logo Sign In

Rian Johnson to Head New Star Wars Trilogy — Page 5

Author
Time

Pittrek, you’re just looking at domestic numbers.

Worldwide box office for both was:
Solo - $392,619,489
Ant-Man and the Wasp - $544,532,061

AM&TW made a decent profit if those production budget numbers are accurate.

Forum Moderator
Author
Time

DominicCobb said:

pittrek said:

Collipso said:

SilverWook said:

Disney is probably going to focus on Episode IX for now. Once Galaxy’s Edge opens in the theme parks they have the perfect opportunity to cross promote or announce new movies.

Funny how Solo has made more money than Ant-man & The Wasp and nobody is calling that a bomb. 😉

Solo didn’t make more money than the new Ant-man and it was 100 million-ish dollars more expensive.

https://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=untitledhansolostarwarsanthologyfilm.htm
https://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=ant-manandthewasp.htm

A film needs to make 2 - 2.5 times its budget to only break even.
Solo budget - 275 millions, needs 550 - 687.5 millions to break even, made 213 millions.
Ant-Man and the wasp - budget 162 millions, needs 324 - 405 millions to break even, made 211 millions.

So in the case that the numbers I just googled are correct, both movies bombed, but Solo lost more money.

Not necessarily true as you aren’t factoring in worldwide grosses were Ant-Man made a decent bit more.

Ultimately the bigger failure for Solo was the foreign grosses (which is what tentpoles moreso rely on there days). SW has always had a predominantly American fanbase - perhaps the fact that this was a film made specifically for a fan favorite character hurt perceptions. People in China don’t have any real allegiance to Han Solo, so maybe there was a failure in marketing there to make it seem not just for the hardcore fans.

Yes, I used only US domestic results, because those were the numbers I found.

Now speaking for myself - I have seen all of the Star Wars movies since the 1997 special editions in the same theatre. During the 1997 SE run, it was sold out. During the prequels it was full, almost sold out. TFA was sold out, Rogue One was pretty full, TLJ was pretty empty. You know how many people have been there for Solo? If I remember correctly something around 6. Star Wars used to be pretty popular here, but it’s slowly dying.

Author
Time

Tobar said:

Pittrek, you’re just looking at domestic numbers.

Worldwide box office for both was:
Solo - $392,619,489
Ant-Man and the Wasp - $544,532,061

AM&TW made a decent profit if those production budget numbers are accurate.

That’s much better, so worldwide just Solo bombed? Interesting.

Author
Time
 (Edited)

pittrek said:

DominicCobb said:

pittrek said:

Collipso said:

SilverWook said:

Disney is probably going to focus on Episode IX for now. Once Galaxy’s Edge opens in the theme parks they have the perfect opportunity to cross promote or announce new movies.

Funny how Solo has made more money than Ant-man & The Wasp and nobody is calling that a bomb. 😉

Solo didn’t make more money than the new Ant-man and it was 100 million-ish dollars more expensive.

https://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=untitledhansolostarwarsanthologyfilm.htm
https://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=ant-manandthewasp.htm

A film needs to make 2 - 2.5 times its budget to only break even.
Solo budget - 275 millions, needs 550 - 687.5 millions to break even, made 213 millions.
Ant-Man and the wasp - budget 162 millions, needs 324 - 405 millions to break even, made 211 millions.

So in the case that the numbers I just googled are correct, both movies bombed, but Solo lost more money.

Not necessarily true as you aren’t factoring in worldwide grosses were Ant-Man made a decent bit more.

Ultimately the bigger failure for Solo was the foreign grosses (which is what tentpoles moreso rely on there days). SW has always had a predominantly American fanbase - perhaps the fact that this was a film made specifically for a fan favorite character hurt perceptions. People in China don’t have any real allegiance to Han Solo, so maybe there was a failure in marketing there to make it seem not just for the hardcore fans.

Yes, I used only US domestic results, because those were the numbers I found.

