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Disney Admits Star Wars Films Were "Too Much, Too Fast", Has No Coherent Plan Going Forward

Jor Kvall

Ain't found a way to kill me yet
Original article.

Star Wars fatigue is apparently real enough for the grand wizard himself Bob Iger to take notice.



Since Disney purchased Lucasfilm in 2012, it’s gone all out to revitalize the science fiction franchise. But after Solo’s box office numbers came in well under its astronomical expectations, it seems that Disney is going to ease up a bit on the franchise. Disney CEO Bob Iger told The Hollywood Reporter that they did “too much, too fast,” and fans can expect “some slowdown” for the franchise.

Disney has released four films since 2015 — The Force Awakens, Rogue One, The Last Jedi, and Solo — that were a mix of saga films that continued the larger Skywalker storyline. After The Force Awakens blew away box office records and Rogue One performed really well, it seemed like Disney had found a way to just print money, and it was content to release as many films as it could. Last year, Iger indicated that the company was looking at its plans for the next “decade and a half” for the franchise.

But it hasn’t lived up to expectations. The Last Jedi outdid Rogue One, but it didn’t match The Force Awakens’ box office turnout, and while Solo certainly set up the potential for follow-up films, it came in at just under $400 million at the global box office, which is by far the lowest-grossing live-action film of the entire franchise. (The pilot for The Clone Wars did a measly $68 million when it was dumped into theaters.)
If you boycotted Star Wars because TLJ pissed you off, the tactic is working. Ironically, Solo was probably the best of the four movies, but it came too hot on the heels of the steaming turd-pile that was TLJ.



There’s a lot in the Star Wars pipeline already: Jon Favreau’s live-action TV series, a new season of The Clone Wars for Disney’s streaming service, an animated show called Star Wars Resistance for the Disney Channel that is currently in production, as well as Abrams’ Episode IX, which is set to be released in December 2019.

Beyond those projects, film trilogies are in development from The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson and Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss. There are also rumored films being developed about Obi-Wan Kenobi from Stephen Daldry (The Hours) and Boba Fett from James Mangold (Logan). If those were greenlit and on Disney’s schedule, that all amounts to a good eight years of Star Wars — and that’s just what we know about. Oh, and there will also be a big immersive theme park.
If you're a disappointed fan who is hoping the Star Wars films will improve, chances are they won't. Disney is still going forward with their original plans, just at a slower pace, so you won't remember how bad the previous movie was.



Solo seems to have suffered from this rapid pace. It hit theaters just six months after The Last Jedi, and audiences just weren’t as interested. In June, The Hollywood Reporter spoke with people familiar with Lucasfilm in the aftermath of its release, and they said that Lucasfilm was “regrouping” and working out its strategy for the post-Episode IX era for the franchise. They did note that the projects in development weren’t being canceled, but the studio was taking time to rethink its timing and production schedule. Part of that appears to be a slower release tempo for the company. Iger explained that, moving forward, Disney is “going to be a little bit more careful about volume and timing.”
Is this really the reason why Solo bombed? It had nothing to do with the fact that the fans generally reacted negatively to TLJ? Could it be because origin stories are fundamentally uninteresting, even with fan-favorite characters? Instead of reflecting on what made fans displeased with the direction (or lack thereof) of the Star Wars franchise, they're simply going to place the blame on "volume and timing". If Marvel can put out multiple movies a year without a problem, why can't Star Wars?



What’s become clear over the last four years is that Star Wars isn’t like Marvel: the MCU has seen 18 films hit theaters in the last decade; 13 of those came from Disney and have steadily come out at a rate of two to three films a year.
And why is that?

What makes Marvel so different from Star Wars?

Personally, I'm not a fan of Marvel or the superhero genre in general. But I can at least understand why people enjoy, or are at least willing to tolerate, these movies. The biggest difference between Marvel and Star Wars that I see is that the Marvel cinematic universe operates much more cohesively, whereas Star Wars doesn't. There is a progression to the Marvel universe where all the movies are usually tied together by some far-reaching story arc across multiple movies and characters, and as a result, all films generally move in the same direction. Marvel treats past films seriously. Whereas with Star Wars, the movies feel like they have nothing to do with each other because each film has a different director and they all simply ignore -- or outright mock -- each other. There's no coherent progression, or even tone between the movies.

