Star Wars: The Last Jedi - Reaction and Discussion *CONTAINS SPOILERS*

[MickeyMinnieMom]

I have a theory about Rey's parentage after a second watch. I think she may in fact share a "parent" with Anakin Skywalker, and I don't mean Shmi. Perhaps she is a Force created "chosen one" to help re-balance everything again. Just a thought.

I like it -- let's go with that!

Since Snoke said he put thoughts in Kylo and Ren's minds just moments before (from when they touched earlier) and they "took the bait" why would any of us conclude Kylo knew the facts about her parents?

Agree completely! That's what we were saying at our house.

I think there are still a lot of directions they could go - it could be like you said and Snoke planeted the images, just that Kylo lied to Rey (just like Palpatine did to Anakin when trying to convert him and playing on his emotions).

Personally I am ok with her not being connected to the Skywalkers, but if that is the case, then I hope the storyline wraps up through Kylo rather than her.

Agree and agree.

 

[jknezek]

No that is shooting for Episode 9.

Not according to this article, but I have no idea how reputable they are since there is a line where they seem to question their own source... kind of amusing.

https://www.express.co.uk/entertain...Rian-Johnson-The-Last-Jedi-Star-Wars-9-Argyll

 

[rteetz]

Not according to this article, but I have no idea how reputable they are since there is a line where they seem to question their own source... kind of amusing.

https://www.express.co.uk/entertain...Rian-Johnson-The-Last-Jedi-Star-Wars-9-Argyll

I know I have seen that article. No way they are shooting for the next trilogy already when shooting for episode 9 hasn't begun. Most people assume it is mistaken in the article and it is for episode 9.

 

[Boski]

Welp he’s directing his own separate trilogy so you better get comfortable because he’s not going away

But we also know how trigger happy the higher ups are with canning SW directors........

 

[KaptKaveman]

Now that does not mean it isn't a run away success. It certainly is. But... probably not as much as some stats would have you believe.

By the same token, It is close to 1/4 of a billion off the mark set by TFA at the same point(18 Days). That's a lot of money to leave on the table. I am not saying its not going to make money but being a little longer than TFA and admittedly more visually impressive I would have to think that it cost more that TFA to make.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

By the same token, It is close to 1/4 of a billion off the mark set by TFA at the same point(18 Days). That's a lot of money to leave on the table. I am not saying its not going to make money but being a little longer than TFA and admittedly more visually impressive I would have to think that it cost more that TFA to make.

From what I found online, The Force Awakens had a production budget of $245m and I saw numbers from $200m to $250m for The Last Jedi (so similar or lower if we take the average). Figure probably some things (set pieces, etc) could be re-used for The Last Jedi - plus The Force Awakens had a big pay check to give to Harrison Ford

 

[jade1]

You do realize those numbers are not adjusted for inflation, right? It's not real helpful in understanding how popular this movie is compared to the other Star Wars movies. It does show the movie is incredibly successful, but is it as successful as other Star Wars movies? The data isn't really available yet.

However, we can infer a lot from this link that sorts movies by estimated tickets sold based on an inflation adjustment. http://www.boxofficemojo.com/alltime/adjusted.htm?sort=adjustedgross&order=DESC&adjust_yr=1&p=.htm

It shows about what you'd expect. Episodes IV, VII, III, and I are all inside the top 20 for all time tickets sold. Now, TLJ isn't included as the run hasn't ended yet. But... we find Beauty and the Beast from this year, with $500 million domestic gross, sitting at 72nd. TLJ, so far, sits at $533 million. That is just about where Rogue One ended up, and Rogue One sits at a very respectable 57th all time at about $532 million in gross. So TLJ is clearly ahead of Beauty and the Beast already, about tied with Rogue One, but still has a few significant weeks to go. It will, however, have a long way to go to climb up the list toward even Episode I let alone Episode VII.

Now that does not mean it isn't a run away success. It certainly is. But... probably not as much as some stats would have you believe.

It's #2 domestic, all I was saying. For example, it passed Rogue One.

 

[jade1]

Before this movie you could have slapped the label "Star Wars" on any movie and made 3/4 of a billion dollars. Now building off this no-sense movie, I wonder if that will be the case going forward. Time will tell. I will be very unlikely to drop a 50$ spot on Space Balls 9 or Solo by Opie.

Domestic?

 

[umichigan10]

I will be very unlikely to drop a 50$ spot on Space Balls 9 or Solo by Opie.

I never would’ve guessed

 

[saskdw]

I will be very unlikely to drop a 50$ spot on Space Balls 9 or Solo by Opie.

Thank you.

 

[jknezek]

It's #2 domestic, all I was saying. For example, it passed Rogue One.

But only if you choose to use non-inflation adjusted money, which is kind of silly since we are talking about movies released over a 40 year time span. When looked at including inflation as a factor, it's probably going to end up about 6th in terms of the 9 Star Wars movies domestically as far as estimated tickets bought. If you look at the link I provided, it is clear TLJ will never catch IV, VII, V, VI, or I respectively.

