think the difference between them just comes down to Lucasfilm being shitty and Marvel being less shitty. I don't think Disney has much to do with this.

Dallywack3r•8 yr. ago

Feige answers directly to Bob Iger. Iger lets them do what they want so long as it doesn’t hurt the Disney brand. Hence the firing of James Gunn.

ThePlatinumEaglemiserable sack of salt•8 yr. ago

Yeah, but beyond that Disney doesn't control any of the creative aspects of either of these franchises. So a percieved "half ass" should be blamed on Lucasfilm themselves, and the reason Marvel has steered clear is that they have actual talent.

pootiecakes•8 yr. ago

That's it. It's just that Marvel has an actual fan in charge that Disney gave full creative liberties to.

Meanwhile, Lucasfilm is ran by a producer who offloaded any story decisions to her literal administrative assistant, who then in turn only hired her friends.

Then they were forced to bring in other Star Wars writers due to none of this assembled Story Group having any Star Wars fandom or knowledge. Their proud proclaimaton in 2015 was "we are only women", until they scrapped that to let in actual SW experts so they could even do their job.

It really shouldn't be shocking how much better Marvel is doing as a result, but here we are in the timeline where this is actually how things panned out.

lets_shake_hands•8 yr. ago

SportsCenter

I use to watch that. I just want the highlights and the scores of everything that went on that day. Now it is all opinion pieces and anything but highlights.

How Marvel has managed to steer clear so far is a miracle.

It's coming. Once this next Avengers movie is over it will be a down hill slide for Marvel. I know they still have Black Panther but that was average at best. All their top tier characters are gone. They are now reaching into the bottom of the barrel in terms of characters. They are slowly pushing social issues into their movies. It wasn't as blatant as TLJ (and no I am not talking about minority actors or under represented groups). People don't care what gender/race people are in films as long as the story is there. It is when things are put front and center in your face and the story takes a back seat to these issues.

Khoryphos•8 yr. ago

You may be underestimating the adaptability of Marvel, but who knows? No one thought Star Wars could fail.

lets_shake_hands•8 yr. ago

I hope I am wrong. I love the Marvel movies. I just see these things creeping into all these types of genres'. I am not wishing it on anything. I actually wish I didn't see these things in movies but I am at that age where I do.

Flyerastronautsalt miner•8 yr. ago

Once this next Avengers movie is over it will be a down hill slide for Marvel.

I think you're absolutely right. Now that they're gonna push Capt Marvel as the savior of the galaxy, I think the MCU is gonna start to resemble the shit show that the comics are now.

Malachi108•8 yr. ago

You are wrong. Marvel takes bottom of the barrel comic characters and makes them top tier movie stars.

lets_shake_hands•8 yr. ago

Yes, I cannot argue with that. Lets hope they continue to do so.

ThePlatinumEaglemiserable sack of salt•8 yr. ago

> It's coming. Once this next Avengers movie is over it will be a down hill slide for Marvel. I know they still have Black Panther but that was average at best. All their top tier characters are gone. They are now reaching into the bottom of the barrel in terms of characters. They are slowly pushing social issues into their movies. It wasn't as blatant as TLJ (and no I am not talking about minority actors or under represented groups). People don't care what gender/race people are in films as long as the story is there. It is when things are put front and center in your face and the story takes a back seat to these issues.

lol what?

Of the three original MCU origin stories, 2 of them had lukewarm reactions at best. The introduction films for BP, Dr. Strange, Spider man and probably Captain Marvel too are at least as good as that original lineup, if not better.

I could see this new cast being just as popular if not more so once they are given sequels and more time to shine. That's what the OG 3 needed anyway.

I'm also not sure what you mean by forced social issues. The only one I can think of is BP but that wasn't forced, because they focused the entire movie around it.

lets_shake_hands•8 yr. ago

The introduction films for BP, Dr. Strange, Spider man and probably Captain Marvel too are at least as good as that original lineup, if not better.

So you are saying these are better and bigger then CA, IM and Thor? Spiderman has been flogged to death the last 20 years. Captain Marvel is a non starter. Dr Strange is ok and BP is ok.

I'm also not sure what you mean by forced social issues.

You didn't see it in TLJ?

ThePlatinumEaglemiserable sack of salt•8 yr. ago

> So you are saying these are better and bigger then CA, IM and Thor? Spiderman has been flogged to death the last 20 years. Captain Marvel is a non starter. Dr Strange is ok and BP is ok.

