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Bloomberg: Star Wars is Struggling to Win Over the Next Generation of Kids
- Thread starter Deleted member 51691
- Start date
So geeky that it's the highest grossing movie of all time domestically?
JJ Abrams had nothing to do with the ending of Lost or really much of anything besides the first season. That's all Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse.
Losing some traction is normal after FORTY FREAKING years too, lol.
Who here honestly thinks 30 years from now kids will be all about the MCU? Heck no. Something else will be around by then and you're probably have kids that look at Endgame and go "man, that's so cheesy".
Who here honestly thinks 30 years from now kids will be all about the MCU? Heck no. Something else will be around by then and you're probably have kids that look at Endgame and go "man, that's so cheesy".
They've tried and failed with Fantastic Beasts because those movies are generally bad.
It's the same for Star Wars. On its own, TFA isn't offensive or anything, but as a launching point for a new generation of Star Wars it's pretty miserable. It leans way too heavily into nostalgia and retelling story beats instead of being its own thing.
Genuinely good, interesting Star Wars movies could come out every year if they got the story/characters/arc/world right.
It will never reach the peak of the more monocultural 20th century but it could be a lot better.
I mean what is there to get so excited and invested in?
The aesthetic and music is trash compared to the previous 2 trilogies.
The story isn't anything to write home about
Decent characters that they seem to not care to do anything substantial with.
The aesthetic and music is trash compared to the previous 2 trilogies.
The story isn't anything to write home about
Decent characters that they seem to not care to do anything substantial with.
While I enjoy the new movies, they are very much a continuation of the OT and does assume you already care about the heroes of the OT and their legacy. The prequels, for all their faults, just concerns itself with its primary characters, which is easy for new viewers to get into. It will be interesting to see how the next trilogy ends up since it can make a clean break and establish its own identity.
Not saying it doesn't get butts in seats, just that it's one of many probable explanations for why it hasn't clicked for the new gen.
There's a lot of meat on that Star Wars bone but I don't think the creative side has had that unifying vision forward.
I'm frustrated that the best (and admittedly, the worst) stories of Star Wars aren't on film.
I also agree with the sentiment that Star Wars needs more "super heroes". More Jedi, more Sith, more Boba Fetts, more badasses in general.
Give me a morally ambiguous "grey Jedi" that's basically "space punisher" god damn it. There's no reason they can't create their own Star Wars superheroes once they're done with the Skywalkers.
I'm frustrated that the best (and admittedly, the worst) stories of Star Wars aren't on film.
I also agree with the sentiment that Star Wars needs more "super heroes". More Jedi, more Sith, more Boba Fetts, more badasses in general.
Give me a morally ambiguous "grey Jedi" that's basically "space punisher" god damn it. There's no reason they can't create their own Star Wars superheroes once they're done with the Skywalkers.
Lmao cmon dude
I was a teenager when PT came out and thought it was garbage from day one. Loved TFA.
And I think there's definitely room for both to appeal in different ways. One side focuses (even more) on cool space ships, space magic and martial arts than the other. Plenty of stuff to explore as it is, and there's like some 30 years of old EU material that can be re-purposed as such, just like how there's 70 years of Marvel comics to select for MCU movies. When I think about how they could have gone for stuff like a "better done" Yuuzhan Vong arc for new movies, instead of immediately retreading "Rebels vs. Empire" for the current trilogy...it just disappoints me a lot.
Oh, and shit like Mace Windu punching a bunch of things like a Hokuto Shinken successor is stuff that should have certainly been in the new movies, too. ESPECIALLY if you want Black Twitter to get in on things and freely help advertise your shit.
Again, I feel this a lot.
My Dad sat me down and we watched the re-runs of the OT on USA, waaaay back in the day. And I'll say that I enjoyed 'em. But it wasn't until I played through Shadows of the Empire with my new N64 that I really got motivated to dive into this universe some more. And after exploring the likes of Dark Forces/Jedi Knight, plus reading the various books that were available from the library...I was hooked.
I agree that I don't think that same type of appeal exists, now, and I probably wouldn't have developed the affinity for the brand I have now, if the current offerings was what was available to me.
