Future and potential Star Wars films - news and speculation

Defunkd · 24-09-2018 12:31pm

Drumpot wrote: »

I didn’t say they took down the empire. I said they were integral. They saved Hans group whose job was to bring down the shield. Without them there would be no victory.

I have had to stop trying to see things from certain reviewers point of views cause I found myself watching older movies (OT and older aliens movies) and picking them apart in the same manner people do with newer movies. If you apply the same rigid criteria you can find a lot wrong with them. It can actually ruin your enjoyment of classics because there is a lot we all let go for sentimental reasons.

So I can see why people can get so OTT negative about new movies and can be incapable of enjoying them.

There's a lot of stuff i liked as a kid that i've revisited as an adult and it doesn't stand up to mature understanding. Sentimentality doesn't override whether i think a film is objectively good or bad.

Sorry, hit the 'post' icon accidentally...

I see a lot of criticism aimed personally at those who don't like the current trilogy, is for not being able to sufficiently turn off their brain and accept whatever comes on the screen and not pass it through a prism of reason. I'm not seeking to recapture my youth by watching SW but i'm not willing to suspend all adult faculties in order to try and enjoy a film either. I don't like the new trilogy, so far, because i think they are not good films- compared to the OT, compared tothe prequels, compared to contemporary films. It's not because i'm mentally preventing myself from enjoying them.

Drumpot · 24-09-2018 12:59pm

Defunkd wrote: »

There's a lot of stuff i liked as a kid that i've revisited as an adult and it doesn't stand up to mature understanding. Sentimentality doesn't override whether i think a film is objectively good or bad.

By definition being sentimental about something implies that there most likely will be subjective bias whether intended or not.

Being challenged on your views is not saying you can’t complain. This isn’t an echo chamber and It’s not peoples blog. I have a right to think people are as misguided as I post but it doesn’t mean I am infringing on their right to continue complaining.

Watch ANH with extreme prejudice. Off the top of my head...

Our main character befriends a stranger and is more upset when the stranger dies then the adoptive parents who brought him up and were still BBQ remains when he returned home. The stranger talks to our main character throughout the rest of the movie in his head and our main lead is happy to follow this stranger with no pause for reflection or anything... Ok is not comparable with the whole “what that character did is stupid or just not normal” arguments we can get from people in modern movies. You could also argue this was a forced relationship to move story and make the dynamic of this abnormal
Relationship work.

Problem complain about characters in the new movies just doing things to bring the plot along. I can’t think an example anymore obvious then luke blindly followIng Obi Wan. Literally follows him to the worst place in tattoine. And then onto a Space station where the hobo commits suicide...

So then Our heroes get trapped in a massive space station. And to get free one of them Strolls past thousands of baddies and flicks a few switch’s. While the others sort out a prison break. There is no lockdown procedure on the space station. Ok our baddies are arrogant that that’s ok so. Oh wait they were allowed to leave so they could be followed. BUt there was a lot of gunfire and didn’t look like the storm troopers got the “let them go” memo... but it was fun so why delve too deep on that?

And then our hero blows up the Death Star cause he used to shoot something out of something as a farmer. So forget the fact he hasn’t practiced this shooting in space or that he hadn’t flown a spaceshio it’s all good. Like the way people accepted Rey getting used to using force powers easily... Oh and he had his hobo friend whisper stuff in his ears.

The OT are better movies so we ignore or excuse these flaws. But it doesn’t mean the same issues of the new ones don’t exist in the old ones...

Tony EH · 24-09-2018 1:37pm

Drumpot wrote: »

We aren’t discussing the answers to life,

Nobody said we were.

Drumpot wrote: »

The whataboutedy statement is just a technique to avoid having to address obvious contradictions between what is being said that makes the new movies bad but actually exists in the originals.

What "contradictions"? There are no "contradictions". When one points out flaws of a given movie, the flaws of that film are not cancelled due to the flaws of another. There is nothing contradictory going on. One can recognise the flaws of one item, while recognising the flaws of another. But it's not some sort of smoking gun or gotcha line of argument and in the end it's rather pointless.

Drumpot wrote: »

Financial success does not equate to quality of movie.

I never said it was.

Drumpot wrote: »

I don’t actually get the hate for the Rose character.

She was terribly written, has awful dialogue, a wretched conclusion and added nothing to the story whatsoever. She was simply a talking prop for another character that the writer had no idea what to do with. Rose could have been a walkie-talkie and nothing much would have changed.

It's not Tran's fault, she did what she could. It just the rubbish writing, from a self-proclaimed bad writer.