Now speaking for myself - I have seen all of the Star Wars movies since the 1997 special editions in the same theatre. During the 1997 SE run, it was sold out. During the prequels it was full, almost sold out. TFA was sold out, Rogue One was pretty full, TLJ was pretty empty. You know how many people have been there for Solo? If I remember correctly something around 6. Star Wars used to be pretty popular here, but it’s slowly dying.

Are you seeing the movies on the same days/times though? Have other theaters gone up nearby in the intervening years? I can go to a major movie around here on a Thursday night and crowds will be light, even in Summer. (There are five multiplexes in a 20 mile radius, not counting the art house and the bargain theater.) I saw Independence Day opening night at around 10:30 pm, and it was just me and a friend in the entire theater. We totally went MST3K on it once we realized the situation.

Forum Moderator

Where were you in '77?

Author
Time

Days? No clue, I usually try to watch every movie on the first day it opens, but I honestly don’t remember if I’ve seen every one of them on the first night. Other theatres? Nope, I live in a small town which had 4 theatres in the 90’s but after the digitalization a few years ago we have now just one which works the whole year and one which is showing movies only in the summer. However a multiplex should be in a huge shopping center which is being built right now, so the situation should improve in the next few months.

Author
Time
 (Edited)

So apparently the first film of this new trilogy has begun pre-production:

https://www.fanthatracks.com/news/film-music-tv/star-wars-tv-production-begins-in-the-u-k/

“Registered on the exact same day was E&E INDUSTRIES (UK) LIMITED which we understand will be the first film from the planned Rian Johnson trilogy. It should be noted that for convenience Disney register businesses in blocks, and the creation of these businesses does not mean they started production at those dates, merely that they intend to enter production soon. This can of course mean very early design development, and does not necessarily mean they will see final production, as seen recently with PLT Productions (the Kenobi movie.)”

Author
Time

OutboundFlight said:

How exciting! Was afraid this wouldn’t happen after TLJ backlash.

Everything receives backlash now. I’m sure a pic of a puppy wouldn’t make it without ridicule. It’s just a part of the world now.

Author
Time

#1 at the box office is quite a backlash…

Han: Hey Lando! You kept your promise, right? Not a scratch?
Lando: Well, what’s left of her isn’t scratched. All the scratched parts got knocked off along the way.
Han (exasperated): Knocked off?!

Author
Time

The Last Jedi was also the best selling bluray of 2018. I think people who didn’t like the film were just very vocal.

The Last Jedi is my least favorite Rian Johnson film, but I still enjoyed it for what it was. I haven’t watched it in a while, so I would definitely need to see it again to see what I really think. I’d definitely love to check out an extended cut if some faneditor has made one. Or I guess I could always make my own, if no one else will.

Author
Time

I really want to know what it was that LucasFilm saw in Rian Johnson that made them believe he could do this. He has good story ideas, sometimes(they’re kind of hit or miss). But I find his execution style to be all wrong. He’ll come up with an amazing idea, but then play it off a certain way in the film that destroys it. He’s not a great story teller that respects mythology and cultural impact. He’s more of a conventional film maker, with quirks. That’s not enough really to helm a Star Wars trilogy.

I guess you could call me a hipster; I think the prequels are better than the originals, and I think the Beach Boys are better than the Beatles.

Author
Time

leetwall31 said:

I really want to know what it was that LucasFilm saw in Rian Johnson that made them believe he could do this. He has good story ideas, sometimes(they’re kind of hit or miss). But I find his execution style to be all wrong. He’ll come up with an amazing idea, but then play it off a certain way in the film that destroys it. He’s not a great story teller that respects mythology and cultural impact. He’s more of a conventional film maker, with quirks. That’s not enough really to helm a Star Wars trilogy.

Have you even looked at the TLJ box office numbers? Just because you’re didn’t like the movie doesn’t mean his work has no appeal for others.

TV’s Frink said:

I would put this in my sig if I weren’t so lazy.