There's plenty that TLJ could have done, but Rian decided to go nuclear. Kids aren't going to relate to Luke's cynical rambling or appreciate having their expectations subverted at every turn.
Funny how people act like TLJ is the first controversial SW film that wasn't record breaking.
Even if TLJ did everything you wanted it to it would still be about where it is now. MCU is having its peak moment and that's all there is to it, and it will decline some day itself too.
I'm not a huge believer in individuals being hugely responsible for the success and failure of works that involve thousands of people, but really Kevin Feige (and I'm sure he has a team) has done an amazing job shepherding the marvel properties in a way that keeps building up and working well together, while Star Wars and Kathleen Kennedy have been an abysmal failure in having any sort of interconnected tissue. The three mainline movies were done with apparently zero plan on a sketch of a story tying them all together, and it shows, whereas you can see the buildup of The Avengers and Thanos in 10 years of film.
LucasArts was more concerned with "is this the right kind of clothing for a Jedi? Is this the right kind of planet for a Star Wars movie?" - really drilling down on details - rather than having a person making sure the high level stories were moving a universe forward in a way that made sense. I hope they are correcting course with Mandalorian and other new stuff but I have my doubts.
LucasArts was more concerned with "is this the right kind of clothing for a Jedi? Is this the right kind of planet for a Star Wars movie?" - really drilling down on details - rather than having a person making sure the high level stories were moving a universe forward in a way that made sense. I hope they are correcting course with Mandalorian and other new stuff but I have my doubts.
Or that it didn't make over a billion dollars in theaters and go on to be the top selling blu-ray of 2018.
The people who disliked TLJ are a tiny, but loud, minority, who don't matter in the slightest. Star Wars as a brand is fine, Lucasfilm just realized after Solo that they need to find their creative spine and start doing something interesting with the property now that the Episodes are over. Solo proved that just slapping Star Wars on the title doesn't guarantee huge numbers. Audiences have been conditioned by the Avengers to only see the "big ones" en masse, and Solo clearly wasn't vital narrative in comparison to the Episodes.
Look at this year. Three different MCU films were released into theatres, and all three have sailed past $1B at the box office. All three films were different from each other, and yet still tied into one another. Lucas Films need to make Star Wars like that. Everyone shows up for the Avengers films, but people have their favourite individual series and characters.
There's tons of stuff in the OT that isn't exactly "for kids", I remember being a very young kid and not liking Empire Strikes Back much at all because I couldn't understand the story.
Lucas just hit lightning in a bottle, that's basically all.
This fucking meme is beyond the pale. Structurally, TLJ is a bog-standard adventure movie. Kids aren't the ones losing their shit over Rey's parents or Snoke's backstory or other bullshit steeped in Star Wars mythology -- which they evidently don't give a fuck about anyway.
Marvel's done two Fortnite events.
I'd be shocked if the people who run Lucasfilm's marketing even know what Fortnite is.
I'd be shocked if the people who run Lucasfilm's marketing even know what Fortnite is.
I mean I'll give them, yes, TLJ is not a "happy" film that leaves you thrilled going out of the theater. Even Daisy Ridley's initial reaction to the script seemed ... not thrilled. That's fine, that will happen.
But even if TLJ was everything SW fanatics who didn't enjoy it that checked off every box on their wish list ... SW would still be 2nd to MCU right now ... it's MCU's time and it's their "peak" and that's all there is to it. Star Wars is doing remarkably well for a 40+ year old film franchise.
I love Star Wars. It's one of my all time favorite franchises. I loved Force Awakens, and enjoyed last Jedi. Rogue One and Solo were ok, too. But it was too much. It doesn't feel like a franchise that can sustain itself on yearly releases. It's, weird. It just feels better as a once every 2-3 year kind of deal.
That said, imagine a trilogy of movies that focused on a New Jedi Academy. Star Wars meets Harry Potter. Different Jedi houses to align with and lots of "Why do the Sith get a house?" questions. Kids love that stuff.
That said, imagine a trilogy of movies that focused on a New Jedi Academy. Star Wars meets Harry Potter. Different Jedi houses to align with and lots of "Why do the Sith get a house?" questions. Kids love that stuff.
I'm a huge SW fan, like Ep7, LOVE Ep8... but am not shocked. As others have pointed out, if you have no nostalgic love for the series the newest movies might be a little empty.