Tony EH · 24-09-2018 1:46pm

Drumpot wrote: »

Watch ANH with extreme prejudice. Off the top of my head...

How do you know people don't?

Drumpot wrote: »

Our main character befriends a stranger and is more upset when the stranger dies then the adoptive parents who brought him up and were still BBQ remains when he returned home.

Kenobi isn't a "stranger" to Luke. He clearly knows him as Luke's dialogue explains.

Drumpot wrote: »

The stranger talks to our main character throughout the rest of the movie in his head and our main lead is happy to follow this stranger with no pause for reflection or anything...

He's not a "stranger". Luke knows Kenobi as old Ben. A "crazy" hermit and not Obi-Wan, the old Jedi. He only finds out more about him during the course of the movie and that's for the audience's benefit. WE learn as Luke learns. These people are being introduced to us for the first time.

Drumpot wrote: »

Problem complain about characters in the new movies just doing things to bring the plot along. I can’t think an example anymore obvious then luke blindly followIng Obi Wan. Literally follows him to the worst place in tattoine. And then onto a Space station where the hobo commits suicide...

Luke doesn't "blindly" follow Obi Wan. He wants to get off of Tatooine. he hates his life there and there is nothing for him to stay for, when his Aunt and Uncle are killed and the farm wrecked.

He clearly states that he CAN'T just go with Kenobi, when Kenobi says to him that he should go to Alderan with him. Luke only changes his mind when he goes home and sees what the troops have done on the farm.

Again, you are deliberately trying to downplay the old film's to elevate the newer ones.

johnny_ultimate · 24-09-2018 2:19pm

Mod note As per the last mod warning, this thread is news and speculation about upcoming films. It’s not another front in The Last Jedi war. If you want to discuss that film, use the dedicated thread. While there will inevitably be some more general discussion in a thread about upcoming films, this conversation has gone far off the rails.

Any more off-topic posts will be deleted.

Drumpot · 24-09-2018 2:34pm

Tony EH wrote: »

How do you know people don't?

Kenobi isn't a "stranger" to Luke. He clearly knows him as Luke's dialogue explains.

He's not a "stranger". Luke knows Kenobi as old Ben. A "crazy" hermit and not Obi-Wan, the old Jedi. He only finds out more about him during the course of the movie and that's for the audience's benefit. WE learn as Luke learns. These people are being introduced to us for the first time.

Luke doesn't "blindly" follow Obi Wan. He wants to get off of Tatooine. he hates his life there and there is nothing for him to stay for, when his Aunt and Uncle are killed and the farm wrecked.

He clearly states that he CAN'T just go with Kenobi, when Kenobi says to him that he should go to Alderan with him. Luke only changes his mind when he goes home and sees what the troops have done on the farm.

Again, you are deliberately trying to downplay the old film's to elevate the newer ones.

Are seriously trying to explain the Obi Wan - Luke relationship in ANH as relatively normal in anyway ?

Obi Wan is a stranger. Luke knows no more of him then stories about him being a hermit. His own Dad warns him off Obi Wan , is that no a red flag ?

Yes he wants off Tattoine and has delusions of grandeur like most young people but that doesn't explain him meeting Obi Wan, hearing a quite remarkable story, seeing his parents burning to a crisp, following obi wan to a dive of a pub, nearly getting killed, ending up on a space station and watching Obi Wan commit suicide and not once thinking "maybe I should stop and think about what has happened since I met this guy !""

This is relevant if you are going to expect more realistic relationships and characters in the newer movies. When we watched ANH we knew absolutely nothing about why Luke followed a stranger. He is a stranger, how can you imply otherwise ? Luke doesn't know him from anything other then stories.

Who is snoke? We don't know anything about him or his motivations etc, is one argument about the character. We didn't know a lot about Palpatine in the originals, so why are people bothered about the exact same thing with the new movies? Its supposedly back story telling that we know so little about Snoke. . So why was it not bad story telling to know more about Palpatine? I mean he effectively was pulling the strings of everybody for the entire 3 movies (if he is to be believed) and we didn't learn much about him.

So is there a chance these new movies are about Ren and Rey and we don't need to know about Snoke? Why isn't that possible ? Why do we have to know more about Snoke ? Maybe we will get some answers in the final movie, why is that bad ?

Looking back at the OT isn't a method of putting them down to raise the newer movies. Its to show that some of the reasons being given for why the Newer movies are bad (snokes story etc) weren't highlighted as a problem in the originals. The only reason I can see is because people didn't analyse the originals in the same way they are doing with newer movies. There is definitely an anti Disney prejucide (Disney are making things up as they go along, very like Lucas did) that shouldn't matter when determining the quality or enjoyment of this movie.

