Would cinema benefit if Star Wars failed?

[WebLurker]

We'll see where Star Wars ends up, but their current run of films has so far been a critical and financial success overall. They will need to evolve the series in some way to keep it going, but they're nowhere near out of the count yet.

[BeastieRunner]

Celebration gets younger and bigger each year ...

Most 20 year olds lionize the PT over the OT ...

The new Disney cartoons keep making a massive profit ...

A small segment of the internet hates the new movies (I remember that happening in 99 on, too.) ...

There just doesn't seem to be many facts when it comes to the "Star Wars is dead" argument past "I liked my version better."

If you don't find enjoyment from it, don't buy the stuff anymore.

[ChrisIII]

I wouldn't say they necessarily took them off the board-after all, the last Star Wars film featured three OT characters and one PT character, although two of them were played by different actors.


We know Luke will return in some capacity in ROS-the trailers, pictures from the film confirm that. He might even be the Skywalker of the title (although I suppose it could also fit Ren, Leia or Rey).

The Mandalorian will likewise feature some OT characters, although pretty much the background bounty hunters.

A young Luke series probably wouldn't work because his life didn't get really interesting until the OT (Of course there's still the very persistant rumors of an Obi-Wan film or series...)


Marvel's monthly still focuses almost entirely on Luke and co. as well.

[Star_Jammer]

Luke is dead.

Hamill pretty much confirmed this some time back. https://screenrant.com/last-jedi-luk...e-mark-hamill/

So that's two of the original three gone. And with Fisher's untimely death, that's pretty much it for them.

I would have loved to have seen the original 3 reconcile at a certain point during the new trilogy. And I honestly don't feel death should always be the end of the hero's journey.

I mean, that Tweet doesn't rule out the possibility of Luke "Force Ghosting" or whatever it's called.

Dead, but not necessarily "off the board".

And death is the end of everyone's journey's. Heroes just tend to have...well...heroic deaths.

[PoorStudent]

Movie theaters need big box office movies if they are going to stay in business, weather that be star wars or superheroes or whatever. If star wars stop performing as well as they do they either need something to take it's place that will generate that amount of foot traffic or theaters will start to close. And movie studios are always trying to make huge blockbusters that can compete, but there's only a few films/studios that are able to do that.

I do feel that star wars sequels (and prequels) are derivative of the original three and feel like they lack any creative ambition, so I wish they would try harder. It's a lot of member berries.

It's weird that Captain America and Iron Man were like B level (if not C or D) characters and Marvel turned them into bohemiths, but Star Wars was this massive huge game changer and now it's brand has deteriorated somewhat (Well see with the Rise of Skywalker).

[Kusanagi]

I think Disney might feel it, but not much, they have 4 billion dollar movies and a 900 million dollar movie so far this year and none are named Star Wars.

Cinema? Nah, there's been 10 movies prior to the one this year spread out over 42 years. Cinema is dependent on big blockbusters but not Star Wars in particular.

[TriggerWarning]

Force Awakens is the #1 movie of all time domestically and #4 all time worldwide. It only is that low worldwide because Star Wars wasn't released in China in its heyday of the 70's and 80's so it never gained the cultural popularity that later movies in the MCU and other places did.

Last Jedi despite being a crapfest of a movie grossed over 600 million domestically and 1.3 billion worlwide (#12 all time).

The next Star Wars movie will likely fall somewhere in between since Abrams took back the reigns meaning it won't be a Last Jedi debacle.

If anything Star Wars is saving cinema since the next movie will likely end up being the 2nd biggest movie of the year behind Endgame. And thats a worst case scenario. If it actually turns out great it might threaten Endgame - I don't expect it to but I also didn't expect Endgame to beat Avatar.

[Pinsir]

I think Disney might feel it, but not much, they have 4 billion dollar movies and a 900 million dollar movie so far this year and none are named Star Wars.

Cinema? Nah, there's been 10 movies prior to the one this year spread out over 42 years. Cinema is dependent on big blockbusters but not Star Wars in particular.

That's not true though, a film industry where people only watch big blockbusters is a film industry in danger. Disney may have the biggest box office hits, but they also have the biggest flops. The domestic film market has consistently been in decline for years now too, so the 'blockbusters' aren't even really that big. Avengers Endgame does not make it in the top 10 domestic box offices when adjusted for inflation

I would personally say that the new Star Wars films are part of a trend of absolute nostalgia pandering that has yet to produce a good film.

[Username taken]

Anyway, regarding the OPs question, no Star Wars dying doesn't benefit cinema one bit. The industry needs the big hits and box office wise (despite my own personal feelings) Disney has made a killing (Solo'ss utter failure aside).

So Star Wars failing doesn't really help.

