After TLJ, Is "Franchise Fatigue' now Plaguing Star Wars?

[Mach5]

I asume you've seen the prequels right?? George doesn't care about models. He cares about visuals. If CGI is the best toy in town to do that, that's the toy he'll use.

Exactly. And CGI has reached the point where computer-generated inanimate objects look almost indistinguishable from physical models. Just watch TFA and Rogue One's special effects reels. Heck, most of the palm trees on Scarrif were CGI, and they fooled me completely.

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Disney Wars have 99 problems, but the quality of visuals ain't one. I do think they lack George Lucas' imagination, though. I'm yet to see a visual in these new movies that would blow me away as much as the Gungan City, Naboo, or Coruscant blew me away 19 years ago.

 

[Mage]

I know. Lucas if giving control would have to be told to use models though and not CGI even if he wants it. Except maybe in small doses

Jason

Lucas sucks at making GOOD movies. He cares for visuals and pretty shots. A New Hope, as classic as it is, suffer from bad editing and lousy directing of actors. A lot of shots are just long, slow edits of special effects. The better movies of the OT are the movies where he didn't direct. You can tell the same problem in the PT, where pretty shots trump well directed dialogue.

Lucas knows how to make a pretty movie. Not a good movie.

 

[Mach5]

Lucas knows how to make a pretty movie. Not a good movie.

And yet he directed American Graffiti and THX-1138, two pretty good movies. It's not that he doesn't know how, he just lost interest in it.

 

[USS Firefly]

And yet he directed American Graffiti and THX-1138, two pretty good movies. It's not that he doesn't know how, he just lost interest in it.

But that was more than 40 years ago, maybe those where lucky shots

 

[Butters]

I think it is. Also I think it goes beyond the movies and i'm not talking just about the tv shows and books and stuff like that. I think the internet focus on this stuff wears people down as well. It can get tiring to go on Youtube and having endless debates and theories about Star Wars. Endless Debates about the nerd stuff and endless debates about politics stuff as well. I hate to say this but I think the internet and social media has kind of drained some of the fun out of being a nerd for many. It was better maybe when nerd stuff was more niche and something the mainstream didn't really embrace. We have basically overdosed on our own geekiness. But like any addict we know we can't stop!

Jason

Yes. I can’t put my finger on it, but the internet has changed many things for the worse. Fandom used to be around grabbing what little you could from the limited tie-in material you could find, joining fan clubs and the like.

Now content is available immediately and we just want more. We want new stuff, that’s exactly like the old stuff, but new, or we won’t like it, and we’ll complain about it on the internet.

We are spoiled. And I think franchise fatigue is a thing, or at least franchise saturation. I’ll watch any Star Wars movie that Disney cares to produce, but i won’t go mad for it. Star Wars was most special when there were only three movies, more movies are fun, but each one just builds upon a movie series, but before it was a movie series, it was Stars Wars, and that was better.

 

[StCoop]

Where's the evidence that the General Public want the amount of Star Wars films they're (currently) planning on making?

 

[Kane_Steel]

To be fair, BvS was terrible and word of mouth for Justice League was terrible.

I can't argue with that, but what's fascinating is the 3-Day total for Star Wars: Solo's opening is now predicted to be lower than Justice League.

Despite Solo having decent Word of Mouth and a fair RT score...

I wonder why the public is suddenly disinterested in Star Wars. Rogue One didn't have this problem because it followed off a well-received installment.

 

[Kane_Steel]

Yes. I can’t put my finger on it, but the internet has changed many things for the worse. Fandom used to be around grabbing what little you could from the limited tie-in material you could find, joining fan clubs and the like.

Now content is available immediately and we just want more. We want new stuff, that’s exactly like the old stuff, but new, or we won’t like it, and we’ll complain about it on the internet.
.

I truly believe we are living in the age now where the internet does have the power to make or break franchises. Fandoms have never been as connected as they are now.

After TLJ, there seems to be a lot of anti-Star Wars sentiment on the net. A large chunk of the regular Youtube content about Star Wars is negative and very much critical of Kathleen Kennedy's handling of the property.

I don't think this is something that can be reversed any time soon. At least not during this generation of Star Wars films.

 

[Mach5]

The Internet has already nicknamed it "So-low". It's shaping up to be a flop way below anyone's worst nightmares.

 

[Butters]

I can't argue with that, but what's fascinating is the 3-Day total for Star Wars: Solo's opening is now predicted to be lower than Justice League.

Despite Solo having decent Word of Mouth and a fair RT score...

I wonder why the public is suddenly disinterested in Star Wars. Rogue One didn't have this problem because it followed off a well-received installment.

The lack of interest could be anything, maybe because it’s not Episode 9. Maybe it’s not Harrison Ford. Maybe the sun came out so they’re gardening instead.

Cinema isn’t cheap entertainment, maybe we’ve hit the law of diminishing returns in Star Wars.

 

[ALF]

I haven't seen the movie yet but I think some of this stuff will be looked at more fondly in the future after Star Wars goes away again for a few years. I don't expect a big gap but I could see it going away for maybe 5 years or so. I think the only real lock right now would be part 3 of the main saga movies.

Yes. This is the only way for Disney to save them from themselves. I think after the 3rd or 4th Anthology film (well after episode 9 is out) they'll take a couple of years off. Us rabid fanatics need more time to masticate all this rich new content.

 

[DarKush]

^
I do think there is something to taking some time off. It allows the audience to miss Star Wars and it also allows for nostalgia and rose colored glasses to soften or change negative views. I mean, now there are admitted prequel fans out there. Conversely, it also might have pro-Disney Star Wars fans reassess the films if they have a moment to breath and process what they are watching.