That's not even getting into the many sins of Last Jedi, and even Force Awakens. But Disney doesn't seem to be addressing any of these problems. Disney isn't going to reflect on what made people hate TLJ. They don't seem to care that the Star Wars universe has no clear direction. The "too many cooks in the kitchen" problem will likely continue, Rian Johnson will still get his trilogy of movies, and they will still churn out pointless origin stories that nobody cares about. They're still relying completely on brand recognition to milk Star Wars for all it's worth. They're just going to do it slower now, so you have time to forget about how much you hated the last Star Wars film.
 
I'm fine with them taking a slower approach, Solo was definitely too early off the heels of another movie.

I'm still very excited for Episode 9, I loved TLJ so I'm interested to see where the story is going from there.
 
This sounds to me like Disney is just ignoring the real problem. That they took a beloved franchise and ruined by mocking those that love it by dismantling everything that Star Wars built in the years before their movies. As you said, it's like the movies aren't even related to one another. It's just the same plot with the same characters who's development has been ignored. At this point, Disney needs to treat Star Wars like the The Avatar Creators treated their botched adaptation... just let it die. Let this dark Chapter of my favorite franchise be forgotten.
 
Far as im koncerned, the only real SW movies are Ep1,2,3,4,5, and 6. Solo and Rogue are pasable, since they are half-grounded in REAL canon. TFA and TLJ are crap, and are NOT star wars, for me. I dont rekognize them as canon, and i never will. Not to metion the movies them-selves are crap, and the main characters are total garbage.
 
[member="Jsc"]
[member="Kaine Australis"]

Solo was a decent movie, just not necessary and not better than the Legends lore we had. I was also hesitant to watch it after the nightmare that was TLJ, but it was on the in-flight entertainment so I finally watched it last week and actually enjoyed it for what it was. But I'd say Rogue One was the best of the Disney SW films so far.
 
Like [member="Kaine Australis"], I haven't seen Solo and as much as I loved Han in the Original Trilogy, I never thought that I would find myself having zero motivation to check it out. Obviously I can't critique the movie, but the impact of The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi, while I did enjoy the experience, hasn't drawn me in with a sense of anticipation that the others held. I feel as though the biggest appeal is today's ability to create CG and make the movies look really good, as opposed to actually being really well written.
 
I find myself enjoying the Sequel Trilogy. Knowing that I maybe probably just a few out of a majority that hated it, I won't say it didn't have it's issues. It did of course, but for the most part, TLJ was pretty good by actually taking what expectations we had, and completely trying something different than the retro film we got out of TFA. I can respect Disney's decision to slow down. Now is it too much Star Wars? Absolutely not, since we have been getting some awesome content such as the comics, novels, and the spin-off movies.

But I will say that Solo, while good as it was. I just wasn't that interested in it. As much as I thought how unnecessary Solo was as a story which could have used a different character. It was very enjoyable but as an SW fan that is used to seeing a new film like this once a year main event. The 5-month gap between that and Last Jedi was just way too fast, and I found myself not as hyped as I was when I have seen TLJ. Obviously, I think the timing plus the backlash that was given, of course, was how the latest film didn't do well in theaters.

Overall I am kinda glad we are given a slower pace, and while I may be one of those that enjoy the sequel trilogy despite the gripes I have. It will be nice to perhaps seeing a film once every year or even a couple years. Given we have better content that is slowly improved such as the Live action TV series, Comics, Novels, Clone Wars coming back and even different arc trilogies. A slow down is definitely a must and hope in time there isn't such a divide in the fan base and hope that it can be healed with time. :)
 

Jor Kvall

Ain't found a way to kill me yet
Kyrel Ren said:
I find myself enjoying the Sequel Trilogy. Knowing that I maybe probably just a few out of a majority that hated it, I won't say it didn't have it's issues. It did of course, but for the most part, TLJ was pretty good by actually taking what expectations we had, and completely trying something different than the retro film we got out of TFA
In my opinion TFA and TLJ represent two opposite extremes. TFA was simply an uncreative retread, while TLJ was over-the-top subversion to the point of farce. Which is why these movies feel so weird and unrelated next to each other. I don't actually mind the idea of subverting expectations on principle, so long as it's done right. But there are some things I don't want subverted. TLJ was the movie equivalent of RIan Johnson saying, "Hey here's that coffee you ordered, but instead of coffee it's a cup of poop instead. Heh, bet you didn't see THAT one coming!"
 

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