Solo: A Star Wars Story

Lambonius

New member
Raiders112390 said:
Thanks to Disney, I will probably never watch any of the old films again. What they did to the series made it so I'm almost grossed out by the originals. No point in those films now since we know everything happening as all for nothing. No rooting for Han and Leia's romance because it's doomed and Han is secretly a deadbeat dad and terrible person. Seeing Luke go from whiny kid to self-sacrificing warrior? Doesn't matter. He fails and becomes a would-be child killer. Lando, coolest guy in the galaxy? Has sex with robots.

Yeah, never watching any Star Wars film again. I just hope Disney doesn't butcher Indy as badly.

Your loss, I guess.
 

emtiem

Well-known member
Stoo said:
Oh, there are more complaints beyond those. "Solo" cannot stand on its own merits because it doesn't have many.

Imagine this being the 1st "Star Wars" movie you ever watched. You'd probably be scratching your head at the end asking,"What the heck was that all about?"

Not sure why you would: it's a guy having adventures on a spaceship. It's not exactly hard to follow...

It's a breezy, fun and exciting adventure film: miles better than the last Star Wars film on that count. If you're worried about the shapes of the robots not matching how they did 40 years ago or something then perhaps you won't enjoy it.
 

Pale Horse

Moderator
Staff member
Not sure if I should post this here or the Disney thread. But one thing the Mouse House is known for is "innovation". Agenda pushing matters like sex with droids is just one example of how the Company uses ideas and concepts to test the waters. They do it all the time in their parks. Magic Bands in Disneyworld let to the Maxpass technology used on your phones at Disneyland. It's awe inspiring and terrifying at the same time.

Back to Lando, you certainly won't get your middle-line waling production company caught up in a Weinstein #metoo controversy because how do you harass a droid?
 

Moedred

Administrator
Staff member
Finally saw it. Better than expected. The new guy is just fine. It's too bad it got squeezed by other Disney / Marvel juggernauts. An early December release may have worked better, or more fitting the lighter tone, August.

The franchise should emerge this decade with five quality installments (even though I seem to be alone thinking most of Rogue One was spinning its wheels). Kathleen Kennedy will have met Disney's demands for a movie a year despite briefly employing a batch of mismatched directors.

And then what? Will passing fans follow Star Wars stories outside the main saga? Are other franchises playing their game as well or better? A-list writers are typing away, and that's what matters most.
 

JasonMa

Active member
Disney just announced that all the "A Star Wars Story" movies are now on hold. Episode IX is clearly still a go and I haven't seen anything yet on the status of the other announced trilogies, but the rumored Boba Fett, Obi-Wan, etc. movies are paused.
 

Joe Brody

Well-known member
JasonMa said:
Disney just announced that all the "A Star Wars Story" movies are now on hold. Episode IX is clearly still a go and I haven't seen anything yet on the status of the other announced trilogies, but the rumored Boba Fett, Obi-Wan, etc. movies are paused.


You beat me to it -- though the reports I've seen are attributing anonymous sources, so it would be good to have Disney confirm.

I saw this weak blurb from Wired that says that Kennedy isn't going anywhere, but I don't rate that at all. Consistent with the demise of journalism in general, the Wired article distorts reality by stating that Kennedy isn't going anywhere after making "three of the most successful movies in recent memory."

That's a gross distortion. Let's take a look at those three 'successes': (1) While an adequate film, The Force Awakens' success was because it had massive pent-up fan demand. As it turns out TFA is a lame story that hamstrung the rest of the trilogy. (2) We now know that the success of Rogue One was a freak accidence (the second director salvaging a disaster). (3) The success of Black Panther's (with a black cast, a third tier Marvel character and a divisive plot) box office besting The Last Jedi proves that despite its box office numbers, Last Jedi -- beyond being a garbage film -- badly underperformed at the box office.

Additionally, no one can argue that the recent Star Wars films have completely failed overseas -- which means that the current Lucasfilm team has failed a major mandate of any modern studio: grow international markets.

Put it all together and Kennedy is toast. I believe the unsubstantiated reports that she's out this Fall -- likely by way of her announcing her retirement.

To me the most telling bit of circumstantial evidence is that to my knowledge she hasn't given any press interviews since the confirmation of Solo being a flop at the box office. When a leading executive is in control and has a crisis, they go to mics. See Zuckerberg. For Kennedy, it is all silences and that tells me she's not in control.
 

Pale Horse

Moderator
Staff member
Joe Brody said:
When a leading executive is in control and has a crisis, they go to mics. See Zuckerberg. For Kennedy, it is all silences and that tells me she's not in control.

Perhaps The Mouse House is much too preoccupied with the Lassiter exit to address Kennedy right now.
 

Joosse

New member
Stoo said:
Oh, there are more complaints beyond those. "Solo" cannot stand on its own merits because it doesn't have many.

Imagine this being the 1st "Star Wars" movie you ever watched. You'd probably be scratching your head at the end asking,"What the heck was that all about?"

Not sure I agree with you on that one Stoo.

I believe it would probably attract the same kind of audience as Firefly.
 

IndyBuff

Well-known member
It's been fun watching the media try to downplay the failure of Solo. They keep making excuses to try and cover the fact that Disney/Lucasfilm is currently a mess. They've upset a big portion of their fanbase and instead of learning from their mistakes they're doubling down on it.
 

