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« on: June 20, 2018, 10:16 PM »
I think it's ok to push pause.
I want my Obi-Wan movie, but will it work at the box office? I don't know. Solo might have made more sense as a TV series - it was really the best pilot I've seen in a long time. But this idea SW is broken, considering its commercial and qualitative success in the last three years, is curious. To put it mildly. There is something broken in SW, and it's the aspect of fandom we've discussed here and in other threads. There's simply a part of fandom that has become toxic and disconnected from reality. If they think they've achieved some victory here with this (unconfirmed) announcement, they're wrong. All they've done is cement the idea in Disney's mind that the movies with female leads make bank and the ones without don't.
SW is roughly where the MCU was with Hulk and IM2; not quite solid in its footing. And that's ok. This is a new frontier for the franchise. Not all of this will work, and Disney is learning along with us what works as a SW movie and what doesn't. I've said before the cinematic universe is not as big as they think. As expansive as SW is, there's a limit to people's interest in it and I think, sadly, Solo may be evidence of that.
We're very lucky to have SW back after a very long time in the desert of the PT (not all bad, but not all good) and to have good, sometimes great, movies. Solo didn't work at the box office. Ok. There are a lot of factors that go into that, covered well here, so I won't retread those. The biggest one is it simply wasn't a movie people wanted to see. They said so in 2012 when it was announced, and nothing in the trailers changed their minds. It's a very good movie, so that's unfortunate. It's fine for Lucasfilm to stop and assess the landscape. What makes sense? More of these one offs? Future trilogies? More connected? Less? People often cite the behind the scenes issues with directors, etc. It's symptomatic of trying to find the right direction for this franchise post-Lucas. They're still finding their footing. The cold hard reality is SW will never be the singular vision of one person again, or a primarily artistic enterprise. Say what you will about the PT, it's Lucas' vision.