Bryan, much like Jaitea my Marvel spend has now over taken SW since TLJ . I have the entire MCU universe from Iron Man right up to date (with the exception of "Black Panther" which I will get this week as its just been released here)
I've also most of the soundtracks , nearly all the "Art of" books (which are nearly all beautiful and brilliant to look at, the concept work often outstrips SW in scope and imagination ) and then other various graphic novels and a few collectables. With the exception of the Anovos helmets pre TLJ its pretty much replaced SW in my spending affections, sad to say.
Admittedly I cannot remember the last time I spent any money on a Pixar product (its was probably going to see "The Incredibles"). My point in raising it was just how brilliant the market release date was (Fathers day weekend) and how fourteen years between movies DOESN'T seem to have affected the BO performance which, at $182 million, was probably more in line with the expectations for Solo (which was released on the supposed "magical SW 25th May" and three weeks before it ).
And " Inc 2" has avery high RT score currently sitting at 94/88. Which ,considering it seems slightly more focused on a super hero family is enlightning ( I haven't seen it yet ,it doesn't get a UK release until mid July) as the general feedback is that its great to have everybody back but the overall story and villian are a bit weaker yet its still alot of fun for the family ).
Which is much the same way I felt about "Solo". It was a pretty good but not great SW movie. And yet the BO, now at $340 million , is being trumpeted loudly as a bomb. If it had ony cost $100 million or so to make then it would be a disappointment but still likely profitable.
It just seems to me that superhero movies have displaced older franchises like SW in the general cinema going population by a fair margin and that interest in SW ,just as you have pointed out about the OT and its characters, is fading .
And this IS the essential problem. The OT heroes and villians were icons of their time and became legends for decades within the entertainment industry. Then LF allowed their myths to be destroyed in ways that obliterated that cult status amoungst fans and general public.Worse still they have utterly failed to replace them with anybody else that captured the public imagination in the same way.I mean who do we really have?
Kylo Ren?
In no way is he anywhere near as popular and iconic as Vader ever was. Then has Poe replaced Solo? Not even close. They made him look an idiot in the TLJ and people don't like to identify with that. Finn??? He's portrayed as the cowardly lion and a fool who needs a Dorothy, sorry that's a Rose, to help him find his courage . Compare him to the respect Marvel shows to just about every character, male or female in "Black Panther" and its not even a contest, its an easy knockout. What kid wants to be Finn? How many kids wanted to be Luke or Han or even Vader?
And then we get to the other roles.And here I'll just point out whats missing in the MCU .
Criticism of its female leads.
I have yet to pick up any extensive complaints about the way Marvel approaches its female characters. Whats more noticable there appears to be a total lack of antipathy towards them. Peggy Carter, Black Widow, Hela,Frigga, Valkyrie, Scarlet Witch, Nebula, Gamora, Mantis, Nakia,Ayo, Sharon Carter,Maria Hill, Hope Van Dyne are all well liked and respected within the comic fandom and believe me the general perception of that fanbase being as strongly biased is just as powerful as that of hardcore SW fans. But that toxic divide just isn't there , because in nearly all the cases they get their introductions right. And thats just the MCU movies. Within the TV series the range and number of female characters is even bigger.
I'll admit I am waiting to see how "Captain Marvel" is received though. Shes always been a minor and fairly unpopular character , and Marvel is taking a risk by making her so central to the next set of films. If they get her origin story wrong then the fan backlash is potentially likely to be every bit as strong as it is for Rey and they are going to have to handle it carefully and well.
But thats it really. Who cares about SW? Well it seems not as many as there used to be because the remaining characters are just so flat and uninteresting.
I know the Wook gets a fair amount of derision cast on his SWIQ but elements of it are actually quite accurate.
The new stories are mainly based on concepts and story beats lifted from the originals, and they are weaker and less interesting for that imitation . The old characters within them behave in ways many previous fans don't like, understand and respect and replaced them simply with new ones for whom exactly the same can be said ,but what is WORSE they, in turn, have markedly failed to widely engage with the general audiences away from that old fanbase and don't have anyway near the same impact the originals had.
Anyway, I need a break from all this analysis, its summer and there are better things to do.