[Star_Jammer]

Avengers Endgame does not make it in the top 10 domestic box offices when adjusted for inflation

No movie made past 1997 is either. And the other 9 were made in 1982 and earlier.

Has cinema been in decline since 1982?

[Colossus1980]

No movie made past 1997 is either. And the other 9 were made in 1982 and earlier.

Has cinema been in decline since 1982?

According to the poster's logic yes the sky is falling, the movie industry is DOA.

[jetengine]

No movie made past 1997 is either. And the other 9 were made in 1982 and earlier.

Has cinema been in decline since 1982?

Adjusting for inflation means no movie did as well as Gone with the Wind which is silly.

Theres some suggestion that Blockbusters are bad for the industry overall in that they become easy anchor points for studios and audiences meaning theres no need to go out and watch anything else, so the audience stick to familiar releases etc but frankly the industry as a whole atm is hideously conservative so is going with the safest way to make a movie.

[Star_Jammer]

According to the poster's logic yes the sky is falling, the movie industry is DOA.

Setting aside the arbitrary criteria (seriously? Only top 10 out of AAAAAALLLLLL movies ever made? El Oh El)...even if we were to seriously look at the top 10, they should function as “outliers”, not the norm (as well as the bottom 10) because those two (top/bottom) represent the extremes.

TIL, cinema has been in decline since 1939. Damn Hollywood. Get it together.

[Killerbee911]

That's not true though, a film industry where people only watch big blockbusters is a film industry in danger. Disney may have the biggest box office hits, but they also have the biggest flops. The domestic film market has consistently been in decline for years now too

So Two things

1. Disney has the biggest flops I will invite you to prove that point with some facts. Wait nevermind

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...x-office_bombs

2. Going Hey Avengers as a blockbuster isn't that big because adjusted for inflation and Domestically (US only). You literally to put in two caveats to say a movie isn't all of that and still in Top 16 of all time. Movies are a global thing today, VoD and home watching experiencing is way better. No **** movies did better domestically in the past. You didn't have Fornite, Netflix or the ability to get good pirated copies day of the release of the movie. Any movie that can penetrate this saturated entertainment market and do well is amazing. Movies did better in the US in the past, of course, they did Gone with Wind was probably literally the only form of entertainment back then.

Movies operate on a world scale today why is the domestic market the measuring scale? Why are we making a big deal about movies selling less in theaters every one knows why it is going down we consume media differently today. Kids today stream and binge-watch things. Premium content isn't just a movie thing anymore. We got cheap High def TVs, Lots of content on streaming comparable to movie quality, A 2-month window which goes by quick(hey Endgame is already home video) and the theater experience can be expensive. In your house on 50 inch TV that cost under 200 dollars vs Movies I wonder what people are going to pick?

[motherofpearl1]

I'm a fan of the OT, I was twelve when the first film was released - yes, my age is showing.

I am not, however, a fan of the EU.....I went off them when they gave Han and Leia's sons such gloomy downbeat endings.

I was originally not going to see the ST, but I decided to give The Force Awakens a go - and to my astonishment loved it.

I actually think the sequels are far superior to the prequels, but I suspect much of the hatred the sequels are getting is due to the 'killing off' of the original characters plus a lot of sulky fan boys who resent the new protagonist being a woman.
The fact is, Harrison Ford wanted to kill off Han Solo for years, Carrie Fisher has sadly passed, and Mark Hamil, like his co stars, is now at the age where he's best suited to the role of mentor.
There's also the argument that the OC have been somehow painted as 'villains', and have lost their 'happy ending'.

But they did have a happy ending. Han and Leia married and had a child, Luke became the greatest Jedi of all time, and they had years of 'doing their own thing' so to speak.
People's problems lie with Han Solo, Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa being 'demonised' when in fact, watch the original films again and they are actually true to character.
Han and Leia were always going to have a stormy relationship. And Luke was a shades of grey character from the start, as Yoda pointed out he had '
much anger in him'. What the sequels have done have painted them as true to life characters who made mistakes. The biggest mistake was how they treated Ben Solo. And sadly that stemmed from their lives being scarred by the memory of what his grandfather was. Han avoided his son by flying off in the Falcon whenever he could, marriage and a child failed to make a man with the heart of a pirate grow up. Leia, always one for the 'greater good' buried herself in politics. Luke, who had no children, sensed the darkness that was Snoke's influence in his nephew and unfortunately acted as his master when he should have been his uncle. This didn't make them villains, simply flawed human beings. And as for making out that the Jedi were wrong....heck the prequels already showed their massive flaws in judgement.

Star Wars has moved forward, but some people don't want that. And I'm sorry. But the childish ways some fans have acted, such as demanding the last film be remade and sending it's director death threats, is ridiculous. I was deeply disappointed in Thor Ragnarok. I still don't like it. But no way would I send it's director threatening letters. Sadly social media has brought out the worst in people.