Star Wars 8 pushed back

[Spacedog1975]

This was no Phantom Menace. I doubt we'll see the same kind of falloff for VIII that we did for II.

 

[Budshark]

The other piece to consider is the Main Mouse is playing some games here.

The movies are only one part. They can put pressure on the parks and imagineering to have the lands ready to go as soon as possible, but aligning the movies to feed the fever is not out of the question either.

Think like this:
Engineering - we'll be ready mid-2020.
Big Cheese - No! The last movie comes out May 2019. No way it can be a year later. I need late 2018! Ahead of the 3rd movie!
Engineering: we can't do that. Mid-2019 if we go all in.
Big Cheese: ok. Move the 3rd movie until Dec 2019.
Studios - But that's 2.5 years after VIII comes out! No way!
Big Cheese - well isn't VIII coming out early? 18 months instead of 24?
Studios - yeah. So what?
Big Cheese - well move VIII back to December 2017. Blame the script or something.
Everyone - WOW Big Cheese! You're brilliant.

 

[Eoghann]

Look at the "falloff" from I to II to III. All did remarkably well in the grand scheme of things, but there was a big dip. I think you will see that with VII, VIII and IX. VIII will do great. But I bet it will be less than VII. Absence makes the heart grow fonder and there won't be as much absence between VII and VIII as there was between III and VII. And as for SW dominating in December, of course it will do well, but if it goes head-to-head with Avatar, it won't "dominate". It will win the Domestic and lose the Overseas. And the totals will probably be very close to equal.

I think it's almost inevitable that VIII will not do as well as VII. But it has nothing to do with the quality of VII. We are entering an era of Star Wars saturation and while someone like me may be in hog heaven there's a lot of people are going to get tired of it. Which is why I think moving from May to December is a smart move.

I strongly suspect that Avatar will be moved. Studios almost never go "head to head" because it's bad business.

 

[twebber55]

Look at the "falloff" from I to II to III. All did remarkably well in the grand scheme of things, but there was a big dip. I think you will see that with VII, VIII and IX. VIII will do great. But I bet it will be less than VII. Absence makes the heart grow fonder and there won't be as much absence between VII and VIII as there was between III and VII. And as for SW dominating in December, of course it will do well, but if it goes head-to-head with Avatar, it won't "dominate". It will win the Domestic and lose the Overseas. And the totals will probably be very close to equal.

i dont think there is any doubt it wont do as well as Ep 7
agree on all other notes

 

[Aurora0427]

Maybe Star Wars...which was cutting edge...

But empire was the emotional core of the whole 50 billion dollar franchise...

A rubber puppet with frank oz's hand in it had more soul than 90% of actors ever put on screen.

And it's why the prequels didn't work (not looking to debate here...they didn't for me)...no depth. Wooden people, bells and whistles

This. Exactly. Empire felt like a totally different type of movie. My favorite.

PS. The Prequels suck

 

[Aurora0427]

This was no Phantom Menace. I doubt we'll see the same kind of falloff for VIII that we did for II.

This is what I was thinking... The Phantom Menace did so well because people were dying for another SW movie. Then it sucked, and sucked badly, which is what led to the falloff for II. I'm a diehard and I don't think I even went and saw II on opening weekend.

 

[Josh Hendy]

A rubber puppet with frank oz's hand in it had more soul than 90% of actors ever put on screen.

I wouldn't say better than most of the actors in TFA, but I will say that the Yoda puppet acted far better than the Yoda-like CG character in TFA, or any CG character in just about any movie, ever, period.

No doubt Irvin Kershner said something like this ... if I have a puppet as a major character then it's sure as hell going to hold its own as an actor.

Another reason is that Frank Oz is a professional performer and not a computer programmer or CG artist.

 

[lockedoutlogic]

I wouldn't say better than most of the actors in TFA, but I will say that the Yoda puppet acted far better than the Yoda-like CG character in TFA, or any CG character in just about any movie, ever, period.

No doubt Irvin Kershner said something like this ... if I have a puppet as a major character then it's sure as hell going to hold its own as an actor.

Another reason is that Frank Oz is a professional performer and not a computer programmer or CG artist.

Lol...I meant 90% of the characters from ALL movies...

That dumbs down the average a lot, no?

The force awakens actors were good...I think the story was lacking. Unless you call it a reboot - which they refuse to do.

The sequence of raising the ship between hamill and yoda is still amazing to this day. The before and after.

Kirshner said hamill carries the movie. He did...and that sequence between he and oz carried the whole franchise - in my opinion.

 

[lockedoutlogic]

This is what I was thinking... The Phantom Menace did so well because people were dying for another SW movie. Then it sucked, and sucked badly, which is what led to the falloff for II. I'm a diehard and I don't think I even went and saw II on opening weekend.

So here's whatta happened,no?:

We all get our childhood/younger day fantasy...a brand new Star Wars. It sucks its characters we don't really know...but we'll take it.

There's No way the movie could suck though...not possible.

So we wait, we see, we pee ourselves just a little when the scroll rolls (to this day...I swear it was a UTI)...