Drumpot · 24-09-2018 2:35pm

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Mod note As per the last mod warning, this thread is news and speculation about upcoming films. It’s not another front in The Last Jedi war. If you want to discuss that film, use the dedicated thread. While there will inevitably be some more general discussion in a thread about upcoming films, this conversation has gone far off the rails.

Any more off-topic posts will be deleted.

My apologies. . Didn't see this post, you can delete my post . .

Venom · 24-09-2018 3:15pm

pixelburp wrote: »

Ah I don't think there's a silver bullet explanation that explains all the failures so far with the Disney Star Wars venture; to be fair I don't believe the studio has made any of these movies entirely in bad faith (ala Sony and their Ghostbusters / Spider Man reboots). Part of me thinks that in all their enthusiasm in bagging the biggest SciFi IP in hollywood, mixed with the heady success of the MCU, Iger & co. green lit every Star Wars brainfart without thinking about if it would work. All for the pursuit of that cheddar cheese of course, but modern day Disney has been a very successful, intelligent machine.

I think its much more a case of fans not getting a product they want and more importantly not spending money on it. When you read between the lines of what's said in that Hollywood Reporter interview, its full steam ahead with the MCU side of things which pops out a movie two to three times a year with Iger deferring to Kevin Feige on what's happening with that franchise which includes the Fox owned properties like X-men and Deadpool.

On the other hand, its the complete opposite when Iger mentions Star Wars and its now all about slowing down the output of content, zero mentions of Kennedy or Johnson or even Lucasarts itself with Iger himself taking full control. Hell, even the two guys from Game of Thrones got a mention alongside Abrams yet not a peep on Johnson's proposed trilogy which was supposed to be already greenlit.

Disney may not have made the last few Star Wars movies in bad faith but they sure seem to know who did.

Defunkd · 24-09-2018 11:18pm

Drumpot wrote: »

Watch ANH with extreme prejudice...

The OT are better movies so we ignore or excuse these flaws. But it doesn’t mean the same issues of the new ones don’t exist in the old ones...

Watch ANH in the sequence Lucas wanted to release it in. It would have been a train-wreck of a movie. It was a hit in large part due to the editing.*

The Old trilogy have more good than bad; the prequels have more bad than good and the newest trilogy has more bad than good. That's the basis on how i judge the films, not for absence of plot holes or how it made me feel as a kid (i've watched them all more times as an adult and it's not to recapture any nostalgia). I'm tired of being constantly told that i don't like the current crop of films because of unconscious bias or because i've placed the ot on a juvenile pedestal. I guess i didn't like Battlefield Earth because of the scientology and not because it was $hit...same goes for that one with will and jaden smith; the only reasonable reason for disliking that film is because of my jealousy or some other character flaw and not because i thought it was a poorly executed film? See the point i'm making?

The SW fans have grown up with the films and would like the franchise to grow up too. I'd bet that most fans who are asked for their favourite scene from R1 would answer that the few mins where Vader cuts through the rebels as the best part. Why do you think that is?...

I haven't mentioned the film that must not be mentioned so this post should be within parameters. (I have the moral high ground)

*good vid on yt "how SW was saved in the editing".
Also, Cinemasins, hishe, honest trailers and even Robot Chicken sketches humourously point out plenty of flaws in all of the SW films, so check them out if you like.

pixelburp · 25-09-2018 12:04am

Totally off-topic, but if I could throw a YouTube channel into a big hole, Cinemasins would be near the top of the list. At their door I lay the disingenuous online culture of nitpicking-as-criticism that has ruined a lot of film (TV) discussion over the last few years; pedantry over non-existent 'plot holes' by way of lameduck comedy.

... and breathe

Drumpot · 25-09-2018 9:32am

Defunkd wrote: »

Watch ANH in the sequence Lucas wanted to release it in. It would have been a train-wreck of a movie. It was a hit in large part due to the editing.*

The Old trilogy have more good than bad; the prequels have more bad than good and the newest trilogy has more bad than good. That's the basis on how i judge the films, not for absence of plot holes or how it made me feel as a kid (i've watched them all more times as an adult and it's not to recapture any nostalgia). I'm tired of being constantly told that i don't like the current crop of films because of unconscious bias or because i've placed the ot on a juvenile pedestal. I guess i didn't like Battlefield Earth because of the scientology and not because it was $hit...same goes for that one with will and jaden smith; the only reasonable reason for disliking that film is because of my jealousy or some other character flaw and not because i thought it was a poorly executed film? See the point i'm making?

