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Lucasfilm "Licking Their Wounds" But Not Halting 'Star Wars' Development
Mild spoilers in TFA about certain characters that appear in the film.
Disney and Lucasfilm are reassessing their plans for future Star Wars movies in the wake of the disappointing performance of Solo: A Star Wars Story, which is having to fight to make much more than $350 million worldwide, sources tell The Hollywood Reporter. "They haven't slowed down development," says a source with knowledge of Lucasfilm's thinking, "but they are licking their wounds."
Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy and her team are regrouping and figuring out the direction of the movies beyond the final installment of the main series of films, Star Wars: Episode IX, which is scheduled for release Dec. 20, 2019. "It doesn't mean those spinoffs don't happen," says another insider of Solo's underperformance globally. "It just means they're trying to figure out how to make, and market, them differently."
[...] "They were developing anything and everything," says another exec. "It was a case of them stuffing so much sausage and not try to break the casing."
Meanwhile, Han Solo's blaster was sold for over 0.1% of the film's gross.
Also at Collider, Space.com, and Forbes (archive).
Related: Star Wars Franchise Loses Fourth Director in Two Years
Meet the New Star Wars IX Director: J. J. Abrams
(Score: 4, Interesting) by LoRdTAW on Sunday June 24 2018, @10:56PM (36 children)
The only good star wars films were the first two where Lucas didn't have 100% control of everything from script to casting. And the main reason the first two were good is the special effects which were revolutionary. The script, cast and characters were all shite and everyone knew it. But for little kids it was magical, probably why so many liked it, not for the dumb story but for the neat o space guys, laser blasters and star ships! Wow! Cooooool! I'm pretty sure most adults were like meh. I liked it as a kid, just like I liked the dark crystal. But you don't see me worshiping fictitious film stories and characters.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by takyon on Sunday June 24 2018, @11:02PM (13 children)
The main reason the first movie was good was because of the aggressive editing job that was done on the film (by people who weren't George Lucas).
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 3, Informative) by JoeMerchant on Sunday June 24 2018, @11:12PM (1 child)
A big part of why the first movie was so well received was its competition in the theaters for the previous 5 years.
A big part of why the series endured was the second movie, Empire really was an impressive sequel. It has been somewhat milking it ever since, but still an entertaining ride.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 25 2018, @02:08PM
Don't forget John Williams and the #1 ranked film score of all time.
http://www.afi.com/100years/scores.aspx [afi.com]
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 24 2018, @11:14PM (7 children)
But was called Martha Lucas and has been erased from Star Wars history. [news.com.au]
(Score: 4, Informative) by AthanasiusKircher on Monday June 25 2018, @12:48AM (6 children)
Well, she is named Marcia Lcuas [wikipedia.org], and she won the Academy Award for Best Film Editing for Star Wars, so I'd hardly say she's been "erased from Star Wars history."
But yes, her contributions have perhaps been underappreciated.
(Score: 3, Funny) by AthanasiusKircher on Monday June 25 2018, @12:49AM (4 children)
[Lucas, obviously... that's what I get for trying to make a correction.]
(Score: 2) by takyon on Monday June 25 2018, @12:57AM (3 children)
So thoroughly erased from history, nobody can get her name right.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 25 2018, @01:11AM (1 child)
For future reference, it's Martha Lcuas.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Monday June 25 2018, @05:03PM
The world has decided to forget any movie in which Martha is a significant plot contributor.
(Score: 4, Touché) by JoeMerchant on Monday June 25 2018, @02:19AM
These are not the Lucases you are looking for...
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 25 2018, @09:14PM
"Marcia Marcia Marcia!"
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Gaaark on Sunday June 24 2018, @11:45PM (1 child)
I heard one of the main editors was George's wife who he later fired after their divorce.
Then the films went to shit.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 25 2018, @02:23PM
It's when they ran out of movies to copy scene by scene from.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNdb03Hw18M [youtube.com]
(Score: 2) by Arik on Monday June 25 2018, @02:57AM
It is quite an odd situation, the man who gets official credit for the movie may well be the only person on the credits who was truly worse than useless.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Sunday June 24 2018, @11:06PM
Yes, but lovable and hugely entertaining shite which is so much better (and more marketable) than a "hard" science fiction story done well.
And, you realize that Dark Crystal, Labyrinth, Star Wars, and Sesame Street are all heavily Henson?
