TFA made the most money ever domestically. It made the third-most worldwide. It even made the eleventh-most adjusted for inflation, more than every other SW movie except the original.
I don’t know what podcast you listened to but they don’t sound terribly smart.
Well…perhaps it would be more appropo to question the veracity of the podcasters’ source of information. Questioning the intelligence of the podcasters is not on the table. Questioning Disney’s intelligence would be in this case.
How much of TFA’s financial success was 15 years of yearning and anticipation? I have serious doubts as to whether Ep 8 will be able to keep that going. It might fizzle if executed poorly and it might put a damper on ep 9. It’s a difficult task to keep the momentum and quality going for 3 films chained together and TFA is a pretty flimsy foundation on which to build.
I can easily see Rogue One raising the bar of expectations and I have skepticism as to whether the current trilogy can meet it. That is the danger. Trilogies are too much of a commitment. If you make a bad spinoff, you are not on the hook to make 2 sequels.