The SW fans have grown up with the films and would like the franchise to grow up too. I'd bet that most fans who are asked for their favourite scene from R1 would answer that the few mins where Vader cuts through the rebels as the best part. Why do you think that is?...

I haven't mentioned the film that must not be mentioned so this post should be within parameters. (I have the moral high ground)

*good vid on yt "how SW was saved in the editing".
Also, Cinemasins, hishe, honest trailers and even Robot Chicken sketches humourously point out plenty of flaws in all of the SW films, so check them out if you like.

I did point out robot chicken and family guys parodies. Your examples of battlefield earth and other movies are irrelevant to the topic on hand and the points being made. I do agree with some Of your sentiments.

Having a bias towards one movie does not automatically mean the same applies to every other movie unrelated. There is a pattern of people who refuse to do the same analysis of the older SW movies as they do the new ones because it suits their narrative. If you aren’t one of them then fine. People don’t enjoy the new SW movies for different reasons but I’m focusing on specific reasons givin like

- Lucas made things up as he went along but Disney doing it is a problem for some reason
- Lucas changes characters as he saw fit for his story (Vader Luke’s dad) but Disney doing it is a problem
- complaining about how the story makes sense or will tie together when TESB left a lot unanswered (wait until the trilogy finishes before complaining)
- there were annoying characters in the OT, why are they worse in the new movies?
- charcters in older movies doing silly things seems to be ok, but new movies is unforgivable
- Disney are cashing in on the universe , which is exactly what Lucas did. Either way why does this matter when judging a movie?
- we didn’t know much about palpatine by the end of the OT yet snokes lack of backstory or motive is annoying people.

I am not actually challanging the view that the older movies were better, they were better IMO. I’m challanging the reasons some people are giving which I think could also be leveled at the originals. Some people just want to rant about the new movies. That’s fine. Doesn’t mean some of us won’t point it out when there are discrepancies in these rants....

Personally I’d love to see them move away from skywalker. Knights of old republic of a sith story arc would be deadly.

Gbear · 25-09-2018 12:13pm

Drumpot wrote: »

- complaining about how the story makes sense or will tie together when TESB left a lot unanswered (wait until the trilogy finishes before complaining)

To avoid getting bogged down in more TLJ back and forth, I think there's a broader problem with this point and my main issue with Star Wars as a whole now.

I'd make a distinction between how the OT strung a story together and how they go about it today.
It's reasonable to expect more information to be revealed and make the picture clearer in a series of films. The problem with the ST is that not only are there things yet to be revealed that are important to the story forward in time, but there's also stuff being filled in backwards, between the OT and the ST.
Instead of telling a story within a film now, Star Wars is spreading the storytelling amongst it's various platforms, and I think the films are suffering as a result.

I don't think it's a new problem.
The poor characterisation of Anakin in the prequels, and how he's redeemed quite a bit in the Clone Wars animated series, is probably the first example I can think of, but that was just because they had more time and did a better job with the writing, direction and acting.
In general, the fleshing out of the Clone Wars conflict within that show really built the lore, side characters, and does things like add a lot more weight to the Order 66 scene in ROTS, so that you actually know who the likes of Plo Koon and Aayla Secura are, beyond some misc alien Jedi. However, that doesn't justify how poor a job those films did of establishing those things the first time around.

I think the ST are doing the same thing, but now they're doing it deliberately.
Who's Snoke? Is he important? Is he the dark force building in the far corner of the galaxy that the Emperor discusses with Thrawn? Find out in the all new Snoke graphic novel! Available in paperback and on Kindle for $9.99!

There are elements about TFA I like but I think it fails to properly establish the state of the galaxy, which is crucial for the first part of a trilogy. TLJ doesn't really clear much up. That leaves me waiting for an Episode IX where I don't really know the stakes, beyond the personal ones of the characters, or who the beligerents are in the conflict, beyond the specific forces involved in TLJ (i.e a few Star Destroyers full of baddies and however many goodies can fit in the Falcon).

What seems to be expected now, is that I know Poe Dameron's mam is Luke's friend or something, that that guy who Kylo Ren killed at the start of TFA is actually important and that if I want to know who the First order are, I have to read 3 Aftermath books, which haven't been very good so far as I can tell, as well as the new Thrawn books, and watch Star Wars Rebels.