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 5, Insightful) by PartTimeZombie on Sunday June 24 2018, @11:27PM (20 children)
I saw the first Star Wars movie in 1977 when I was 12, with my Father, who was 58 ( I think).
We both really loved it for the amazing special effects, but I also loved the plot, simple as it was. The characters were great also, I cared about them.
I do remember my Father telling me it was really just a cowboy movie set in space (which seemed really stupid to 12-year-old me) and of course he was right.
The next two movies were also pretty cool, I enjoyed both of them, even if they did start to get a little twee. When episode one was announced, I was happy it would be more of the same adventure stuff but it turned out be just a "product" specially made to sell merch to "consumers".
That's the current state of Star Wars in my mind, it's just another (not very good) Hollywood "franchise" like all the super hero crap infesting theatres at the moment.
Being a Star Wars fan feels a little like being emotional about my local McDonalds.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Ethanol-fueled on Sunday June 24 2018, @11:37PM (5 children)
Somewhat meta: but given the poor sense of humor here this passage from the summary actually made me laugh:
And now referencing you:
The original trilogy was all a masterpiece, one of the true triumphs of American culture. But when I heard Episode I was coming out, I knew in my 17-18 years of age that it, and everything after it, was going to suck, and suck hard.
Being a true Star Wars fan is a lot like being a true Metallica fan: everything up to a certain album were masterpieces, but as regular listeners you kinda just pretended that everything after that just doesn't exist. In the case of Metallica fans, the demarcation comes after Justice, or in some cases after The Black album. The Black album was a lot like Episode I, Metallica were becoming worse and less cerebral and had nowhere else to go but down, they were now just in it because they knew they'd make money from it, but the true fans gave it a chance hoping for something better.
That "Something Better" never happened, and never will. It's too late now.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 24 2018, @11:59PM (3 children)
Lucas was going to direct Apocalypse Now but instead opted to tell a Vietnam parable set in space so we get teddy bears defeating a more powerful enemy. Star Wars captured the mood of the time with Lucas channelling Susan Sontag [wikipedia.org] and Joseph Campbell. [wikipedia.org] Campbell was subsequently to call Lucas the best student he ever had. Star Wars has it's roots in Jungian archetypes and more in common with views espoused today by the likes of Jordan Peterson rather than the social justice authoritarians producing the new movies. Fans have noticed this!
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Ethanol-fueled on Monday June 25 2018, @12:18AM (1 child)
I like Jungian archetypes: Jung espoused those things were about soul, those aspects of humanity everybody believed to be universal truths without questioning why, things they knew instinctually, and were less about pedantries and all those other bullshit so-called "higher-level abstractions" people who were high on cocaine such as Freud told us that were truths.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 25 2018, @12:48AM
Yeah, Sigmund Fraud - the pervert who only ever diagnosed himself. The worst day of my fucking life was realising that there are people who actually fit the Freudian model. Would never had thought you would have time for Jung TBH but think I can see it in a weird way. Carl Jung will probably be entirely vindicated by RNA studies [scientificamerican.com] no surprise as his insights always held instinctively true. Ha!
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Monday June 25 2018, @01:33AM
Yes, there is something to that. The revolutionary special effects, and the mood of the time probably sums up Star Wars original success. Other things that didn't hurt it were the simple plot, nice costumes, and the lack of xenophobia. (Star Wars was probably the most "inclusive" work of art for years to come, if you don't count Tolkein.)
I was happy to pay hard earned money to watch the early Star Wars. I can't be assed to watch the later works for free.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday June 26 2018, @10:31AM
Ever watch Highlander?
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Sunday June 24 2018, @11:37PM (9 children)
A big deal was made at the time about the "unknown actors/actress" taking the lead roles. They did a really good job, in part because it was such a simple and action based story - not a lot of acting nuance required from any of the characters (especially Vader and the droids.)
I found some enjoyment in the I and II movies, although the pod racing sequence was just too much for my patience. III seemed to be pure and simple obligation to explain why Vader was so evil in IV yet redeemable in VI. Practically devoid of enjoyment, III was.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Monday June 25 2018, @12:13AM (1 child)
It was the pod racing scene that made me realise Star Wars had turned into a vehicle for selling toys. Pod racers in this case.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Ethanol-fueled on Monday June 25 2018, @01:03AM
Pod racing:
Booboobooboobooboo!