Author
Time
 (Edited)

CHEWBAKAspelledwrong said:

leetwall31 said:

I really want to know what it was that LucasFilm saw in Rian Johnson that made them believe he could do this. He has good story ideas, sometimes(they’re kind of hit or miss). But I find his execution style to be all wrong. He’ll come up with an amazing idea, but then play it off a certain way in the film that destroys it. He’s not a great story teller that respects mythology and cultural impact. He’s more of a conventional film maker, with quirks. That’s not enough really to helm a Star Wars trilogy.

Have you even looked at the TLJ box office numbers? Just because you’re didn’t like the movie doesn’t mean his work has no appeal for others.

No one looks back on money. People do look back on art however. Where is this money going? What do these box office #s lead to? Somehow in 5 years, all the money the movie made will be gone. It’ll be spent somehow on another project. But what about the movie itself, and the story it’s trying to tell us? That’s what we should wonder about, because that’s what lasts. No one cares about or remembers how much money an artist made for their paintings. What matters 100 years later is if the painting was good or not.

Also, they gave Rian the new trilogy before the movie came out. There were no box office numbers, so I don’t know why you’re brining that up. And I didn’t say I didn’t like Episode 8 btw.

I guess you could call me a hipster; I think the prequels are better than the originals, and I think the Beach Boys are better than the Beatles.

Author
Time

You asked what Disney sees in him. They see a man who makes movies people want to see. If you can’t understand how this translates to Disney wanting to hire him to make movies, I don’t know what else to say.

TV’s Frink said:

I would put this in my sig if I weren’t so lazy.

Author
Time
 (Edited)

CHEWBAKAspelledwrong said:

You asked what Disney sees in him. They see a man who makes movies people want to see. If you can’t understand how this translates to Disney wanting to hire him to make movies, I don’t know what else to say.

“They see a man who makes movies people want to see”…before the man who made movies people want to see finished his movie, a movie that ended up dividing half the fanbase in a similar fashion to the prequels. They judged him too soon. Big mistake.

Here’s what really happened: Disney assumed the audience was going to love this movie, but they turned out wrong. A good portion of the audience, does not. I don’t think they understand who the fanbase is and what they want. They assume they do, but they really don’t.

If they were interested in continuing the Star Wars legacy/lore for story’s sake, they would’ve made George Lucas’ trilogy. But they didn’t, they’re rehashing old stories that have worked in the past. They’re only interested in “continuing” the lore for money’s sake.

I guess you could call me a hipster; I think the prequels are better than the originals, and I think the Beach Boys are better than the Beatles.

Author
Time

The movie was a massive critical and commercial success. They don’t give a shit about a portion of the fan base loudly complaining on the internet.

If the majority people really hated it that much, the home video sales wouldn’t have been as good as they were.

TLJ made a ton of money. That’s all that matters to the studio. It’s a business, after all.

Rian made them money and was easy to work with (notice how TLJ is the only post-Disney movie without a ton of behind the scenes drama, reshoots, and crew shakeups). Of course they’re going to give him more movies.

Author
Time

ChainsawAsh said:

The movie was a massive critical and commercial success. They don’t give a shit about a portion of the fan base loudly complaining on the internet.

If the majority people really hated it that much, the home video sales wouldn’t have been as good as they were.

TLJ made a ton of money. That’s all that matters to the studio. It’s a business, after all.

Rian made them money and was easy to work with (notice how TLJ is the only post-Disney movie without a ton of behind the scenes drama, reshoots, and crew shakeups). Of course they’re going to give him more movies.

Excellent as always.

Author
Time

Sometimes I just laugh at the thought that we now live in a world where Star Wars fans are hungry for more George Lucas-made Star Wars movies. I’m not saying I wouldn’t want that, but after all the hate Lucas got after the prequels, there was a very vocal group of fans who thought Lucas had betrayed his own vision and felt he didn’t deserve to make them anymore, because he apparently didn’t understand who his fanbase was and what they wanted. Now, fans clamor for Lucas as if that era of vitriol in the fandom never happened. I personally think it is misguided to simply “give the fans what they want”, because I think fan consensus is a very fickle thing, as history has clearly shown.