There may well be a good story in the totality of new Star Wars lore, but you need to be able to take the films on their own merits, and I struggle to do that.
I enjoy most of the characterisation, most of how they're shot, I enjoy the action set pieces, but they feel disconnected from the universe of Star Wars.

In the sense that I think it's deliberate, I don't think the creative minds are thinking "how can we fragment this to make money". I think they have a sense of the story, a sense of what different media projects they need to get done, and they're allowing themselves to become lazy in some of them on the basis that gaps in the worldbuilding will be filled in elsewhere. Maybe, because they're within that development bubble with total knoweldge, they don't even really have a good sense of what's missing in the films.

I dont really like the bits in TFA between them leaving Jakku and Rey getting abducted, so I find it hard to watch the film now. I rewatched TLJ recently and I still really enjoyed, bar the bit in the middle with Canto BIght. I currently have very little interest in episode IX. The films aren't awful but as a Star Wars trilogy, I'm not arsed.

I'm far more interested in knowing what Ezra, Sabine and Asoka are up to, or Thrawn. This Resistance show has gotten pretty bad press but so did Clone Wars and Rebels. I'll keep an open mind as to how much it's aimed at kids and whether or not it makes it unwatchable.

Tony EH · 25-09-2018 3:05pm

Drumpot wrote: »

There is a pattern of people who refuse to do the same analysis of the older SW movies as they do the new ones because it suits their narrative.

You don't know this. Stop strawmanning the conversation.

People are well able to understand the flaws of the older movies, while criticising the new films on their own flaws.

But, again, constantly bringing up flaws in the original films as some sort of defence for the newer ones is not a valid form of arguing. It's simple whataboutery and it will never excuse the flaws of the new movies, or act as apologia. It completely redundant.

If you want to defend Diswars, defend it on its own merits, not the demerits of films made decades ago.

I want to add more, because your bullet points warrant addressing, but at the risk of Johnny Ultimate's wrath, I'll leave there.

Tony EH · 25-09-2018 3:27pm

Gbear wrote: »

In the sense that I think it's deliberate, I don't think the creative minds are thinking "how can we fragment this to make money". I think they have a sense of the story, a sense of what different media projects they need to get done, and they're allowing themselves to become lazy in some of them on the basis that gaps in the worldbuilding will be filled in elsewhere. Maybe, because they're within that development bubble with total knoweldge, they don't even really have a good sense of what's missing in the films.

I agree with most of your post GB, but I rather think that Disney miscalculated just how rabid Star Wars fans are/were. I think they believed that they would simple buy everything that was put their way and they got that horribly wrong.

Most fans are fans of the films - or some of the films, even - and don't bother with the comics, books, cartoons, toys, or any other junk. Those fans are not being well serviced by the films at present, because they suffer badly from the flaws you've mentioned. There's an extreme lack of clarity going in the political situation, the state of the stage everything plays out on, the characters and the actual story that's making an awful lot of folk lose interest in where this thing is going.

I also think that the lazily relied too much on the world building that was already completed by George Lucas and eschewed the responsibilities for setting up a comprehensible universe for their own set of films and it shows very clearly in people's questions about just what is going on and why.

Like you, I have little interest in IX, because what I've seen so far hasn't done much for me. I also don't think that IX is going to be a magic fixer for all the issues that people have highlighted in VII and VIII either. There's just too much to deal with AND have it's own plot as well.

The bottom line is that Disney have made an absolute balls of it so far.

Gbear · 25-09-2018 4:51pm

Tony EH wrote: »

I agree with most of your post GB, but I rather think that Disney miscalculated just how rabid Star Wars fans are/were. I think they believed that they would simple buy everything that was put their way and they got that horribly wrong.

Most fans are fans of the films - or some of the films, even - and don't bother with the comics, books, cartoons, toys, or any other junk. Those fans are not being well serviced by the films at present, because they suffer badly from the flaws you've mentioned. There's an extreme lack of clarity going in the political situation, the state of the stage everything plays out on, the characters and the actual story that's making an awful lot of folk lose interest in where this thing is going.

I also think that the lazily relied too much on the world building that was already completed by George Lucas and eschewed the responsibilities for setting up a comprehensible universe for their own set of films and it shows very clearly in people's questions about just what is going on and why.

Like you, I have little interest in IX, because what I've seen so far hasn't done much for me. I also don't think that IX is going to be a magic fixer for all the issues that people have highlighted in VII and VIII either. There's just too much to deal with AND have it's own plot as well.

The bottom line is that Disney have made an absolute balls of it so far.

