Kathleen Kennedy survives!

[Bunai]

Seems to me there is tons more direction than back when Lucas was doing this. You just do not like the direction is all.

Obviously I don't enjoy it, but I am not going to pretend that everything is fine under Kathleen Kennedy. She is not a visionary, she is a money maker.

[Carabas]

Obviously I don't enjoy it, but I am not going to pretend that everything is fine under Kathleen Kennedy. She is not a visionary, she is a money maker.

Compared to George Lucas, Kennedy is a money maker?

My irony meter just exploded...

[Immortal Weapon]

[Moon Ronin]

Compared to George Lucas, Kennedy is a money maker?

My irony meter just exploded...

Cause its broken.... The point being was that Lucas looked beyond the move where Kennedy is only seems to not be looking at the "big picture" and has a tunnel vision on only what the movies will produce. Its a lot like the defiance between Kurtz and Lucas and why they split over ROTJ. Lucas was playing the long game as a visionary and Kurtz was only looking at what the move could do in the theaters.

The real irony is that Kennedy took something that was historically marketable outside of just the movies, which would be the biggest reason Disney bought it, and green lit 2 of the least marketable movies in the whole francize though I believe that SOLO was just a causality of TFA.

[Sacred Knight]

I don't at all believe Solo was a casualty of TFA. That's again based off the false narrative that TFA was an abject failure. It wasn't. Box office wise it was still a blockbuster, and its reception was mixed. Not primarily negative. Solo failed on its own merits. The entire development of that film was maligned and it was all public knowledge. That was the biggest reason for its disappointing returns, imo. Another potential reason which I don't think receives enough attention is the possibility of resistance to the character of Han Solo being recast. Star Wars has recast characters before, that's not new, but recasting one of the most iconic characters in the franchise coupled with the fact that said character was played by one of the most iconic and recognizable actors of the past few generations is something else.

[WebLurker]

I don't at all believe Solo was a casualty of TFA. That's again based off the false narrative that TFA was an abject failure. It wasn't. Box office wise it was still a blockbuster, and its reception was mixed. Not primarily negative. Solo failed on its own merits. The entire development of that film was maligned and it was all public knowledge. That was the biggest reason for its disappointing returns, imo. Another potential reason which I don't think receives enough attention is the possibility of resistance to the character of Han Solo being recast. Star Wars has recast characters before, that's not new, but recasting one of the most iconic characters in the franchise coupled with the fact that said character was played by one of the most iconic and recognizable actors of the past few generations is something else.

Yeah, Solo's problems were it's own (but I would contend that it's an underrated movie) and we need to get past the myth that TLJ was a failure/hated by most people/whatever.

[Starter Set]

No one ever said that tlj was a commercial failure. It's Star Wars, it's pretty, pretty hard to fail financially with that franchise. (they sure try hard though)

But it has divided the audience as never a Star Wars movie did since the phantom menace. You can deny the hate all you want and pretend it's all some Russian conspiracy, why not right? But the hate is there and i have no doubt it had a significant impact on Solo.

Anyway, thanks Zeus that awful trilogy is over soon.

[Immortal Weapon]

Yeah, Solo's problems were it's own (but I would contend that it's an underrated movie) and we need to get past the myth that TLJ was a failure/hated by most people/whatever.

Saying the hatred for Last Jedi is a myth is burying your head in the sand. The film is a commerical success. There is no disputing that. However, it does stop the movie from being absolute crap. It's merchandise sales were in the toilet, it's blu-ray sales were half of what Force Awakens made. It definitely had an impact on Solo. It was released 6 months after Last Jedi which was still fresh in fans minds.

[Bruce Wayne]

Solo's unenthusiastic first week was absolutely because of the mark left by TLJ.

[Moon Ronin]

Solo's unenthusiastic first week was absolutely because of the mark left by TLJ.

To clarify I don't think that TLJ was the sole reason for SOLO's lack luster opening but do believe that a large contributing factor.

[Sacred Knight]

I simply see far too much evidence of other stronger contributing factors independent to the production of Solo. Solo had many problems in production from day one that was being reported on consistently. It was rewritten, reshot, changed directors, reports of unhappiness with Alden Ehrenreich's acting...the levels of turmoil were far beyond any recent Star Wars film and people were made aware of it often. Furthermore the puzzling decision was made not to promote the film until dangerously close to its release. All in all, could TLJ have had something to do with it to some degree? Sure. But not a major contributor compared to the film in question's own issues in the lead up.