And people could argue about this until their faces turn red, but no one’s opinion is going to change now. It’s just gonna take years to pass to really know how history is going to look back at all these movies.

Author
Time

There’s a good argument to be made that Rian is the best director who has ever worked on a Star Wars film. Not saying I would necessarily make that argument, but I think it’s possible. He’s also the only filmmaker other than Lucas who wrote and directed an SW film solo, which is an efficient combo.

He’s a very talented man, whether you like TLJ or not. He finished his film ahead of schedule without any headaches, which makes his SW production an outlier the likes of which Disney would obviously want to replicate. Surely they saw how the film was shaping up before it was done and liked it (most people did). Whether or not they could have predicted the fan backlash is irrelevant. The film was a critical and commercial success, and the fans that hated it did so mostly because of how it treated existing characters, something that wouldn’t be an issue in an unrelated trilogy. So hiring him for more was really a no-brainer.

Author
Time
 (Edited)

If they put tickets and blu-rays for all three movies from Rian Johnson’s trilogy up for preorder right now, I’d buy ‘em all right now. I’ve loved everything Disney has produced for Star Wars and I think Rian Johnson is a great writer and director. I’ve got confidence in them based on what they’ve done.

Author
Time
 (Edited)

ChainsawAsh said:

The movie was a massive critical and commercial success.

It pretty much only made half of Episode 7’s box office. I’d imagine a lot of people didn’t want to see it a 2nd time; it’s not an exciting or really interesting movie, it’s a bit of a bore. Rotten Tomatoes is not the critics’ consensus btw. To get a broader view, I like to read both RT and MetaCritic. Also I’m beginning to wonder if critics on RT are getting paid to give certain movies a pass these days.

ChainsawAsh said:

They don’t give a shit about a portion of the fan base loudly complaining on the internet.

I really hope that’s not true. And it’s not the just the internet. Majority of my friends (whom aren’t Star Wars fans in the first place) really didn’t care for it. I can’t recall hearing any good opinions on it the time it came out. It was always “eh”.

Remember the last time the fans complained on the internet? It wasn’t hogwash. The prequels weren’t great, and they were upset about that, because they wanted them to be great. They’re complaining again because they think the same about Episode 8. No one is posting videos month-after-month about how AWESOME Episode 8 was. The only people who do that are Die-Hard-Fans, and they’re not saying it was AWESOME. They keep doing this month-after-month because they care about Star Wars the most, so Disney should listen to them more. Even Mark Hamill isn’t a fan of this movie, and he was a fan before all of us.

ChainsawAsh said:

If the majority people really hated it that much, the home video sales wouldn’t have been as good as they were.

I always found that fact to be weird. Keep in mind most people don’t even buy Blu-Rays these days. It’s not a very popular market.

ChainsawAsh said:

TLJ made a ton of money. That’s all that matters to the studio. It’s a business, after all.

Every Star Wars Episode makes a ton of money, it doesn’t mean anything. And I’m aware Disney is all about the money, which is why when I heard they bought LucasFilm back in 2012, I felt a little annoyed. We don’t need people milking Star Wars, and I know that’s all they’re out to do. If they weren’t, then they would’ve made George’s original sequel trilogy. They wouldn’t even risk that, so it shows they’re quite cowardly when it comes to story telling. They’re not interested in continuing the story for the story’s sake, they’re interested in doing it because it’ll get them more money.

ChainsawAsh said:

Rian made them money and was easy to work with (notice how TLJ is the only post-Disney movie without a ton of behind the scenes drama, reshoots, and crew shakeups). Of course they’re going to give him more movies.

Good point.

I guess you could call me a hipster; I think the prequels are better than the originals, and I think the Beach Boys are better than the Beatles.

Author
Time

leetwall31 said:

Every Star Wars Episode makes a ton of money, it doesn’t mean anything.

Solo didn’t and now the whole idea of standalones are on hold. It does mean something.

I might get to the rest of your post later, but that one really jumped out at me.