Well, not Iron Man. But of those first few films, IM1 is the only one that is truly great. The other two are generally outdone by this new batch of films that I was referring to. Thor 1 is considered meh to just outright bad. The First Avenger is generally considered just ok. Dr. Strange, BP, Homecoming, and Ant Man are all at least as good as those two films, if not better.

An argument could very easily be made that this batch of original films is better than the one from phase 1.

Again, I'm not discussing the characters, merely their first movies. Of course the OG characters are going to seem better right now, because they've had 3+ movies to develop and have their moments.

We haven't had these new characters get sequels or even really come into their own within the MCU in the same way the Thor, IM, or Captain America have, so I think it's premature to say that there's no way they can be on par with the old cast.

I'm curious to hear why you think Captain Marvel is a non-starter. She's certainly not an easy character to write for (super powerful characters never are) but I don't see why it's a non-starter.

> You didn't see it in TLJ?

I thought we were talking about marvel.

ElTrollio•8 yr. ago

If the Fox Disney deal goes through in terms of the regulations etc. (no reason to think it won't at this point) than I think Marvel will still be ok. As they will be getting the X-Men, Fantastic Four and other cosmic characters that they previously didn't have access to.

evaxephonyanderedev•8 yr. ago

Because Disney-Marvel is already a product of the most refined market research and focus group testing apparatus in human history. Every movie precision engineered to hit all the lowest common denominator's buttons.

BaymaxandTianaFan•8 yr. ago

I kinda feel like it's more on LF than Disney.

I do think Disney should have stepped in and been a bit more involved but I think LF is mostly to blame. Granted, now I really think they have to do damage control or things will only get worse.

wooltab•8 yr. ago

Part of it, I think, is how fast this has all happened. In some ways, it seems as though the four films we've seen so far were more in parallel with each other than in series. Just a bunch of projects greenlit in rapid succession, without much coordination. There seems to have been some interest in 'seeing what works,' at least in the anthologies. And up until December, things seemed to be going pretty well. We may have to wait a couple of years to see how Disney actually reacts to the situation at present. Most of the current balls were already in the air.

I think that Disney cares about money and image. TLJ is kind of inexplicable on both levels, but hopefully its aftereffects will result in some kind of change at Lucasfilm. There's no need to alienate fans, and actually plenty of incentive to make them/us happy. Disney may not care about Star Wars the way that we do, but it does want its golden goose to keep producing eggs, and that's more precarious now than they probably considered a possibility. (Of course Star Wars still makes money, but increasingly less, and because of avoidable mistakes.)

About Solo, to be fair, it never really had any buzz, even before TLJ soured the well.

pyledriveOP•8 yr. ago

At this point in time, this probably makes the most sense to me. Each of the movies were very different in tone, style, etc. Even the novels are all over the place with seemingly little direction. The part I can't wrap my head around is the way they've treated the hardcore fans - the people who market the movies/products for them.

AngelKitty47brackish one•8 yr. ago

I think it's because the Lucasfilm Story Group, spearheaded by Kiri Heart (a Stanford graduate), and Rian Johnson basically got to do whatever they wanted, and the result was so bad that Kathleen Kennedy and the Story Group had to engineer a way to "soft land" from the disaster of a movie, which was to blame the fans. So basically, there was incompetence in hiring Rian Johnson or letting him do whatever he wanted, there is incompetence in the Story Group and there is incompetence in the reaction that Disney's had to the fan backlash. Of course I can see the argument that Disney calculated "blaming the fans" was the better path than "apologizing" but I disagree. It's my opinion that Disney should not have blamed the fans, and we have yet to see if the fans deliver anything more than a disappointing return on Solo.

AdamJensensCoat•8 yr. ago

I want to blame Kiri, but her work on R1 was solid. So I have to look at Rian and more squarely at KK for managing the new trilogy as a succession of one-off films without a lead creative in the drivers seat, instead of a three-part story with a single treatment.

KK’s resume is helped by her work with Spielberg and Lucas. She is a great EP when she’s working with a big visionary. She also knows how to work on small one-off projects with journeyman directors.

Where she failed is being able to manage a large undertaking - the ST - and understanding that a single creative vision was a requirement for making it gel. Instead she had to manage Rian, and try to edit details long after they left the station. The same happened on Solo. She is smart but generally inexperienced working with mid-tier directors on a large stage.

