For sure.
Rian Johnson to write and direct a new trilogy of films.. (Star Wars Universe)
- Thread starter Bryancd
- Start date
For sure.
cboath
Master Member
I guess it depends on what that direction really is and your take on that direction.
Rian has literally said he had no restrictions on him at all and he was free to do whatever he wanted...That's largely where the 'no plan' assertions/assumptions come from.
As for their direction - as the literally wrote into TLJ - Forget the past - kill it off if you have to. And they're doing that literally. Killing off any connection to what created star wars in the first place. I don't think people expected Luke to be a major focus and for him to be kicking @#$% and taking names all over the galaxy. Keep him around as head of the jedi order or something (yoda in the prequels). Yoda wasn't remotely the focus, but had a couple nice action scenes. But it wasn't about him.
Hopefully i'm wrong and IX makes things better, but the impression is that the 'new direction' is screw 1-6 and their characters and frankly, their fans and we want to focus on these new characters and new fans only.
Those 1-6 fans are the reason these things hit the billion mark. But they seem to have not much issue in not caring about them at all. Or at least it appears that way.
Rian has literally said he had no restrictions on him at all and he was free to do whatever he wanted...That's largely where the 'no plan' assertions/assumptions come from.
As for their direction - as the literally wrote into TLJ - Forget the past - kill it off if you have to. And they're doing that literally. Killing off any connection to what created star wars in the first place. I don't think people expected Luke to be a major focus and for him to be kicking @#$% and taking names all over the galaxy. Keep him around as head of the jedi order or something (yoda in the prequels). Yoda wasn't remotely the focus, but had a couple nice action scenes. But it wasn't about him.
Hopefully i'm wrong and IX makes things better, but the impression is that the 'new direction' is screw 1-6 and their characters and frankly, their fans and we want to focus on these new characters and new fans only.
Those 1-6 fans are the reason these things hit the billion mark. But they seem to have not much issue in not caring about them at all. Or at least it appears that way.
Jaitea
Master Member
I honestly think you guys are wrong
I think the backlash will hit LFL hard financially,.....I think it will show on BD/DVD sales of TLJ & on ticket sales of Ep 9
Time will tell
J
I don’t think it’s true that LF is trying to abandon any fans. Although some fans feel like TLJ was LF giving them the finger intentionally I don’t believe that’s the intent. It may be the result but it wasn’t a manadate of the process of making these films. Surely R1 and Solo demonstrate their strong support for OT characters and situation. In regards to Luke I am reminded of JJ and Kasdans comments about them breaking the story of TFA. Every time they brought Luke into the story earlier he took over from the new characters and left them superfluous so they kept him out until the end. No doubt Rian found the same issues. Just a thought as to counter the idea they just want to kill these characters off.
By the time box office receipts are counted for IX in ‘19 Disney will have launched their new streaming service and be hungry for all forms of content. The instinct will to have projects in the works for screen and streaming knowing films will end up there. This trilogy is part of that plan no doubt.
Jaitea
Master Member
Fixed that for you
No different,....each origin story has a starting point,....a single stand alone movie.....Just like SW '77....then through the sequels they become more reliant of you seeing the previous films because of the continuing story line.
Maybe it's the Bond movies you are thinking of
J
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Solo4114
Master Member
I expect that Rian's statement about "no restrictions" is hyperbole of sorts. Obviously, he couldn't turn Luke into a wookiee, for example. He couldn't shave Chewie or have Kylo murder Rey. And he couldn't have the new trilogy characters relegated to background roles while the old folks saved the day and say "We're in charge, you little punks! We've been fightin' Empires since before you were all a gleam in your fathers' eyes!"
The "no limits" thing probably means that, as he came up with ideas and proposed them, the studio didn't ride in and say "Nope. Not that. Or that. Cut this...scratch that....you can keep this but only if you do it this way..." and so on. They didn't give him a ton of "notes" and basically gave him a free hand in the writing and direction of the film, with the understanding that he'd stay within their sandbox.