If the goal has been to make money, then they've largely done pretty well.

TFA is the highest grossing SW film adjusted for inflation excluding ANH, while TLJ is lower than the OT, and TPM, it's still in the top 100 all time, as well as being the 11th highest grossing film unadjusted. And ANH has had more than one run at the box office as well, so TFA is probably by far the most popular Star Wars film of all time in that sense.

Most of the people who watch the main films aren't really big Star Wars fans.
The dropoff for the minor films probably is because they're more reliant on that hard core of fans, and particularly with Solo, they weren't interested, it had poor press due to the issues in development, and it was pretty crap so it had no word of mouth to save it.

Even leaving out merchandising or video game sales (another misstep given EA's bungling), they've already earned back the cost of the buyout.

And I'll eat my hat if IX does anything short of a billion dollars.

I don't think a string of bad Youtube videos are going to bother the suits too much unless the main film box office numbers start taking a hit.

They've already reacted to Solo by cancelling all the other anthology films.

Tony EH · 25-09-2018 5:32pm

Gbear wrote: »

If the goal has been to make money, then they've largely done pretty well.

Up to the last one anyway. And even 'The Last Jedi' had a massive second week dropoff.

But, it's not box office that I'm talking about and "it made lotsa money' doesn't equate quality.

Even Disney have recognised that their output needs fixing and fast.

Gbear wrote: »

TFA is the highest grossing SW film adjusted for inflation excluding ANH, while TLJ is lower than the OT, and TPM, it's still in the top 100 all time, as well as being the 11th highest grossing film unadjusted. And ANH has had more than one run at the box office as well, so TFA is probably by far the most popular Star Wars film of all time in that sense.

It was never not going to do well. Star Wars fans the world over were waiting with baited breath for a new film. It was pretty inevitable that 'The Force Awakens' would make money and with Harrison Ford dusted off and brought back, that engineered the interest of the OT crowd. In fact, I'd say it was integral to its success.

Again, though, "it made lotsa money" only goes so far. They key thing is, the films have been making less and less, with each new one and fan interest is waning. That's hasn't been lost on Disney.

Gbear wrote: »

Most of the people who watch the main films aren't really big Star Wars fans.

Which is all the more reason for Disney not to rely on secondary and tertiary material to patch the holes in their stories. They need to up their game and get the writing on a more even keel.

Gbear wrote: »

And I'll eat my hat if IX does anything short of a billion dollars.

It won't fail like 'Solo' and will probably do relatively well, as it's the finisher to this trilogy. But I wouldn't expect it to actually fix it in any respect.

Defunkd · 25-09-2018 11:23pm

pixelburp wrote: »

Totally off-topic, but if I could throw a YouTube channel into a big hole, Cinemasins would be near the top of the list. At their door I lay the disingenuous online culture of nitpicking-as-criticism that has ruined a lot of film (TV) discussion over the last few years; pedantry over non-existent 'plot holes' by way of lameduck comedy.

... and breathe

You do know it's not a serious critique project?

pixelburp · 25-09-2018 11:30pm

Defunkd wrote: »

You do know it's not a serious critique project?

Of course, but it's still part of that culture of pedantry over the "plot hole" that became standard practice in film 'discussion' on the internet.

thegreengoblin · 28-09-2018 8:37pm

Hollywood Reporter saying that Kathleen Kennedy has renewed her contract with Lucasfilm...

After the box office disappointment of 'Solo: A Star Wars Story,' the studio plans to expand the universe with new characters introduced in movies and television shows.
Kathleen Kennedy has reignited her lightsaber. The lead producer and architect of the Star Wars franchise has renewed her contract to remain president of Lucasfilm for another three years, through 2021, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.

The move is a vote of confidence in Kennedy, who took command of Lucasfilm after Disney’s $4 billion acquisition from George Lucas in 2012 and has overseen the relaunch of Star Wars, one of the most revered movie properties in cinematic history. Disney's four new Star Wars films have grossed almost $4.5 billion at the worldwide box office. Ancillary and merchandising have brought billions more into the studio's coffers.

But it hasn’t always been easy money. Kennedy has had to replace directors on two movies that were either in production or post-. Chris Lord and Phil Miller were fired from Solo: A Star Wars Story on June 20, 2017, less than a year before the film's release. Kennedy also effectively replaced Rogue One: A Star Wars Story director Gareth Edwards with helmer Tony Gilroy, though Edwards kept his directing credit. Last year, Colin Trevorrow, who was to have directed Star Wars: Episode IX, was fired and replaced with the series' Episode VII helmer, J.J. Abrams, a week later.

