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Disney's Holy Mission of Market Saturation is what needs to be checked. They want to release something every quarter, between their animations, Marvel and Disney franchises. They blew this one by releasing it a month after Avengers: Infinity War, which is still selling. Deadpool 2 dropped sharply, but it's already quadrupled its production budget.
They thought the words Star Wars X'd out everything else. They needed to learn the hard way that that isn't so.
Yup. And they need to stop Design By Committee from Studio Heads --- which, in an ultimate show of sad irony --- is the very thing Lucas never wanted. It's why he fled the Hollywood Studio system.
Even though I enjoyed SOLO, I'll be the first to admit we don't need a movie for every character in a movie that once made money. Boba Fett is in the works. Really? What's next? The thrilling story of how Lobot lost his hair? When Lando Met Nien Nunb? The thrilling origin of Dengar's bandages?
Find a talented filmmaker with an idea that he or she is passionate about, get their budget estimate, give them 85% of what they asked for (lean is mean), then stay the hell out of their way.
Of all the recent STAR WARS projects announced, the only one that has me even a little bit excited is Jon Favreau's TV show. If Disney won't monkey with him, it could be great.
Disney's Holy Mission of Market Saturation is what needs to be checked. They want to release something every quarter, between their animations, Marvel and Disney franchises. They blew this one by releasing it a month after Avengers: Infinity War, which is still selling. Deadpool 2 dropped sharply, but it's already quadrupled its production budget.
Could be. I don't doubt those are factors. But I think there is a simpler explanation, one that Mickey Spillane said about books decades ago: “The first chapter sells the book; the last chapter sells the next book.”
THE LAST JEDI was a huge disappointment, even to die-hard STAR WARS fans. As a result, they aren't all that excited about the latest flick.
Make a truly spectacular STAR WARS film again --- one that sticks with people, moves them, and becomes one of their favorite movies --- and I guarantee you it will be a hit. Continue to churn out "product," and fewer people are going to care with each product release.
Unless Episode IX is a monster hit, I expect Kathleen Kennedy won't be long in her job. If the downward trend continues, expect a shake-up at Lucasfilm.
If it were a relatively low budget movie that made 83 million over a weekend, that would be out of this world, but not so for a high budget, high profile movie like this. They might want to reconsider these stand alone movies for the future and release them on Netflix for a lower budget.
To me, the buzz leading up to Solo was very light. For many movie fans of this genre, starting back in February there was so much hype and buzz around Black Panther, and that hype and buzz was even multiplied for Infinity War. Then Deadpool 2 was released with a lot of anticipation and success. It just doesn't seem like there was enough room for Solo. On top of that, many people were let down by The Last Jedi, which just came out about 6 months ago.
Star Wars films used to seem special because there was a lot of time (usually years) in between their release. This felt rushed and it fell into the mix of more popular movies. I honestly felt no buzz around the movie leading up to it, in the way Marvel movies have buzz. I mentioned this in an earlier post, but I got tickets with no problem, 30 minutes before a Friday night showing on opening weekend and the theater was not overly crowded. It just didn't feel like this film had the hype of classic Star Wars films. Then, the fact that the plot was about as basic and forgettable as could be, won't help word-of-mouth for upcoming weeks. It was an enjoyable film with good visuals, and I liked the actors, but it was uninspiring. I agree, a lower budget or a Netflix release for the standalones may make more sense.
To me, the buzz leading up to Solo was very light. For many movie fans of this genre, starting back in February there was so much hype and buzz around Black Panther, and that hype and buzz was even multiplied for Infinity War. Then Deadpool 2 was released with a lot of anticipation and success. It just doesn't seem like there was enough room for Solo. On top of that, many people were let down by The Last Jedi, which just came out about 6 months ago.
Star Wars films used to seem special because there was a lot of time (usually years) in between their release. This felt rushed and it fell into the mix of more popular movies. I honestly felt no buzz around the movie leading up to it, in the way Marvel movies have buzz. I mentioned this in an earlier post, but I got tickets with no problem, 30 minutes before a Friday night showing on opening weekend and the theater was not overly crowded. It just didn't feel like this film had the hype of classic Star Wars films. Then, the fact that the plot was about as basic and forgettable as could be, won't help word-of-mouth for upcoming weeks. It was an enjoyable film with good visuals, and I liked the actors, but it was uninspiring. I agree, a lower budget or a Netflix release for the standalones may make more sense.
Star Wars were special because there was somebody in them that most people could relate to on a character level. Now, they think they can just throw a random Black, Chinese or female character with little to no development into the movies and think they can entice viewers to stay and get involved with the movies on a superficial level. Gladly, the real world doesn't work that way. Once they stop using Star Wars as some sort of twisted social identity politics experiment and get back to telling good stories and drawing out real characters, the franchise will begin to blossom again.
Well my husband and I went to go see it today and we both LOVED it!
I was not to happy with their pick on Han Solo but Alden did a great job. It was funny without being cheesy and had some great moments. I really loved Chewy and Solo scenes.
To me, the buzz leading up to Solo was very light. For many movie fans of this genre, starting back in February there was so much hype and buzz around Black Panther, and that hype and buzz was even multiplied for Infinity War. Then Deadpool 2 was released with a lot of anticipation and success. It just doesn't seem like there was enough room for Solo. On top of that, many people were let down by The Last Jedi, which just came out about 6 months ago.