Again, I can’t blame Kiri here. She was paired up with Rian and had to deal with whatever interpersonal dynamic existed between them and their respective teams.

This was a matter of letting the wrong people hold the wheel, because KK didn’t want to distupt the creative process. I get it. Rian was the wrong pick, but I honestly think they gave him the benefit of the doubt until after the reactions came in from dedicated fans.

Even with TLJ being a smoldering mess - I think KK has realized ahead of time what a total fiasco her approach has been by insisting on bringing back JJ to helm Ep9.

Honestly, this is the only thing that has me holding out hope that Ep.9 will somehow right the ship. TFA had flaws, but they were magnified by TLJs recklessness.

JJ is a true fan, and I think nothing on earth fixes a broken SW universe than a good SW film. After ATOC I thought it was all over, but then we got Rogue One.

I’m still salty. But rebellions were built on hope... right?

AngelKitty47brackish one•8 yr. ago

I very much share your sentiment, that JJ seems like a true fan, and that he may be able to right the ship.

That said, I have to come back to the question, who made the decision to blame the fans, to castigate them and to downplay the legitimate criticism? I can't see Rian behind it, he's a director/writer. It would more likely be someone on the executive side.

PenXSword•8 yr. ago

Again, I can’t blame Kiri here. She was paired up with Rian and had to deal with whatever interpersonal dynamic existed between them and their respective teams.

See here: https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/rian-johnson-explains-how-he-crafted-the-last-jedis-character-arcs

Pertinent quote:

I'm a very slow writer so for me this was a very fast process. It was a couple of months of figuring out story. I actually moved up to San Francisco so I could meet a couple times a week with the folks at Lucasfilm. They call it their Story Group, with [SVP of Development] Kiri Hart and a bunch of folks. I would go in and throw everything I was thinking of up on the whiteboard and we would talk about it. That took away so much of the fear, I think? I'm not feeling alone in the process.

They are also so smart and know this world so well, so when they give you the permission of, "Oh, that sounds really interesting" to try some weird stuff, that was incredibly valuable. So it was a couple months of breaking the story and a few months of writing the script. Overall, I think it was about six months in the writing process.

Hart was practically holding his hand every step of the way in the six months it took to write the script. Whatever we ended up with in The Last Jedi, she is just as culpable. KK, Kiri Hart, RJ, this dumpster fire was a collaborative effort, and while RJ has the most fault being the director on set, he was working off their vision, built together and approved enthusiastically by KK. At this point, nothing is going to save Lucasfilm but a massive reconstruction from the top down, and that includes replacing KK and replacing the Story Group.

AnOnlineHandle•8 yr. ago

About Solo, to be fair, it never really had any buzz, even before TLJ soured the well.

While I agree, I think Rogue One looked just as bad. It was about an inconsequential backstory to getting the plans for something we already knew was destroyed decades ago, with a trailer which was mocked (I'm a rebel, I rebel), and pretty well reported reshoots and stuff which led to a lot of loud speculation at the time about it being in crisis.

Solo at least had (a) Han, Lando, Chewie, the Falcon, etc, huge multi-generational IP advantages which most movies could only dream of, and it failed hard. I think that's because people are turned off the IP.

wooltab•8 yr. ago

I guess that Rogue One seemed to bring out more enthusiasm from what I observed, even if it was cautious. Solo seemed to be aggressively met with put-downs from day one, with people only grudgingly admitting that maybe the trailers didn't look so bad. Of course, it didn't help that the trailers only arrived a couple of months out from the film. It was just weird in so many ways, Solo.

Agreed that people have been turned off, and that that hurt Solo. I'm still so surprised that it failed as hard as it did, irrespective of TLJ or anything else, that I'm not sure what I believe hurt it the most, of the numerous things that no doubt did.

crabwafflemanbrackish one•8 yr. ago

The Mouse delved too greedily and too deep. Really, I think that Disney thought Lucasfilm could handle it because it was impossible to fuck up Star Wars more than the prequels did. Star Wars fans would watch anything with Star Wars on the posters.

I think Disney cares about maintaining Star Wars’ brand value, but to some extent thought it was simply untouchable.