Turning on the spigot, feeding and/or generating the 'need' of Star Wars fans has been too much, and it makes Star Wars less of an event these days than in the past. And there are rival franchises, like the MCU, Jurassic World, Godzilla-King Kong, etc., which can come close or match the spectacle of Star Wars. Even television shows like the new BSG, or The Expanse can give us thrilling space battles.

 

[ichab]

For me, it's just more of a case of not being interested in a movie about Han Solos backstory than it is fatigue with the franchise. Want me to pluck down money for a Star Wars flick outside the Episodes? Make a film about Yoda, Darth Vader,Darth Bane, or a trilogy set in the Old Republic timeline before the 1000 years of peace. There were so many great events that happened with interesting characters that there is no need to continue milking the OT. Disney has a gold mine of material that they haven't come close to tapping in to.

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[M.A.C.O.]

There can be. Especially if previous installments are divisive or terrible.

Justice League bombing theatrically was definitely a result of audiences' apathy after BVS.

Thing is, there were two movies between BvS and JL. SS and WW. Both of which had massive financial successes. SS making more money in merchandise than every other superhero movie of 2016 (Civil War, X-Men, Dr Strange, BvS), with the exception of Deadpool.


People were disinterested in Solo before TLJ split the fandom. Post-TLJ, people are definitely voting with their wallets it seems. Nobody asked for a Han Solo prequel.

 

[fireproof78]

I remember people complaining about superhero fatigue with regards to films.

I don't see fatigue with Star Wars. Just a new normal in which not every film will be good or positively received. Ridiculous, I know

 

[Campe]

I think it’s too soon to call it “franchise fatigue.” I also don’t think TLJ was as poorly received as many think. It was divisive, yes. But other than a certain sect of fandom, I think most fans were either okay with or soon after the film came out.

I think the issue is just that Star Wars won’t be able to sustain viewership of more than one film in a year. Perhaps longer.

 

[Jayson1]

I think their is also some comic book movie/show fatigue but the MCU have been able to sort of stay above it because in the end I think they have more diverse type of stories and characters. Also let's not forget that the MCU seems to even be conquering the space market from Star Wars as well starting with Guardians of Galaxy., I think people are more interested in seeing Starlord and his gang than they are in seeing Rey and her bunch. Thor is also now into the mix as well.


Jason

 

[Set Harth]

A New Hope, as classic as it is, suffer from bad editing and lousy directing of actors.

This comes off like historical revisionism. I don't see it.

The better movies of the OT are the movies where he didn't direct.

ANH > ROTJ

 

[Qonundrum]

TLJ was good but very unfocused at times. It did do more with many characters, not always in the ways its predecessor was loosely hinting at.

TFA made money because of wanking the nostalgia out of audiences and seeing Harrison Ford have his character die for $20 million. Had it not been for Ren and the mystery behind his lack of emotional equilibrium, a lot more people wouldn't have given a crap. The other characters had some promise but were often flat.

But let's be honest, doesn't fatigue begin when stories are being churned out for no good reason and fulfilling the trope "answering questions nobody asked because nobody needed to ask":

"Rogue One" doesn't successfully address a situation whose question was never asked to begin with. ANH already tells with more than enough detail about the Death Star. Anachronisms in RO only sully ANH. A couple set piece scenes done with aplomb don't make up for the overall story.

"Solo", and I've seen a couple more reviews - and some reviewers out there who claimed to have seen it are outright contradicting others - still has the same problem: What question is being answered by this movie's being made and put out? Han got enough backstory in ANH/TEST/ROTJ and without tact, what's done in "Solo" won't be seen as part of a fluid character arc with epiphanies and all that. Maybe there are scenes in "Solo" that will show sequels to get Han to how he ended up by ANH. I somehow doubt it. As with RO, we're seen existing 5 minute bits told in other movies inanely padded into 2 hour movies yet adding little or nothing of substance to enrich the franchise with.

On the plus side, the contradictions give me hope as I've no idea what to fully expect when I do go and steam it or find the DVD in the $5 closeout bin since spending $10 on a ticket to see it in the theater with a bunch of people who will all not laugh when a joke is made isn't much of a collective joy to experience. The only consistency between reviews I've seen so far is that

Spoiler

L337 is trying to outdo Star Trek with "machines have rights" nonsense of a non-allegory designed only to insult audiences without them realizing it. Especially if it was created by no organic being, which is pure manure since every machine was created by an organic being so by extension it was still created, albeit indirectly, by an organic being. Thankfully it's all idle fantasy.

That and Darth Maul survives and starts a cabal of brothels or whatever, as told by the comic books, since the movie forgot to mention those details in the way it should have if Disney said the EU was not canon any longer so why is it relying on the de-canonized canon without re-introducing those concepts in a canonical way as if general audiences have read every last book and comic and stage play where they played that "open condom star" song and every other piece of apparently needed esoteric continuity...

 

[M.A.C.O.]

I think their is also some comic book movie/show fatigue but the MCU have been able to sort of stay above it because in the end I think they have more diverse type of stories and characters. Also let's not forget that the MCU seems to even be conquering the space market from Star Wars as well starting with Guardians of Galaxy., I think people are more interested in seeing Starlord and his gang than they are in seeing Rey and her bunch. Thor is also now into the mix as well.


Jason

You're not wrong. A lot of moviegoers feel GOTG is the new Star Wars. With the current ST. People like Rey, BB-8, Kylo and that's it. Nobody is going to go the the mat for Hux, Phasma, Rose, Finn, Poe and the anonymous red shirts who make up Poe's entourage. A nasty combination of we the audience not given reasons to care about these characters and the writers/directors/producers not giving the characters anything worthwhile to do.