But as an added point - and this might seem hot-takey but whatever: I think SW has a huge problem with the non-film content, namely the books and TV serieses, being somewhere between elevated fanfiction and outright trash. I mean some of those books are unreadable. They have a quality control problem.
But as an added point - and this might seem hot-takey but whatever: I think SW has a huge problem with the non-film content, namely the books and TV serieses, being somewhere between elevated fanfiction and outright trash. I mean some of those books are unreadable. They have a quality control problem.
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Stormtrooper skins in Fortnite would be great cross-promotion.
Disagree as a older fan (saw ANH in 77) ....the sequel trilogy is a million miles from what I would have liked. Not sure who they made these movies for then, but imo they have dropped the ball hard.
I'm curious, are you referring to the old EU, the new canon or both in general? For reference, I've never read a single Star Wars novel or comic book.
Which 70s/80s brand is even that popular today?
Indiana Jones? Most kids have no clue.
E.T.? Most young kids again have no idea.
Ghostbusters? Nope.
Jaws? Ha.
Back to the Future? Nope.
These are popular to the extent they are today because of 30-40 somethings.
The fact that Star Wars is still very relevant as a brand today is an outlier, not the rule.
Indiana Jones? Most kids have no clue.
E.T.? Most young kids again have no idea.
Ghostbusters? Nope.
Jaws? Ha.
Back to the Future? Nope.
These are popular to the extent they are today because of 30-40 somethings.
The fact that Star Wars is still very relevant as a brand today is an outlier, not the rule.
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Yep. One day, folks will be having these same arguments over whatever the modern MCU is versus "the Feige era"
Jurassic Park is a brand from the 1990s, not 70s/80s. That extra 15-20 years make a big difference. 90s nostalgia is the new thing, The Lion King, Jurassic Park, Aladdin, it's similar to how Star Wars had its own resurgance in the early/mid 1990s.
Again this is all my opinion but broadly speaking: the old EU fell in the "trash" category for me (for example, I read the Zahn trilogy back in the day and couldn't believe how excited people were about the books. By about the 4th time Mara Jade's smile was described as "sardonic" I was ready to quit), and the current canon stuff in the "elevated fanfiction" bucket.
The new comics aren't bad.
Yeah, the ST doesn't have an all star cast of characters going for it as far as the new characters go. As much as I like the sequel trilogy I also don't like the idea that Rey is the only Jedi, Finn could have easily been one too, among others
Story group is a disaster. They stifle creators and treat every piece of fiction like merchandise that has to tiptoe around the movies. Lucas was hands-off and it was a fucking mess but at least there was room for new ideas. I do not like the old EU and I never will, but the new EU is even worse. It's still bad, but now it's boring.
Plus the games are a non-entity, which is a colossal mistake coming from my generation's perspective. We understood Star Wars as a video game franchise almost on equal terms with the films. That legacy has basically dissolved.
Not a hero's journey. A comedic deconstruction of fairy tales.
This one fits the bill. Though I don't know how popular this actually was with kids.
Started as a Hero's Journey and pivoted away changing the focus from Bloom's character to Depp's.
The core story arc that Star Wars really needed to tell ... the whole thing about "falling/being tempted to the Dark Side" was basically already mined well enough in the original trilogy.
I just don't know if there is really a hugely compelling SW universe story without going back to that well, and when you're going back to the well it's never going to resonate as strongly as it did when it was a new concept.
It's easy to yell and say "do something new!" but I don't think it's that easy and there's zero guarantee that it will resonate in the same way the originals did. Sometimes a great idea is mined for all its worth and there's not much else that can be done with it. Indiana Jones tried to implement more sci-fi like staples such as aliens and people lost their shit.
I just don't know if there is really a hugely compelling SW universe story without going back to that well, and when you're going back to the well it's never going to resonate as strongly as it did when it was a new concept.
It's easy to yell and say "do something new!" but I don't think it's that easy and there's zero guarantee that it will resonate in the same way the originals did. Sometimes a great idea is mined for all its worth and there's not much else that can be done with it. Indiana Jones tried to implement more sci-fi like staples such as aliens and people lost their shit.