Normal People like me:
Man, that's fucking retarded. Boobooboobooboo? This sounds fucking ridiculous. "Boobooooboo?" Hahahahaha! Come on, niggers.
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Monday June 25 2018, @02:01AM
I liked the movie as a story on its own -- lots of adventure, scoundrelry, pathos. Considering box office marketing and returns, though, it didn't seem like it was suited towards younger kids, considering the themes of separation anxiety, cheating, theft, adult slavery, murder, etc. So while I found it a worthy prequel, I can see that adults, when given a choice in the current (crowded) landscape of movie choices, could have spent their precious time and money on something with more modern, family-friendly themes and better accessibility (?) to the young mind? I'm thinking more conventional romance, fights and explosions between larger-sized enemy forces, etc.
In retrospect, Solo brings more of a western flavor to mind, which seems in line considering Star Wars' drawing from WWI+ dogfights. In this regard, I can easily see mid-1900's kids having a better connection to the story style, but it may not have matched what older fans were expecting to bring their kids to see in a 'Star Wars Story'.
I suspect a sequel could pull people back in if it better matched a buddy-movie mold. For my own part, I was legit excited when I saw Chewbacca appear (spoiler :-).
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 25 2018, @08:32AM
Wait, the pod racing sequence was the break from Jar Jar Binks The Movie, and you found enjoyment *except* ffor the pod racing?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 25 2018, @10:05AM (4 children)
And they were given a chance to act and people had some taste of which shots to keep.
For example Han Solo's "I know..." to Leia's "I love you".
The good actors become specialists in their character and whether subconsciously or consciously would often go "this is what my character would say" and say it, instead of what was written... Maybe even argue with the writer or director over it.
In contrast when I first saw The Phantom Menace it seemed like many of the actors were just reading Lucas's lines for the first or second time and Lucas says "OK, CUT! That's good enough, let's go make more dresses for Amidala!". And everyone goes like "huh?".
Those actors were OK in other movies so it's not their acting ability/inability...
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Monday June 25 2018, @10:36AM (3 children)
Most of the stuff with Ewan and Liam was done in front of empty soundstages on blue/green screen. There was literally nothing for them to see, react to, or do, other thansay the lines (which George could then use cgi to change, anyway)
They knew the plot sucked, the plot holes were so big even Amidala's headware wouldn't plug it..
Say the lines, get paid.
Then, if you think about someone saying "midichlorian" with a straight face, maybe they *were* doing a good job of acting!
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 25 2018, @11:27AM
Lots of actors act in front of green screens. So it seems doubtful that that was such a relevant issue.
(Score: 2) by Mykl on Monday June 25 2018, @11:27PM (1 child)
Andy Serkis did much of his Gollum work on empty soundstages covered in little dots and absolutely killed it. Ewan and Liam don't get a pass for that.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 28 2018, @06:54AM
I'm not convinced it's Ewan and Liam's fault. As I mentioned earlier, we might be just seeing their first or second take then Lucas goes "OK, CUT! That's good enough, let's go make more dresses for Amidala!"... Instead of "Come on you can do better than that!", let them try a few different things and go for the best ones.
(Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Sunday June 24 2018, @11:55PM (2 children)
That's how I look at it. I remember my father saying it was alright movie with good special effects. I liked all three as a kid but to be honest, I had more fun watching spaceballs.
Anything made since is a cash grab. eps 1-3 were hot garbage. I saw the force awakens and was completely underwhelmed. It was better than 1-3 but still the same lame story. It's just a fun special effects demo. Other than that, I don't care what happens to the franchise. And to be honest, should have been left alone.
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Monday June 25 2018, @12:00AM (1 child)
BarfGaaark agrees! Spaceballs rules!;)
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 25 2018, @11:05PM
Too bad we'll never see "Spaceballs 2: The Search for More Money", or "Spaceballs 3: The Search for Spaceballs 2" as someone once put it.
(honestly, I would have loved it - Brooks was the master)
(Score: 2) by donkeyhotay on Monday June 25 2018, @03:18PM
You very succinctly mirrored my thoughts there. Someone recently asked me if I had seen Solo and I said no, and that I had not seen the last three movies. I think it comes down to people who just want to see a "show" opposed to people like myself who want to see an interesting story.