AdamJensensCoat•8 yr. ago

To be fair, it mostly was until TLJ. This is what happens when there’s a chasm of understanding between the fanbase and the custodians of the IP.

crabwafflemanbrackish one•8 yr. ago

I don’t think it was. George Lucas’s Star Wars will always be special, but Disney needed to recognize that people, even initially, viewed Disney’s Star Wars as a different thing. Disney failed to build goodwill before diving headfirst into exploiting the brand.

AdamJensensCoat•8 yr. ago

Indeed.

Justin_Butts•8 yr. ago

This is truly fascinating to watch. It's looking like one of the biggest corporate screw ups of all time. In two and a half years, they went from something like grossing 1.8 billion to losing 200 million. And the reactions/responses are amazing...

Other than EP9 and a couple TV shows - everything else is just rumors. I don't think there's any confirmed content out there. RJ's trilogy? Obi Wan movie? Boba Fett movie? Who knows. If a big part of the problem was how 7 and 8 went off in totally different directions and lack of clear structure, some corporate assurance that they do have a plan that makes sense would be reassuring.

The only public response to a divisive film has been silence, or to lash out and insult fans. I don't know of Disney speaking out other than lowering Solo predictions, KK's is invisible now, and lower levels - the story group, authors, and writers/directors resort to hurling insults and name calling.

The most divisive name in all of Star Wars land, as of now, still has his own trilogy as a reward for splitting the fanbase, and crippling fan enthusiasm.

So far, it looks like their plans have contained - taking a fascinating fictional galaxy, and making it much more earth like in terms of characters, and story themes. Assassinating the old characters that fans have waited 30 plus years for a return to build up their new flat uninteresting characters, and instead of new tales of this amazing galaxy, they did a soft reboot instead, and told roughly the same story but in a much worse way.

I'm sure there's plenty going on behind the scenes, but after 9 months of this disaster, nothing has been done from a PR perspective, assurance, acknowledgement of problems, laying out a vision of things to look forward too. Nothing.

Dallywack3r•8 yr. ago

Until Bob Iger mentions the Rian Johnson trilogy, I refuse to believe it will happen. Same for the D&D trilogy and the Boba Fett spin off. It’s all just vaporware

AdamJensensCoat•8 yr. ago

I’m still holding out hope on DDs trilogy or, whatever. Loads of potential.

Bran_the_Builder•8 yr. ago

D&D are pretty weak writers on their own though. Game of Thrones went significantly downhill after they passed they books (they even admitted they struggled to write the show without guidance from the books).

And that "Confederate" TV show is a disaster waiting to happen...

AdamJensensCoat•8 yr. ago

You make a great point. The quest to fetch a zombie to show the Lannisters was TLJ-levels of idiotic. And suddenly everybody has plot armor.

jakedamus•8 yr. ago

Yes my thoughts exactly. D&D didn't write the Fire and Ice saga it was George RR Martin. Geesh! Adapting someone else's books to screenplay gets you a trilogy at Disney?

Who is running the place Igor or Oprah?

You get a trilogy! You get a trilogy! Everyone gets a trilogy!

PenXSword•8 yr. ago

What amazes me is that no one saw this coming. This has happened before, though on a smaller scale, but with a nonetheless dedicated fanbase. Sony screwed the pooch on Ghostbusters, and I really didn't think anyone could top that in terms of corporate ineptitude, but damned if RJ and KK didn't hit it out of the park in that department. If TLJ wasn't riding off of The Force Awaken's goodwill, we would be seeing a far different reaction across the board.

Is there a hardcore Ghostbusters fan here willing to comment? I'd love to hear a more educated opinion on whatever parallels might exist.

PercyHavok•8 yr. ago

Well, at least Ghostbusters gave us an Ecto Cooler re-release...

aTimelessInterval•8 yr. ago

It's all truly a PR nightmare for Disney right now. The golden goose is dead because of the last jedi.

PenXSword•8 yr. ago

I feel that this is a calculated move by Disney/Lucasfilm. Star Wars isn't a franchise that they came up with themselves, so they have to destroy and divide the fanbase in order to mold it into something they can control. By fracturing it, and labeling the people who dislike their product as "racist" "manbabies" "misogynists", they can get rid of the "problematic" older portion of their fans and change Star Wars as they see fit to draw in the younger post-YA novel demographic, and the fans that are desperately trying to cling to their lifelong fandom regardless of changes.

