imperialscum said:
Well I can certainly agree with Matrix having a good story. But the "whole demographic" you speak about (i.e. the teenagers) were (speaking from experience) almost exclusively attracted by its fancy action, violence, slow-motion fighting and shooting scenes. You take that away and you get PG rating but then you lose the interest of most of the kids as well. In Star Wars that wasn't the case.
I do wonder if ESB would have been PG-13 back in 1980 if the rating existed? I agree that alot of fans were attracted to the fancy action and slow motion fighting scenes in the Matrix, but then there are people like me who really enjoyed the story in 1999, and I think that is the real trick to attracting a bigger audience for any 'blockbuster' movie.
You look at movie like Jurassic Park, there are many people who loved it in 1993 because no one was able to show Dinosaurs come to life on the big screen like that, yet I loved it because of the overall story and what it said about us as a society (as Jeff Goldblum talks about in the movie how you shouldn't fuck with mother nature and there is a reason Dinosaurs are extinct now.)
Star Wars was able to capture both audiences (Action/Special Effects fans & Story & Character fans) ALONG with young children, so you had that 3rd market of fans. I give Lucas credit for the success of Star Wars because it is very hard to appeal to those 3 bases of 'blockbuster movie fans' as alot of times a movie ends up appealing more to one base over another base of fans. (I.E.: Return of the Jedi catered TOO much to kids, and that is why the movie doesn't hold up as well 30 years later.)