Solo: A Star Wars Story

I told me dad about it yesterday. He thought those commercials were for a video game or something. He had NO idea they were making this movie

I cant speak to your fathers TV viewing habits or pop culture awareness ;) but I can confirm via a Variety article Solo topped the TV ad spend last week in the US.
 
I cant speak to your fathers TV viewing habits or pop culture awareness ;) but I can confirm via a Variety article Solo topped the TV ad spend last week in the US.
My dad has been at the cottage without cable for the last three weeks.

However, before that he watches TV more than anyone should.

Which tells you when they actually started to ramp this up

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IMO it remains to be seen how well this movie will do.

I'm not surprised the pre-sold opening weekend figures are weaker because this isn't an episode flick. (And this is the least-wanted SW movie ever made.) But what it loses in enthusiasm from the diehards, it may partially make up for with appeal to the less committed. The fact is many average people don't follow every SW movie anymore. It's getting pretty hard to jump in & out of the episodes.

Han & Chewie & Lando are legacy characters that everyone knows. This is being presented as a stand-alone movie. No doubt Disney is hoping it will draw some more casual viewers than the episodes (and even Rogue One) do. Those viewers don't show up in the pre-sales and they will be spread farther out from the opening weekend than usual for SW.



I agree that if this movie doesn't do well then LFL may do some serious rethinking about the franchise.

Even if it does well, no studio will accept an ongoing habit of shooting movies 1.75 times to get them right. This movie might bring in $700m but Disney/LFL won't get anywhere near $700m from that gross.

IMO if any movie justified shooting twice to get it right, it's the main episodes. Right now the diehard SW fanbase would kill for the chance to buy a second ticket and see a better version of Ep #8. In the future LFL would be smart to at least shoot more versions of some scenes. It would nice to have the option of toning down some of the directors' quirks or controversial script moves if they don't test well.
 
Another pic of THAT character

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IMO it remains to be seen how well this movie will do.

I'm not surprised the pre-sold opening weekend figures are weaker because this isn't an episode flick. (And this is the least-wanted SW movie ever made.) But what it loses in enthusiasm from the diehards, it may partially make up for with appeal to the less committed. The fact is many average people don't follow every SW movie anymore. It's getting pretty hard to jump in & out of the episodes.

Han & Chewie & Lando are legacy characters that everyone knows. This is being presented as a stand-alone movie. No doubt Disney is hoping it will draw some more casual viewers than the episodes (and even Rogue One) do. Those viewers don't show up in the pre-sales and they will be spread farther out from the opening weekend than usual for SW.



I agree that if this movie doesn't do well then LFL may do some serious rethinking about the franchise.

Even if it does well, no studio will accept an ongoing habit of shooting movies 1.75 times to get them right. This movie might bring in $700m but Disney/LFL won't get anywhere near $700m from that gross.

IMO if any movie justified shooting twice to get it right, it's the main episodes. Right now the diehard SW fanbase would kill for the chance to buy a second ticket and see a better version of Ep #8. In the future LFL would be smart to at least shoot more versions of some scenes. It would nice to have the option of toning down some of the directors' quirks or controversial script moves if they don't test well.

Solo was never going to have the broad based appeal of the Saga films or Rogue One which benefited from familiar things like the Death Star, X-wings and TIE fighters going at it, and of course Vader. Lucasfilm has never done tests screenings and I don’t see them ever changing that policy. The cost of reshoots, both Rogue One and Solo, is very much worth the cost if they deliver a better product. Again, profit margins are adversely effected but that’s not as meaningful as a film being a major box office underperformer.
 
Solo was never going to have the broad based appeal of the Saga films or Rogue One which benefited from familiar things like the Death Star, X-wings and TIE fighters going at it, and of course Vader. Lucasfilm has never done tests screenings and I don’t see them ever changing that policy. The cost of reshoots, both Rogue One and Solo, is very much worth the cost if they deliver a better product. Again, profit margins are adversely effected but that’s not as meaningful as a film being a major box office underperformer.

Like you said— the ancillary and even passive Star Wars income at this point is so big, that the metric for determining if a movie is a success or not isn’t limited to the box office alone. There will always be an asterix next to Solo in terms of the extra cost, but Star Wars is such a money maker, from toys, to video games, to theme park tie ins, to clothing, to merch of all kinds, that keeping the brand at the forefront of pop culture is more the goal of the films than turning a profit. ANY Star Wars movie at this point will be profitable. Just like the worst of Marvel’s films are still technically a success.

What I’d love to see is Solo be the biggest grossing SW film yet just to prove to the crying fanboys that their internet bitching isn’t as representative as they think it is.
 
Like you said— the ancillary and even passive Star Wars income at this point is so big, that the metric for determining if a movie is a success or not isn’t limited to the box office alone. There will always be an asterix next to Solo in terms of the extra cost, but Star Wars is such a money maker, from toys, to video games, to theme park tie ins, to clothing, to merch of all kinds, that keeping the brand at the forefront of pop culture is more the goal of the films than turning a profit. ANY Star Wars movie at this point will be profitable. Just like the worst of Marvel’s films are still technically a success.

That's a risky assumption to make.

No matter how much money a movie brings in, never underestimate the studio/industry's ability to let the costs get inflated and gobble it up. They can spend stupid amounts on marketing. Distribution & theater chains get their cuts. The SW toy industry has done a crappy job in the Disney era. Etc.
 
It’s not just toys alone though— the theme park expansions alone are going to make them millions. I’m not saying there wouldn’t be repercussions if a movie truly tanked, I’m just saying the worth of just having a Star Wars movie out there is going to offset the usual cost to profit scale of judgement most movies are judged on by studios. The fact they didn’t pull the plug on the film and were cool with the cost of reshooting is a pretty good indicator of this.
 
It’s not just toys alone though— the theme park expansions alone are going to make them millions. I’m not saying there wouldn’t be repercussions if a movie truly tanked, I’m just saying the worth of just having a Star Wars movie out there is going to offset the usual cost to profit scale of judgement most movies are judged on by studios. The fact they didn’t pull the plug on the film and were cool with the cost of reshooting is a pretty good indicator of this.

Yeah, the totality of the franchise licensing value is massive and so much more then just toys and video games. The films are the gateway product, soon to be joined by live action TV.
 
He's not wrong, though. Does Wook even post outside of this forum? Can't recall if he ever has. He's more of the Entertainment section Debbie Downer than anything.
 
LOL... as a lurker on this forum since EP8, gotta say you bring very little to this forum other than snarky comments and a "better than thou" attitude.

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He's not wrong, though. Does Wook even post outside of this forum? Can't recall if he ever has. He's more of the Entertainment section Debbie Downer than anything.

Not into props, never was. Came here to research how to build a Chewie costume 16 years ago. Accomplished that in a couple months, but stayed because of the OT forum, to discuss movies, a huge passion of mine--particularly Star Wars. But it ain't my fault movies suck nowadays--particularly Star Wars.

So suck on that, n00b.

The Wook
 
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