The "kill the past" thing is noteworthy though, because it's Kylo Ren's line. And, to a lesser extent, Luke's line, which he ultimately determines is the wrong choice. Rey, on the other hand, is capable of freeing herself from the past so that she's not beholden to it, while also respecting it and keeping aspects of it with her.
Rey is the good character, and Kylo is the bad one, in case anyone's not following.
In seriousness, as applied to the franchise writ large, I think the view is that the studio and the creative teams they hire for the films are allowed to move beyond the confines of the original trilogy (or sextet) of films, but that in doing so, they're still expected to respect what came before. People feel like Luke wasn't respected in this film, but I strongly disagree. I think he absolutely was, but what you saw was a version of Luke that didn't comport with our mental images of Luke the Hero. What you saw instead was Luke as a flawed character -- which he always has been. The big issue is that his mistake led to Ben's turn to the Dark Side (although there are arguably other forces involved), which led to Luke reflecting on his own role in the galaxy as well as that of the Jedi, and consigning himself to exile for years. It's only at the end that he realizes first that he cannot afford to do that, and second that he still can serve a purpose as a beacon of hope and defiance against the darkness represented by the First Order, even at the cost of his own life.
Basically, Luke still works as a character and is entirely internally consistent if you accept that he could make the mistake he did. Everything that flows from that moment fits together, and his ultimate send-off is incredibly moving and beautiful to me.
We will see how the home movie sales go, but I honestly don't think that Disney is putting a ton of stock in that. These days, BD/DVD purchases are, I suspect, an ancillary revenue stream, not the primary way you make your money. Ticket sales and licensing are the big moneymakers, I'm betting.
I'll bet Disney does what the major studios normally do in a situation like this:
#8 made money but left people disappointed. The studio will only hear "it made money" no matter what other evidence is presented to them, so they think it must be a success.
#9 will take a box office hit no matter how good it might be, because of the collateral damage the previous one left behind. The studio will be oblivious to this cause & effect no matter how obvious it is, and blame #9 for being a misstep even if it wasn't.
#8 made money but left people disappointed. The studio will only hear "it made money" no matter what other evidence is presented to them, so they think it must be a success.
#9 will take a box office hit no matter how good it might be, because of the collateral damage the previous one left behind. The studio will be oblivious to this cause & effect no matter how obvious it is, and blame #9 for being a misstep even if it wasn't.
cboath
Master Member
I'm still failing to see where giving the OT hero's crap lives post ROTJ is anything but disrespecting them.
And, i've said repeatedly i, and most others didn't expect the new flicks to focus on the older characters. Han, i suppose was treated respectfully...Luke, was simply trashed. You can't tell there weren't good enough writers out there to write a script that didn't turn him in a bitter, non-believing tool who nearly kill his nephew. I reject categorically that was the only way they could make it work. I gave a good example - yoda in the PT. Yoda was in charge but far from the focus of things. Things were focused on the two he sent out to take care of business, Obi and Anakin.
I'd bet anything that had Carrie not died, they'd have killed her in IX as well. There seems a clear choice to rid themselves of the past characters. And, i'm sorry if people dislike the fact that a large number of people disagree with that tact. I'd wager the people here could come up with multiple different avenue's to write them off happily and to have given them decent lives post ROTJ.
Again, 90% of the movie going public only knows the movies. They know of nothing positive for Han/Luke/Leia post ROTJ. They can write all they want in books and comics, but the overwhelming majority will be completely oblivious to it. It's one thing if luke was a badass or whatever for 10-15 years doing lots of good, then the stuff at the academy screwed him up in the head. And technically, that's IS the way it happened. However, 90% of people don't know that. I sorta know it because i heard people reference it here prior to the movie, but i did't read any of that stuff. It felt like doing homework to watch a movie which, really, is unacceptable for a studio to think people will or should do.
