Solo: A Star Wars Story

[Moonhawk]

zb said:

However, Solo is a proper fan movie, just as Rogue One was, so what is most likely to happen is that Disney pulls the plug on the side stories and continues making a rip roaring of the main films, simply as the numbers add up.

EP9 is supposedly the last one of the main arc, unless they extend it out again - so they will probably be relying on the success of Solo-esq prequels or wider universe type stories. I doubt they can afford to bin these off.

If fans truly are sending a message to Disney - then hopefully we'll ultimately end up with better films as a result. The only power fans have to change things for the better - sits in their wallet.

Edited by Moonhawk on Monday 28th May 14:59

[p1stonhead]

Moonhawk said:

zb said:

However, Solo is a proper fan movie, just as Rogue One was, so what is most likely to happen is that Disney pulls the plug on the side stories and continues making a rip roaring of the main films, simply as the numbers add up.

EP9 is supposedly the last one of the main arc, unless they extend it out again - so they will probably be relying on the success of Solo-esq prequels or wider universe type stories. I doubt they can afford to bin these off.

If fans truly are sending a message to Disney - then hopefully we'll ultimately end up with better films as a result. The only power fans have to change things for the better - sits in their wallet.

Edited by Moonhawk on Monday 28th May 14:59

Thing is EP9 can only now be either awful or just confusing. If they follow TLJ story it’ll be crap. If they try to swing it back to follow on a bit more TFAesque, it’ll just mean TLJ was a nonsense in the middle and will be confusing / incoherent again.

[chris watton]

Moonhawk said:

EP9 is supposedly the last one of the main arc, unless they extend it out again - so they are probably be relying on the success of Solo-esq prequels or wider universe type stories.

If fans truly are sending a message to Disney - then hopefully we'll ultimately end up with better films as a result. The only power fans have to change things for the better - sits in their wallet.

Edited by Moonhawk on Monday 28th May 14:58

That's true. After TFA, I bought loads of merchandise, from books to scale models from the film (and R1 - and, of course, the Blu-Rays). After watching TLJ, the £2.50 cinema ticket is all I invested in that. It felt like a big FU.

I am not 'boycotting' Solo, I simply have no desire whatsoever in seeing it, that is different to wanting to see it but choosing not to on principle. TLJ sucked all the enthusiasm I had for future films. I still love the OT and even the prequels, and the animated series, but have no feelings at all regarding Solo. From what I have read, it's just an achingly typical modern action flick, by that I mean it probably lacks any soul whatsoever. Why would I waste my time on that, when there are literally hundreds of other films that are better?

[zb]

JagLover said:

Unfortunately consumer boycotts are the only way Disney might change direction.

Still an interesting universe and with a different person running the whole thing and different writers we could have good movies again.

The only thing I'll be boycotting is any future Rian Johnston films, regardless of whether they are Star Wars.

[zb]

p1stonhead said:

Thing is EP9 can only now be either awful or just confusing. If they follow TLJ story it’ll be crap. If they try to swing it back to follow on a bit more TFAesque, it’ll just mean TLJ was a nonsense in the middle and will be confusing / incoherent again.

This is the problem the only way to fix the Last Jedi is to do a "Bobby from the shower" number on it, and let us never speak of this again.

[zb]

chris watton said:

That's true. After TFA, I bought loads of merchandise, from books to scale models from the film (and R1 - and, of course, the Blu-Rays). After watching TLJ, the £2.50 cinema ticket is all I invested in that. It felt like a big FU.

I am not 'boycotting' Solo, I simply have no desire whatsoever in seeing it, that is different to wanting to see it but choosing not to on principle. TLJ sucked all the enthusiasm I had for future films. I still love the OT and even the prequels, and the animated series, but have no feelings at all regarding Solo. From what I have read, it's just an achingly typical modern action flick, by that I mean it probably lacks any soul whatsoever. Why would I waste my time on that, when there are literally hundreds of other films that are better?

Believe me, I understand entirely why the Last Jedi was the Last Straw for many. The only reason I gave Solo a chance was Ron Howard, he's the very definition of "a safe pair of hands", and even that does him a disservice. I was not disappointed.

[Moonhawk]

zb said:

Believe me, I understand entirely why the Last Jedi was the Last Straw for many. The only reason I gave Solo a chance was Ron Howard, he's the very definition of "a safe pair of hands", and even that does him a disservice. I was not disappointed.

I'll give it a chance - I just won't give Lucasfilm any money in doing so.