And our eyes and brains tell us what we don't want to believe in our bowels: it's awful...it's somekind of 200 million dollar tech experiment of poorly acted cyber film noire...

So we see it again...trying to convince ourselves it's brilliantly set up to explode into an awesome medieval esque throw down of action and boyhood crush lust.

It will ALL make sense in 2002...yep...it was obvious that was what was going down...

Then "Attack of the boneheads" rolls...and by hour two we're attending the funeral of our childhood. "This guy is a phoney...he can't write a story to save his life. No wonder he doesn't have a girlfriend - you can't be a whiney brat and score the cutest 95 lb brunette in the galaxy!!!"

So it all came crashing down during that movie...no repeat sales. Not even ninja yoda from the Matrix could bail that tire fire out...

I walked out at about the jango fett stupidity...and of course the shot heard round the world "Jedi master sipha dyas"

Still waiting for an answer on that.

There was no way the 2 or 3 could have made more than 1...they were toast right then and there.

 

[PortMickey]

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 comes out May 5, 2017. I didn't think it made much sense to release a Guardians movie and a Star Wars movie the same month. Much better profit potential for both movies now.

 

[lockedoutlogic]

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 comes out May 5, 2017. I didn't think it made much sense to release a Guardians movie and a Star Wars movie the same month. Much better profit potential for both movies now.

Except now pirates of the Caribbean comes out on 5/27

 

[Planogirl]

Why all the rush for these sequels? Jurassic World 2 isn't coming out until 2018 and look at how long it has taken for the Avatar sequel to come out. I'm looking forward to all of the sequels but again why the rush to get the next Star Wars film out?

 

[crazy4wdw]

Why all the rush for these sequels? Jurassic World 2 isn't coming out until 2018 and look at how long it has taken for the Avatar sequel to come out. I'm looking forward to all of the sequels but again why the rush to get the next Star Wars film out?

Disney attempting to recoup its $4 billion investment to purchase LucasFilm as quickly as possible.

 

[cel_disney]

I am disappointed that they are moving away from the May dates - just because they marked anniversaries from the original release and I was hoping they would do some cool things with that...

For example - anniversary on 25th - re-release A New Hope in every theatre for 1 day to celebrate and then launch episode 8 the next day...

I see the May 2017 - 40th anniversary as a missed opportunity here...

 

[rteetz]

Disney attempting to recoup its $4 billion investment to purchase LucasFilm as quickly as possible.

Oh come on with episode 7 and merchandising they have recouped that already.

 

[lockedoutlogic]

Disney attempting to recoup its $4 billion investment to purchase LucasFilm as quickly as possible.

That's been reaped on merchandising/licensing only several times over already

 

[lockedoutlogic]

Why all the rush for these sequels? Jurassic World 2 isn't coming out until 2018 and look at how long it has taken for the Avatar sequel to come out. I'm looking forward to all of the sequels but again why the rush to get the next Star Wars film out?

Well...I don't personally care.

But with most franchises the actual material is so BAD that if you don't crank the sequel In the blink of an eye nobody will care.

 

[NeuroCindy]

They may be...as you say...positioning to become the dominant December movie franchise...as the originals were the dominant summer franxhises.

Could be...it worked for Harry Potter and LOTR well enough...

Not one of the Harry Potter movies came out in December. They always targtted either the Thanksgiving time or summer.

Sorcerer's Stone: 11/16/01
Chamber of Secrets: 11/15/02
Prisoner of Azkaban: 6/4/04
Goblet of Fire: 11/18/05
Order of the Phoenix: 6/11/07
Half blood prince: 7/15/09
Deathly Hallows pt I: 11/19/10
Dealthy Hallows pt II: 7/15/11

 

[lockedoutlogic]

Not one of the Harry Potter movies came out in December. They always targtted either the Thanksgiving time or summer.

Sorcerer's Stone: 11/16/01
Chamber of Secrets: 11/15/02
Prisoner of Azkaban: 6/4/04
Goblet of Fire: 11/18/05
Order of the Phoenix: 6/11/07
Half blood prince: 7/15/09
Deathly Hallows pt I: 11/19/10
Dealthy Hallows pt II: 7/15/11

Right...I went ahead and lumped nov 22-28 in with December...what a stretch, huh?

But I don't remember any of them coming out in the summer...to be honest. I guess when you have 9...you lose a few along the way, eh?

 

[NeuroCindy]

Right...I went ahead and lumped nov 22-28 in with December...what a stretch, huh?

But I don't remember any of them coming out in the summer...to be honest. I guess when you have 9...you lose a few along the way, eh?

I guess my point is that since they came out mid-November (11/19 being the latest one) you're targeting a different audience than the mid-December releases of LOTR and SW:TFA. One you're trying to get people over Thanksgiving weekend, the other the weekends before or after Christmas. So if Disney is going to keep releasing SW movies in mid-December, the November releases of that year (which usually involves a larger-budget action movie) don't directly compete with it, so I think Disney is making a smart move with this push-back.