Kennedy’s position is one of the most visible, and her actions the most highly scrutinized, in Hollywood due to the immense popularity of Lucasfilm’s franchises, which also include Indiana Jones. So it's notable that her renewal follows this summer's Solo: A Star Wars Story, the first big-screen box office disappointment for the franchise, grossing "only" $392 million worldwide and leading analysts to estimate a loss for the film at $50 million to $80 million or more. (In contrast, 2017's The Last Jedi and 2016's Rogue One grossed $1 billion globally, and 2015's The Force Awakens topped $2 billion in receipts.)

Kennedy's deal extension also follows a polarizing reaction to Last Jedi — which sits at 91 percent fresh on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes but was flooded with unusually angry fan complaints on social media about key plot choices. The reaction to Last Jedi and Solo is resulting in a shift in studio strategy, with Disney making plans to slow the output of movies. "You can expect some slowdown," Disney CEO Bob Iger told THR in an interview published on Sept. 20, adding, "but that doesn't mean we're not going to make films."

The only Star Wars film currently underway is Episode IX, currently shooting in London, and due for release Dec. 20, 2019. Sources tell THR that Episode IX will be the last of the "chapter" installments, with Disney planning on touting it as a selling point in the promotion campaign for the film in the year leading up to its release. Lucasfilm is developing feature projects from Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, as well as a potential trilogy from Rian Johnson, the filmmaker behind Last Jedi. Johnson, however, is currently prepping to shoot a detective thriller that is to star Daniel Craig.

Sources say that the near future of Star Wars lies in television with Kennedy-led Lucasfilm planning on expanding the universe with new characters in that medium. The shows at this stage include a live-action series run by Jon Favreau (which is currently casting) and the animated Star Wars: The Clone Wars, both of which will air on Disney’s untitled streaming service, which is set to launch in the second half of 2019. Meanwhile, another animated series, Star Wars Resistance, premieres this month on The Disney Channel.

Lucasfilm is also developing a new Indiana Jones movie, the fifth in a series starring Harrison Ford and directed by Spielberg, but that project recently saw its release date push from July 10, 2020, to July 9, 2021. Script issues were the cause. The last Jones movie, 2008's The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, grossed $786 million worldwide, adjusted for inflation.

Kennedy got her first breaks working as an assistant to writer John Milius and then Steven Spielberg, becoming a co-founder of Amblin Entertainment. She has established one of the most enviable producing careers in Hollywood, with credits on classic blockbusters like E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Back to the Future and Jurassic Park as well as critically acclaimed Spielberg dramas like Schindler's List, Munich, War Horse and Lincoln.

In September, she was named as a recipient, along with husband, producer Frank Marshall, of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Irving G. Thalberg Award for a "body of work reflect a consistently high quality of motion picture production.” She will receive the honor at the 10th annual Governors Awards on Nov. 18.

https://t.co/p9qPgCynKj

Relikk · 04-10-2018 11:17am

Jon Favreau Unveils Details For His ‘Star Wars’ Live-Action Streaming Series ‘The Mandalorian’

https://www.instagram.com/p/BofTUzhBtrZ/

Posted in the TV section, but some might not have seen it.

Gbear · 04-10-2018 11:59am

Sounds good to me. A bit of a fresh take, away from the space wizards.

Agent Coulson · 04-10-2018 12:19pm

Damm Russians

The Last Jedi' Negative Buzz Amplified by Russian Trolls, Study Finds

An academic paper finds that half of criticism aimed at director Rian Johnson was politically motivated.

Did Star Wars: The Last Jedi destroy the franchise and permanently rupture the fandom as its critics (melodramatically) have accused it of doing? According to a new academic paper by researcher Morten Bay, the answer is clearly no.

The paper, titled "Weaponizing the Haters: The Last Jedi and the Strategic Politicization of Pop Culture Through Social Media Manipulation," examines the online response to 2017's Last Jedi, a movie that has come to be considered controversial amongst the larger fanbase of the franchise.

Bay suggests that reputation may not be earned, and instead "finds evidence of deliberate, organized political influence measures disguised as fan arguments," as he writes in the paper's abstract. He continues, "The likely objective of these measures is increasing media coverage of the fandom conflict, thereby adding to and further propagating a narrative of widespread discord and dysfunction in American society. Persuading voters of this narrative remains a strategic goal for the U.S. alt-right movement, as well as the Russian Federation."