As for finances...pfft...it's SW. Licensing is the majority of the money and it isn't close. The prequels grossed 1B BEFORE the first one hit theaters with a licensing deal. They turned a profit on all three before they filmed the first one. You've not got car companies shelling out likely over 7 figures to simply use the damn music and stick a 'see the movie in theaters on this date in the end' all the while the actual car has jack to do with star wars. And...star wars lipstick??
If TLJ wasn't a star wars movie it wouldn't have hit 500M. SW is what sold the rest of it. More specifically, the established fanbase forked out the rest of it. And what did they get? Fallen and/or destroyed hero's who reversed their original character arcs so they could focus on the new crew...I mean seriously, Han/Leia couldn't have been happy still and still found Rey and still died trying to get Ben back? How hard would that have been?
And, i've said repeatedly i, and most others didn't expect the new flicks to focus on the older characters. Han, i suppose was treated respectfully...Luke, was simply trashed. You can't tell there weren't good enough writers out there to write a script that didn't turn him in a bitter, non-believing tool who nearly kill his nephew. I reject categorically that was the only way they could make it work. I gave a good example - yoda in the PT. Yoda was in charge but far from the focus of things. Things were focused on the two he sent out to take care of business, Obi and Anakin.
I'd bet anything that had Carrie not died, they'd have killed her in IX as well. There seems a clear choice to rid themselves of the past characters. And, i'm sorry if people dislike the fact that a large number of people disagree with that tact. I'd wager the people here could come up with multiple different avenue's to write them off happily and to have given them decent lives post ROTJ.
Again, 90% of the movie going public only knows the movies. They know of nothing positive for Han/Luke/Leia post ROTJ. They can write all they want in books and comics, but the overwhelming majority will be completely oblivious to it. It's one thing if luke was a badass or whatever for 10-15 years doing lots of good, then the stuff at the academy screwed him up in the head. And technically, that's IS the way it happened. However, 90% of people don't know that. I sorta know it because i heard people reference it here prior to the movie, but i did't read any of that stuff. It felt like doing homework to watch a movie which, really, is unacceptable for a studio to think people will or should do.
As for finances...pfft...it's SW. Licensing is the majority of the money and it isn't close. The prequels grossed 1B BEFORE the first one hit theaters with a licensing deal. They turned a profit on all three before they filmed the first one. You've not got car companies shelling out likely over 7 figures to simply use the damn music and stick a 'see the movie in theaters on this date in the end' all the while the actual car has jack to do with star wars. And...star wars lipstick??
If TLJ wasn't a star wars movie it wouldn't have hit 500M. SW is what sold the rest of it. More specifically, the established fanbase forked out the rest of it. And what did they get? Fallen and/or destroyed hero's who reversed their original character arcs so they could focus on the new crew...I mean seriously, Han/Leia couldn't have been happy still and still found Rey and still died trying to get Ben back? How hard would that have been?
It's the same circular argument going back to TFA. Some people wanted the EU realized on screen, others wanted the further adventures of the big 3, some just wanted Jedi Luke to kick butt, and some wanted a fresh start with the OT characters serving to support new ones. They went with the later. Had they done what you suggest, which is fine, I can say I would have been a bit disappointed as it would feel too familiar and I was ready for the new.
That's what's so baffling, given the firing of other directors that didn't toe the line.
Mr. Webber, is this you? lol
Mr Webber
Master Member
LOL. I have a much better poster collection.
annanake
Sr Member
Preach !!!
Greenie
Sr Member
I’m reading lack of imagination and creativity. They signed him on for this trilogy with no plan for him. We all saw TFA and thought it should have ended as the Falcon leaves D’Qar. Luke was tacked on the end and it created a huge problem going into TLJ. One that RJ failed to resolve. Oh no wait..... he ran away and refused to clean up his mess.
You’re right, RJ didn’t know what to do with him either but we did!
Interview with Rian, Ram, and Mark at SXSW where Rian is asked if fan reaction to TLJ would effect his work on the new trilogy. Spoiler alert, he said no.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEPvyu3iZk8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEPvyu3iZk8
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