Saying the hatred for Last Jedi is a myth is burying your head in the sand. The film is a commercial success. There is no disputing that. However, it does stop the movie from being absolute crap. It's merchandise sales were in the toilet, it's blu-ray sales were half of what Force Awakens made. It definitely had an impact on Solo. It was released 6 months after Last Jedi which was still fresh in fans minds.

No one ever said there aren't fans who hate it. No one's burying their head in the sand in that regard. WebLurker talked of the myth that it was hated by most people. And that indeed is a myth. The reception clearly is and was from the beginning mixed, meaning a lot of people liked it too. That's the undisputed reality. It'd be the same thing if someone said it was loved by most people. That'd be a myth too. As far as the revenue, the comparison to The Force Awakens wasn't disputed in the first place. We all know it made more money.

[ChrisIII]

Compared to George Lucas, Kennedy is a money maker?

My irony meter just exploded...

She was pretty much Spielberg's main producer for many years. Indiana Jones, E.T, Back to the Future, Jurassic Park etc. are all pretty much part of her work (although JP is really the only one still running at this point, although there's still talk of a final Ford Indy)

[Scott Taylor]

Solo's unenthusiastic first week was absolutely because of the mark left by TLJ.

Yah I agree. TLJ was a huge misstep, just because of the level of risks they undertook with it. I know there are people who loved it, but the endurance and intensity of the hate engendered by it would have made Emperor Palpatine proud. People were definitely feeling it still when Solo rolled around, and still are.

The release of Solo should have been delayed until December. It was a pretty weak month for film, imho, that could have used something so prominent.

[Gray Lensman]

To clarify I don't think that TLJ was the sole reason for SOLO's lack luster opening but do believe that a large contributing factor.

This. Solo had a laundry list of reasons why it failed, but this is one of them (although not one of the biggest, IMO).

Bad timing - being released around the same time as other blockbuster films meant that the money the audience had to spend on it was limited - or spent elsewhere.

Bad stories coming out of the filming - when all of your press is pretty much negative it never helps.

Reshoots - since no one was paying attention, the first director made something that was considered so bad they had to pretty much reshoot the entire movie, pushing costs through the roof.

No real push from the studio - knowing that there was bad press from the behind the scenes drama, and the backlash from TLJ, Disney chose to NOT TRY TO COUNTERACT ANY OF IT. They had a chance to create positive buzz, and did next to nothing.

So the film cost more to make than it should have, came out at a time that promised less profit, and had bad press which wasn't counteracted before the release. You can add more bad feelings from the TLJ backlash, but even without it things weren't looking good.

A later release date and a better PR campaign would have both worked wonders - the film still would probably have been a disappointment, but maybe not a money loser.

[Moon Ronin]

Yah I agree. TLJ was a huge misstep, just because of the level of risks they undertook with it. I know there are people who loved it, but the endurance and intensity of the hate engendered by it would have made Emperor Palpatine proud. People were definitely feeling it still when Solo rolled around, and still are.

The release of Solo should have been delayed until December. It was a pretty weak month for film, imho, that could have used something so prominent.

December was not the greatest month for movies this year, It was the first my family did go for the after Christmas mover in a long time. SOLO also came out with Deadpool 2 still fresh so it had that against it.

As for the production problems the average mover goer really doesn't pay that much attention such things, I think the biggest "news" of it that got around to most what that Lando was "pan-sexual" and that may have turned some people off it.

TLJ got a 45 audience score on rotten tomatoes, a 4.5 user score on Metacritic, a 7.2 on IMDB CNET reported a 57%. It is funny that the DC movies bombed it was said that it was Disney fault because that "ran" the rating site... then when a Star Wars move does not do that well with fans is some kind of Troll/Russian/mad fan boy conspiracy. Yes there are people that liked it but were are more that didn't like it than people would like to admit.

Star Wars is possible the most valuable intellectual property in entertainment (maybe other that core Disney and that is a big maybe) and the reason being it that it makes 4 times in merchandise than what it makes in the movies. From that you would conclude that buying patterns of the merchandise would be just as much as an indicator as audience scores.. Merch sells for TLJ were abysmal compared to even the prequels, the best selling were the stuffed porgs that is right the thing people wanted the most were birds that had nothing to do with the plot of the movie
... I don't think it was internet trolls or some Russian hackers that caused the dip in the interest in that. I've been dealing with (buying and selling) Star Wars merchandise for almost 25 years and TLJ was the worst after movie market of any of the movies before it and that has to say something.