The proof will be in the marketing. When the next trailer drops, will it be an action/adventure romp for the whole family? Or are they going to focus on Reylo tension, with nods to Lando and Carrie as fan bait? Time will tell.

crabwafflemanbrackish one•8 yr. ago

I don’t buy it. Why destroy and rebuild a 4 Billion dollar franchise when you are Disney and can simply imagineer^T^M a new one? Disney bought Star Wars to milk the cash cow for decades. It seems unlikely that they’d take any actions that they thought would risk what had just produced a 2 billion dollar film.

I think TLJ was simply a mistake. They were hands-off about it because that draws in the r/truefilm types, and didn’t expect that anyone would manage to do serious damage to the Star Wars brand after it came out of the prequels virtually unscathed.

PenXSword•8 yr. ago

Can they make a new franchise? I'm asking honestly, because the current culture at Disney is decidedly corporate, and instead of innovating they're releasing sequels and "live-action" remakes of their Classic tales. Disney hasn't been innovaters since the late 90s, early 00s, but they have been very successful in taking established franchises and milking them in the interim. Take a look at Marvel, for example. But Marvel already had the hype train rolling with Iron Man and their Avengers Initiative before Disney bought them out, and there is a stark (no pun intended) difference of tone in the MCU before they were bought out, during the initial years, and after Feige took direct control after their own Creative Committee proved a setback.

It's different with Lucasfilm. Why? Kathleen Kennedy. There isn't a leader there who is a creative, or a fan, or even with good intentions for the franchise. There's someone with an agenda, whether it's simply to be the leader of her own empire, or a social/political one that's reflected in the makeup of her Story Group. She has the keys to the kingdom, and Disney has given her free reign. So while the suits at Disney would likely play it safe, Kennedy is a different animal. And while TFA and TLJ broke a billion, the alarms only started ringing with Solo bombing.

If Ep. IX fails to perform, we may see a changing of the guard at Lucasfilm once the investors see what is apparent to some of us here. But for now, we'll just have to live with whatever changes RJ and KK and the Story Group have made with Star Wars, for better or worse.

crabwafflemanbrackish one•8 yr. ago

I think Disney could put something together if they put in a bit of effort and took a couple risks. They certainly have the money and connections.

The most obvious example of them actually doing this is the first Pirates of the Caribbean. Come to think of it: Frozen and Moana could be seen as examples of this.

Regardless, the point is that buying and destroying Star Wars so that it can be rebuilt for a totally different audience is clearly more risky and expensive than just making something like Pirates of the Caribbean. That would be very poor strategy.

AdamJensensCoat•8 yr. ago

I think this is the correct take. KK was treading into uncharted waters choosing Rian, and trusting him with thr creative process. She was hands-off because that’s what worked for her in the past when it came to tentpole blockbusters — primarily because she got to work with the greatest directors of our time on most of these films. We can probably lay some of the themes at KK’s feet, but the gruesomely bad aspects of TLJ lie with Rian and KK not knowing when to stop a bad idea once it gains momentum.

wooltab•8 yr. ago

I don't know. If I'm Disney, I look at Star Wars as-is and it's a monstrous cash cow. I don't see any need to divide the fanbase.

aTimelessInterval•8 yr. ago

I personally think it's idiotic for Disney to target the tween market when there's 40 years worth of die-hard fans ready to buy anything decent that's star wars related. That's basically finished now. But it goes deeper than this, perhaps no one really knew how awful the last jedi was going to be.

dakini09brackish one•8 yr. ago

Maybe they started with that intention, but IMO it backfired badly and Solo in particular paid the price. If they are so happy with everything is going as they have foreseen, KK should be taking stage front and center, giving interviews about the new upcoming live action shows, Star Wars land, future movies etc. We haven't heard a beep from her in ages.

I think they'll return to the old SW formula quietly, and pretend it was their plan all along. It would be as if we were the impulsive ones who didn't have the patience to let things unfold before jumping to conclusions.

PenXSword•8 yr. ago

It would be as if we were the impulsive ones who didn't have the patience to let things unfold before jumping to conclusions.

Which, ironically enough, was the line given by the people at DC/WB when folks complained about Superman being brooding and gloomy. We were going to see him grow into the classic Superman we know and love, but it seemed audiences didn't agree with the changes necessary to give him that kind of story arc, and how long it would take to get there.