I'll probably pick up a pre-owned blu-ray sometime around Christmas.

[zb]

Moonhawk said:

EP9 is supposedly the last one of the main arc, unless they extend it out again - so they will probably be relying on the success of Solo-esq prequels or wider universe type stories. I doubt they can afford to bin these off.

If fans truly are sending a message to Disney - then hopefully we'll ultimately end up with better films as a result. The only power fans have to change things for the better - sits in their wallet.

Edited by Moonhawk on Monday 28th May 14:59

The only film of the latest lot which was an absolute stinker was the last Jedi, quite simply Rian Johnson does not have a clue full stop, and does not have a clue what a Star Wars film is/was, or should be.

If they give him any more as has been alluded, we'll never, ever get those better films.

If there's a groundswell to boycott anything it should be his involvement in Star Wars.

[chris watton]

zb said:

The only film of the latest lot which was an absolute stinker was the last Jedi, quite simply Rian Johnson does not have a clue full stop, and does not have a clue what a Star Wars film is/was, or should be.

If they give him any more as has been alluded, we'll never, ever get those better films.

If there's a groundswell to boycott anything it should be his involvement in Star Wars.

No, it's not just that, is it? A few Lucasfilm employees have openly stated that they do not like most fans, they hate white people (white males especially - how is this not racist, BTW) who like the franchise, and called them names because the fans didn't like their output. For a company that relies on fans as the backbone of their profits, it's economic suicide.

I wonder just how many sales they have lost because of this.

[Moonhawk]

chris watton said:

No, it's not just that, is it? A few Lucasfilm employees have openly stated that they do not like most fans, they hate white people (white males especially - how is this not racist, BTW) who like the franchise, and called them names because the fans didn't like their output. For a company that relies on fans as the backbone of their profits, it's economic suicide.

I wonder just how many sales they have lost because of this.

Exactly the same tactic Sony used over GB3. Ignore legitimate criticism and make out it's just a minority of misogynistic, racist fanboys

Yeh - look how that turned out.

Also on the question of 'diversity'. I just don't get why any company would seek marginalise one of their biggest domestic demographics either. The fact of the matter is, the average Star Wars fan is a white male aged 18-40.

OK, make sure films in general reflect the demographics and ensure women and minorities aren't held back or marginalised, especially when major or lead characters are concerned - but does Hollywood have to completely exclude white men to achieve this. Surely excluding white males from the lead cast actually makes the movie less diverse?

I saw this article a few months back:

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/30000-hollywoo...

It included the statement 'Roughly Three-Quarters of Film Actors Were White'. On the face of it - you might think "yeh actually, the number of white actors does seem quite high and something needs to be done".

However then when you look at the figures in the context of the racial demographics of the US, the percentages align pretty closely with the general population (most are within about half a percent of the actual figure).

So the question remains - why have those in charge of Star Wars chosen to completely exclude white men from the 'goodies' side? Not a single major new character in TFA, R1 or TLJ on the side of the rebels is a white male........that simply cannot happen by accident (and clearly hasn't based on statements made by the likes of JJ and KK).

What have white male fans done to deserve this vilification from a franchise that, quite frankly, owes it's success over many decades to that very demographic.

Edited by Moonhawk on Monday 28th May 17:05

[Gnits]

TFA and Rogue One were great, part of the whole universe.

TLJ was as if someone had once seen a couple of clips of Star Wars on tv while they were actually busy doing something else then made a film. It was utterly garbage.
I will not be seeing Solo, really have no interest at all.

Someone should have the balls to just say "Sorry about TLJ, we got that one really wrong, let's have another go" and bloody do it properly.

[Halb]

zb said:

Empire Strikes Back
Star Wars
Rogue One
Solo
Return of the Jedi
The Force Awakens
Prequels in any order you like
Caravan of Courage
Star Wars Holiday Special
Waterworld
Plan 9
Ang Lee's Hulk
Used Toilet Paper
all Hulk Hogan's films
all Steven Seagal films
the room
criiters 4

The Last Jedi

Scruffy looking nerf-herder, why the frak isn't holiday special number 1?

[Moonhawk]

Halb said:

zb said:

Empire Strikes Back
Star Wars
Rogue One
Solo
Return of the Jedi
The Force Awakens
Prequels in any order you like
Caravan of Courage
Star Wars Holiday Special
Waterworld
Plan 9
Ang Lee's Hulk
Used Toilet Paper
all Hulk Hogan's films
all Steven Seagal films
the room
criiters 4

The Last Jedi

Scruffy looking nerf-herder, why the frak isn't holiday special number 1?