The paper analyzes in depth the negative online reaction, which is split into three different camps: those with a political agenda, trolls and what Bay calls "real fantagonists," which he defines as genuine Star Wars fans disappointed in the movie. His findings are fascinating; "Overall, 50.9% of those tweeting negatively [about the movie] was likely politically motivated or not even human," he writes, noting that only 21.9% of tweets analyzed about the movie had been negative in the first place.

"A number of these users appear to be Russian trolls," Bay writes of the negative tweets.

Moreover, he suggests, complaints about Lucasfilm's reported politicization of the franchise by many of the disaffected fans say more about the fans than it does Disney or Lucasfilm's treatment of it. "ince the political and ethical positions presented in the new films are consistent with older films, it is more likely that the polarization of the Trump era has politicized the fans," Bay argues. "The divisive political discourse of the study period and the months leading up to it, has likely primed these fans with a particular type of political messaging that is in direct conflict with the values presented in The Last Jedi."

In response to a tweet announcing the release of the paper, Last Jedi director Rian Johnson shared the tweet, adding, "Looking forward to reading it, but what the top-line describes is consistent with my experience online."

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/star-wars-last-jedi-was-targeted-by-russian-trolls-study-says-1148475

Tony EH · 04-10-2018 4:28pm

Or not...

https://www.cnet.com/news/actually-half-of-the-last-jedi-haters-were-not-russian-trolls/

pixelburp · 04-10-2018 5:12pm

Yeah, had see that paper making headlines, with pretty quick rebuttals about the validity and accuracy of the thing. There's fewer flakier standards of journalism than anything relating to science, maths or statistical analysis - it's nearly always either overblown or inaccurately reported.

Wouldn't mind but there's a serious debate to be had about the trustworthiness of social media in general - be they Russian trolls or studios' own attempts to skew resources like metacritic - but mis-reporting like the above muddy the waters and make it harder to properly talk about it.

Agent Coulson · 05-10-2018 7:22am

First look at The Mandalorian.

mandalorian.jpg?w=1000&h=563&crop=1

Agent Coulson · 05-10-2018 7:23am

Bryce Dallas Howard, Taika Waititi, and More to Direct ‘Star Wars’ Live-Action TV Series

Disney has revealed the first look and directors for its “Star Wars” streaming TV series “The Mandalorian.”

Dave Filoni, who has worked on “Star Wars: The Clone Wars” and “Star Wars Rebels,” will direct the first episode of the series. “Thor: Ragnarok” director Taika Waititi, Bryce Dallas Howard, “Dope’s” Rick Famuyiwa, and Deborah Chow (“Jessica Jones”) will direct additional episodes.

As previously announced, Jon Favreau will write and executive produce the series. The plot details were first revealed on Wednesday, with Favreau teasing “The Mandalorian” on Instagram.

“After the stories of Jango and Boba Fett, another warrior emerges in the Star Wars universe,” read his post, in the style of a “Star Wars” opening crawl. “The Mandalorian is set after the fall of the Empire and before the emergence of the First Order. We follow the travails of a lone gunfighter in the outer reaches of the galaxy far from the authority of the New Republic.”

Favreau is executive producing the show, which is being developed for Disney’s as-yet untitled streaming service, along with Filoni, Kathleen Kennedy, and Colin Wilson. Karen Gilchrist will serve as co-executive producer.

News that Disney was developing the live-action series was first revealed by CEO Bob Iger in March. It’s one of several projects in the works for the growing “Star Wars” universe at the studio.

https://variety.com/2018/tv/news/star-wars-the-mandalorian-directors-first-look-1202969766/

Conall Cernach · 05-10-2018 9:38am

At least with the time it is set in we may get to see, or hear rumour of, some of what happened that led to the rise of the First Order.

Gbear · 05-10-2018 12:40pm

Wasn't aware Dallas Howard was a director.

Apparently she did an M83 video in 2013.

Suppose you have to start somewhere. Of course, if Favreau is at the helm, you'd imagine it's a good project to collaborate on.

pixelburp · 26-10-2018 11:46pm

Well, the rumour mill is saying the Boba Fett spin off from James Mangold is dead in the water. Supposedly the Mandalorian TV show is part culprit. Probably for the best, if true.

Inviere · 27-10-2018 8:32am

pixelburp wrote: »

Well, the rumour mill is saying the Boba Fett spin off from James Mangold is dead in the water. Supposedly the Mandalorian TV show is part culprit. Probably for the best, if true.

Hopefully so, like Solo, it’s a film I’d no desire to see made.

Future and potential Star Wars films - news and speculation

Comments