Joe Brody

Well-known member
I agree with Moedred that Solo would have been better off as an August release because quality-wise it falls in that 'Expendables' category of lower quality films that traditionally are released in August. Solo is a decent-to-subpar film and the real reason why Marvel films hurt Solo so much is that for the past year on an almost quarterly basis, Marvel has delivered original, highly entertaining, differentiated and impactful movies. People see Solo as nothing special and pass. As noted, there's better stuff on TV right now than Solo.
 

roundshort

Active member
Joe, I think you underestimate how powerful Kennedy and Marshal are. If Disney wanted to oust KK (and I have on good authority they don?t) KK and FM would create a talente drain and scare work from Disney. Let?s wait and see how Jurassic World II does. Isn?t that Franks baby?
 

Joe Brody

Well-known member
I gotta believe your sources are in the Kennedy/Marshal camp.

Look at the current situation. With Kennedy MIA, Rian Johnson is the face of the franchise. Since Solo bombed at the box office, he has been engaging in snarky warfare with fans in the twitter-sphere. No way Disney will tolerate it. I agree with Pale and my prior post that Disney has enough headaches (some gender related) right now, and the last thing they want to do is can Kennedy -- but I say Johnson is pressing the issue from his side and will bring this whole thing to a head.

The whole Kelly Marie Tran situation is fishy. Trolls have been abusing her for months -- but she all the sudden withdraws from social media the second week of Solo's release (the moment when it was confirmed that Solo would be a flop and Kennedy's future -- Johnson's supporter -- is put in doubt?) and Johnson immediately steps up to her defense and starts engaging with fans. It's engineered. The guy is a provocateur, and I'm sure Disney brass sees through it.

Now you got fans that are looking to re-make TLJ. I bet this story doesn't go away. I look at The Raiders Adaptation as precedent here -- but what we'll see this time is a fan made film for the Trump age -- with a bunch of middle age wealthy white guys making something instead of group of teenagers in the '80's with too much time on their hands.

This story and the other twitter battles will fester and Disney will say NO MORE!
 

Raiders90

Well-known member
Joe Brody said:
I gotta believe your sources are in the Kennedy/Marshal camp.

Look at the current situation. With Kennedy MIA, Rian Johnson is the face of the franchise. Since Solo bombed at the box office, he has been engaging in snarky warfare with fans in the twitter-sphere. No way Disney will tolerate it. I agree with Pale and my prior post that Disney has enough headaches (some gender related) right now, and the last thing they want to do is can Kennedy -- but I say Johnson is pressing the issue from his side and will bring this whole thing to a head.

The whole Kelly Marie Tran situation is fishy. Trolls have been abusing her for months -- but she all the sudden withdraws from social media the second week of Solo's release (the moment when it was confirmed that Solo would be a flop and Kennedy's future -- Johnson's supporter -- is put in doubt?) and Johnson immediately steps up to her defense and starts engaging with fans. It's engineered. The guy is a provocateur, and I'm sure Disney brass sees through it.

Now you got fans that are looking to re-make TLJ. I bet this story doesn't go away. I look at The Raiders Adaptation as precedent here -- but what we'll see this time is a fan made film for the Trump age -- with a bunch of middle age wealthy white guys making something instead of group of teenagers in the '80's with too much time on their hands.

This story and the other twitter battles will fester and Disney will say NO MORE!

As long as she's out that's all that matters.
 

Pale Horse

Moderator
Staff member
roundshort said:
Joe, I think you underestimate how powerful Kennedy and Marshal are. If Disney wanted to oust KK (and I have on good authority they don?t) KK and FM would create a talente drain and scare work from Disney. Let?s wait and see how Jurassic World II does. Isn?t that Franks baby?

Initial Rumors aren't good for JWII, but I'm no forecaster. Any chance we see a power play similar to Spielberg, Katzenberg and Geffen, and the creation of a new studio? KK/FM and a third would certainly be something. Probably a pipe dream at this point with all that's happening on the new production, Fox and the Mouse.
 

IndyBuff

Well-known member
Raiders112390 said:
As long as she's out that's all that matters.

Unless they replace her with someone just as bad. I'm all for seeing Kennedy go but I'm dubious that they'll get someone better. Lucasfilm and Disney employees continue to insult fans and berate them on social media for daring to question where the franchise is headed. They don't care about the sizable portion of fans who didn't like The Last Jedi and they're writing off any arguments as nothing more than trolling. If that's how they feel about the fan base then it's unlikely they'll remove Kennedy or put someone else in who actually cares about the fans.
 

Pale Horse

Moderator
Staff member
IndyBuff said:
... They don't care about the sizable portion of fans who didn't like The Last Jedi and they're writing off any arguments as nothing more than trolling. If that's how they feel about the fan base then it's unlikely they'll remove Kennedy or put someone else in who actually cares about the fans.

Considering the film made over 400 million dollars profit, and was the most profitable film of 2017, I doubt Disney has any plans to change their business model just yet.
 

IndyBuff

Well-known member
Pale Horse said:
Considering the film made over 400 million dollars profit, and was the most profitable film of 2017, I doubt Disney has any plans to change their business model just yet.

I think it will take Episode IX taking a major hit before they consider it.
 

Pale Horse

Moderator
Staff member
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Tibor

Member
Awful lot of angst here. I thought it was great early Summer fun... even better the second and third times. I loved seeing the early Falcon, thought Lando was spot on, Han was maybe a little short, especially compared to the Queen of Dragons, but did a nice job with the character. Good story... I guess if you treat it like religion, you?ve got other problems to cope with. But as a movie, total success for me, regardless of whatever stupid ?boycotts?, or Director/Producer drama people focus on. :hat:

Can?t wait for IX, and whatever they?re willing to put together beyond that going forward.
 

Raiders90

Well-known member
I would like to see a movie about the adventures of a younger Count Dooku as a young Master and Qui Gon as a young knight.
 
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