Where is Kung Fury in that list too - should probably go in just above Waterworld

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bS5P_LAqiVg

[funkyrobot]

Moonhawk said:

Halb said:

zb said:

Empire Strikes Back
Star Wars
Rogue One
Solo
Return of the Jedi
The Force Awakens
Prequels in any order you like
Caravan of Courage
Star Wars Holiday Special
Waterworld
Plan 9
Ang Lee's Hulk
Used Toilet Paper
all Hulk Hogan's films
all Steven Seagal films
the room
criiters 4

The Last Jedi

Scruffy looking nerf-herder, why the frak isn't holiday special number 1?

Where is Kung Fury in that list too - should probably go in just above Waterworld

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bS5P_LAqiVg

No mention of Battlefield Earth?

[toastyhamster]

Went to see Solo today with the kids, quite enjoyed it, wasn't expecting to given the critics response. Cinema (Showcase Xplus) was half empty though and there weren't many people around after we came out after two, doesn't bode well for takings.

[JagLover]

zb said:

The only film of the latest lot which was an absolute stinker was the last Jedi, quite simply Rian Johnson does not have a clue full stop, and does not have a clue what a Star Wars film is/was, or should be.

If they give him any more as has been alluded, we'll never, ever get those better films.

If there's a groundswell to boycott anything it should be his involvement in Star Wars.

If it was limited to Rian Johnson fair enough but he was taking his agenda from Kathleen Kennedy.

You have to bear in mind with modern Star Wars that the directors are merely hired hands and they can be, and have been, fired for going against her directives.

Outside of the strawmen that Disney (and Sony before them) have created few have an issue with diversity in modern movies. What was so problematic to many was destroying the narrative logic of a movie to push an extreme ideological agenda.

[ukaskew]

chris watton said:

I'm not so sure anymore. The SW toys seem to be rotting on the shelves. Toys R Us has gone, some think it's because of Disney's insistence on pushing these new S(J)W toys to the detriment of other makes.

Star Wars is predominantly a US thing now, the box office takings of the new wave of films have been heavily weighted in favour of the US at a time when many big blockbusters are making significantly more internationally. On home turf I don't doubt that merchandise and licencing agreements etc (such as with Lego) is a huge, huge draw.

TLJ and Rogue One were pretty much 50:50 US vs rest of the world box office. Solo appears to be going further than that. Compare that to Infinity War (30:70), Jurassic World (40:60), Fate of the Furious (20:80) etc and it's quite an insular thing compared to pretty much any other $1b movie now.

[JagLover]

A number of articles about the disappointing performance of Solo and each one makes a particular point of saying it cant be down to the fan reaction to TLJ

http://www.denofgeek.com/us/movies/solo-a-star-war...

https://www.forbes.com/sites/scottmendelson/2018/0...

Sometimes the world of the MSM seems to exist in an alternate reality.

This is my favourite quote from the whole thing

Forbes said:

And doubly so on the cries for Kathleen Kennedy to be fired (me thinks the cries wouldn’t be so loud if Kathleen’s first name was Kevin).

Yes of course we are all misogynists it is the only logical explanation.

[Moonhawk]

JagLover said:

This is my favourite quote from the whole thing

Forbes said:

And doubly so on the cries for Kathleen Kennedy to be fired (me thinks the cries wouldn’t be so loud if Kathleen’s first name was Kevin).

Yes of course we are all misogynists it is the only logical explanation.

And so the SJW bandwagon rolls on.......................

It's funny - nobody called for her to go after Raiders of the Lost Ark, Goonies, ET, Back to the Future, Jurassic Park etc etc and they are conveniently ignoring the fact that Rian Johnson (a white man no less) has come in for just as much criticism.

But then - none of those films were pushing their gender/identity politics SJW agenda. One of these things is not like the other..........

I don't see what their problem is - if they really think we are all misogynistic, homophobic racists - surely they don't want our tainted money anyway - this counts as a win for Disney.......no?

Disney cant put a price on holding a fictional moral high ground.......or can they......let's see shall we

Edited by Moonhawk on Monday 28th May 19:12

[gregs656]

Not surprising Solo is not doing particularly well.

They can blame what ever they like but the reaction to TLJ is accounts for it big time IMO.

Nothing planned to launch now until next December. Hopefully Solo can undo some of the damage by word of mouth in that time.

SW is such a great universe it would be a shame to see it killed off.