My read is that we are now seeing Disney tightening the reins a bit with KK and Lucasfilm. Solo bombing should be a loud and clear signal to investors, and if we're lucky a major course correction is going on behind the scenes. whether or not it's too late to do any good is anyone's guess, assuming that it's happening in the first place.

TheLastJabroni•8 yr. ago

labeling the people who dislike their product as "racist" "manbabies" "misogynists"

When exactly did they do this? I know around these parts it's taken as gospel that it happened, but I've still never seen it.

DrJawn•8 yr. ago

I wasn't excited about Solo even back before TLJ, when I was crazy excited to see Episode 8. Just lots of other side stories I wanted to see first.

pyledriveOP•8 yr. ago

That's a fair point and I've seen many fans with similar thoughts. But I can't help but believe that a positive fan reception to TLJ would have boosted Solo's numbers much higher.

DrJawn•8 yr. ago

It would have 100% boosted Solo's numbers.

Disney just has to just be fucking clueless. I mean shit, even Lucas was clueless. People hated him for the Prequels, hated him for ROTJ. It's like ANH and ESB are so fucking good and everything else feels like Godfather III when it first comes out, until they make Jaws 4 and you're like, you know Andy Garcias actually had some moments where he really shone.

Why else would they give a trilogy to Rian before TLJ even came out if they weren't clueless? They are a for-profit business. Their goal is to make profit.

AdamJensensCoat•8 yr. ago

Rogue One shows they’re not clueless. TFA was safe and flawed, but provided a good setup.

Lucasfilm looks like they got caught showboating. They became too self-assured of SW’s unflappability with audiences. Screwing up TLJ was something they couldn’t afford, but they made ‘daring choices.’ And here we are.

countjared•8 yr. ago

They've been fairly quiet the last few weeks. I get the feeling there might be big changes going on behind closed doors. I'd be willing to bet they were keeping a low profile due to the pending Fox purchase. Now that's settled we might start to hear some news, like a change in leadership at Lucasfilm.

Of course that might just be wishful thinking on my part, but I can't imagine Iger is happy with things as they are. There has to be a change whether they want to admit they're going to change things or not.

Joseyfish•8 yr. ago

LFL seems to be biding its time until after 9

Dallywack3r•8 yr. ago

More like “Disney is biding it’s time until after 9.”

kaliedel•8 yr. ago

I think we're vastly undervaluing the damage TLJ did (even for this board, which is kinda ironic.) I would argue that, after TFA and RO, the SW fanbase was largely happy. Sure, there was some grumbling about TFA's lack of creativity, but on the whole, most people were cautiously optimistic. If the first two entries were this good, then surely, the potential was sky high.

TLJ just brought it all crashing down. I don't think Disney/LFL anticipated the divide, either--I mean, they're in this thing to make money and spread the IP. They want adulation, people shelling out money for merch, that sort of thing. The less division and controversy, the better.

The film was a huge misstep that's hiding behind a strangely harmonious critical reception and a misleading box office haul.

AhsokaSolo•8 yr. ago

I think LF doesn't get it, and Disney has been largely hands-off.

BaymaxandTianaFan•8 yr. ago

See, I agree with you.

Like here is the thing with nerd properties or things that are nostalgic. I think it's important to make sure that the fans are either happy or at least satisfied. Yeah, they shouldn't give in to what fans want all the time but when you're dealing with things that are either nerdy or nostalgic, you risk losing the people who get you the most money. We're the people who go to see the movies more than once, we're the people who babble about them constantly, we're the people who will pay $200 for a figure, not the general audience. So I think Disney failed to realize that and just automatically assumed that if something has Star Wars in the title, it will make money.

Of course, that didn't work. It wouldn't work.

At the same time though, we see with Solo, that trying to just appeal to the diehard fans, is also not a smart move. Like both DC and Marvel are able to bring in both general audiences and fans. The best way to make your money is to appeal to both and also not divide fanbases.

Yonder_knockingmiserable sack of salt•8 yr. ago

They don't care but Disney doesn't have complete control over their actions. Either that or they have some kind of weird agenda.

TheLastJabroni•8 yr. ago

hardcore fans (people like us)

There's absolutely no reason to think that you represent "hardcore fans". I saw TLJ at a midnight premiere in a cinema that was booked out by local Star Wars fan clubs, the place was packed with life long Star Wars fans, half of whom were in costume.

The Last Jedi brought the house down. Everybody there loved it.

You don't speak for hardcore fans.