Star Wars films used to seem special because there was a lot of time (usually years) in between their release. This felt rushed and it fell into the mix of more popular movies. I honestly felt no buzz around the movie leading up to it, in the way Marvel movies have buzz. I mentioned this in an earlier post, but I got tickets with no problem, 30 minutes before a Friday night showing on opening weekend and the theater was not overly crowded. It just didn't feel like this film had the hype of classic Star Wars films. Then, the fact that the plot was about as basic and forgettable as could be, won't help word-of-mouth for upcoming weeks. It was an enjoyable film with good visuals, and I liked the actors, but it was uninspiring. I agree, a lower budget or a Netflix release for the standalones may make more sense.
As you say, the hype was pretty shallow for Solo. Disney appeared to have been embarrassed about releasing this movie--for instance, announcing the next movie on the release date of this movie. I'm halfway surprised they didn't release it to video.
And as Mark S said, maybe it was the type of movie that should have been produced for Internet streaming. Judging from Netflix production, there must be money to be made in big-budget streaming. If Disney is going to compete with Netflx, that may be a card they should be playing.
I was entertained by Solo--it was a serviceable heist movie maybe at the level of Ant-Man (of recent movies) or "Thunderbold and Lightfoot" (of older movies). My wife--not so much.
Probably the biggest problem with it, IMO, is that it hit the right notes, but hit them flat instead of sharp. Too much gray, not enough pure black and pure white. There weren't any clear fist-pump-"Yeah!" moments, and they went light on the "Oh, geez, no" moments. And they "fridged the girl" without even getting their money's worth out of that moment. When they fridge a girl, there are supposed to be man-tears coming out of it (and, nope, I'm not referring to the droid).
Last edited by Ralph_Kirk; 05-27-2018 at 05:24 PM..
Star Wars were special because there was somebody in them that most people could relate to on a character level. Now, they think they can just throw a random Black, Chinese or female character with little to no development into the movies and think they can entice viewers to stay and get involved with the movies on a superficial level. Gladly, the real world doesn't work that way. Once they stop using Star Wars as some sort of twisted social identity politics experiment and get back to telling good stories and drawing out real characters, the franchise will begin to blossom again.
True, but I think it's more than that. Solo is one of the most popular characters in the franchise, and issues of social identity can't really be attributed to him or the average-ness and lack of buzz around this movie. I just feel like they need to go back to the drawing board with the stories, and improve the depth/quality/emotional investment that the older films had. Unfortunately (for me), The Last Jedi kind of ruined things and makes fixing the overall story a little more difficult.
And as Mark S said, maybe it was the type of movie that should have been produced for Internet streaming. Judging from Netflix production, there must be money to be made in big-budget streaming. If Disney is going to compete with Netflx, that may be a card they should be playing.
That is at least part of the plan. Favreau's live-action series will be on Disney's streaming channel, set to premiere in 2019. The next animated movies will be there too.
Ten years ago I would have said that TV shows cannot afford the special effects budgets for such shows. Those days are gone. GAME OF THRONES and even smaller budget shows like THE EXPANSE or ALTERED CARBON have proved that TV can have effects just as good as or better than the movies.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ralph_Kirk
I was entertained by Solo--it was a serviceable heist movie maybe at the level of Ant-Man (of recent movies) or "Thunderbold and Lightfoot" (of older movies).
Ditto. Although I would call Thunderbolt and Lightfoot a truly great movie. One of the best of the '70s. Maybe not Top 10. But definitely Top 20.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ralph_Kirk
Probably the biggest problem with it, IMO, is that it hit the right notes, but hit them flat instead of sharp. Too much gray, not enough pure black and pure white. There weren't any clear fist-pump-"Yeah!" moments, and they went light on the "Oh, geez, no" moments. And they "fridged the girl" without even getting their money's worth out of that moment. When they fridge a girl, there are supposed to be man-tears coming out of it (and, nope, I'm not referring to the droid).
There was no emotional gut punch --- something all three of the original trilogy had. Something JAWS had. Something E.T. and Raiders and etc. had.
SOLO should have been a tougher --- dare I say grittier? --- story. Han was a homeless street kid who grew up thieving. But when he and Qi'ra were confronting the giant slug lady, did two homeless street urchins ever look so clean and pretty? Did they look scared? The whole tone of too many scenes was too "gosh boyo" and not tough enough. Remember the very first time we met Han Solo he was an outlaw smuggler who shot first and thought later.
When it comes to movies, I always try to judge them by what they are and not "what I would have done." But that's hard with STAR WARS.
With regard to Solo being SJW...I'd say it was the opposite.
The droid was definitely a parody of an SJW.
I thought so, too. In fact, I thought the parody was a bit too thick.
But quite honestly, I find all the anti-SJW rants about STAR WARS very amusing. The anti-SJW crowd loves to rail against the "snowflakes," but when it comes to having people of color or women in prominent roles, the anti-SJW crowd behave like the most delicate snowflakes in the storm.
People can rail against tokenism or political correctness or just plain bad writing and be reasonable about it. But as soon as they start railing against too many minorities or women in movies, I start seeing white robes and pointy hats in their closets.
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