It has already passed II and III and most likely Rogue One by the same measure. But there is a huge gap between Rogue One and Episode I of about 30 million estimated tickets sold. If the average cost of a ticket is about $9 these days, which we can figure out using the Beauty and the Beast number on this list, to pass Episode I for estimated tickets bought it would have to earn about $270,000,000 more domestically. That is unlikely to happen given the expected take for this upcoming week is somewhere south of $40 million and it will be cut just about in half each week going forward for the rest of the release. The best projections are for another $75-$85million domestically which is 8-9.5 million more tickets. With the gross currently at $535 million, plus the next $85 million, you get $620,000,000. Divided by $9 per ticket and you get about 69,000,000 tickets sold, which would put TLJ somewhere between 36th and 40th on the list, or about 21,000,000 domestic tickets shy of Episode I and only getting about 75% as many tickets to sell.

Just for reference, the Episode IV is estimated to have sold over 178 million domestic tickets. A bit of a different age pre-cable and essentially pre home video, but you can see how domestic gross numbers, not accounting for inflation, don't really mean much in terms of the popularity of a movie compared over a couple decades.

So yes, it has made a lot of money and a ton of people have and will see it, but on a tickets bought basis, which helps account for inflation over 4 decades, it's not going to be one of the more popular Star Wars movies so far released. One the upside, it will be the second most popular since the new millenium and I'm sure it will do better than Han Solo.

And just because I know this will come up, Avatar is 15th on the list of tickets sold. So yes, still the highest grossing movie of all time, but not the most popular. Titanic did significantly better by this measure at 5th...

 

[jade1]

most likely Rogue One by the same measure...

Exactly my point.

 

[jknezek]

Exactly my point.

Yes. Making it the 6th most popular Star Wars movie by tickets sold. Out of 9.

 

[jade1]

Yes. Making it the 6th most popular Star Wars movie by tickets sold. Out of 9.

Passed Rogue One yesterday, that's news.

 

[amberpi]

I never would’ve guessed

I mean, how many times can one say the same thing. I can say "I'm in love with Kylo Ren" about 50 more posts, but ya'll got that memo, right?

Kidding @KaptKaveman - although I could not possibly disagree with your constant assessment of this movie more, and I AM an old school, cosplaying fan; and I've mostly played the good guys, mainly because I can pull off Leia/Padma, but no one is going to buy a 5'5 Vader

I'm stoked (not snoked) to make a Vice Admiral costume and I can't WAIT for 9!

 

[sachilles]

I finally saw it with my son. We didn't take him to Rogue one. He's had varying reactions to seeing previous star wars movies(enjoys them all, but some caused nightmares). He enjoyed it, and no bad dreams to follow. Some of it is that he's getting older I'm sure. We are visiting wdw at the end of February, and he says he wan't a porge plush.

I enjoyed the movie overall. Didn't feel nearly as long as it was. I thought the humor was good and not over the top.
I do feel like it was intentional to omit info on Snoke, Rey's parents and few other details to preserve a little mystery for episode 9. Given how long the movie was I'm not sure there was more time to explain anymore.

The casino scene is curious to me, as it does seem a bit out of place. However, I feel that there has to be a reason for that little diversion. Del Toro must be more important later on. I think the young kid in the stable with the resistance ring will become important as well. I think we'll also see Rose's "Save what you love" mantra start to resonate some more.

Overall, I enjoyed it. I'll buy my own copy when available, and would see it again in the theater if we had some spare time this winter while it's still playing.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

The casino scene is curious to me, as it does seem a bit out of place. However, I feel that there has to be a reason for that little diversion. Del Toro must be more important later on. I think the young kid in the stable with the resistance ring will become important as well. I think we'll also see Rose's "Save what you love" mantra start to resonate some more.

I feel like a lot of important / interesting notes were touched on in the Casino scene and by the characters involved in general. To introduce Del Toro's character DJ and showing that the rich got rich by selling weapons to both sides and then when he says "they blow you up today, you blow them up tomorrow" and just pointing out the circle they are in - which them amplifies Kylo's desire to ency the cycle, break from the past, etc.

And agree about Rose as she is the visual image of what the new resistance and rebels are - keeping that spark of hope and saving what you love, etc. (also connects to the political statements made by the Casino scene in general and Rose sort of representing the whole #resist efforts going on in the real world)

I do think the whole thing could have been accomplished in less time and in a more elegant fashion, but I do get what they were trying to accomplish with it in genearl

 

[ShadeDK]

We are visiting wdw at the end of February, and he says he wan't a porge plush.

Just got back from WDW a couple of weeks ago. I did not escape without having to buy a couple of porgs. One of them went with us everywhere in its own backpack and somehow made it into nearly every picture. They're everywhere. It'd be easier to count the number of shops that don't have them in stock. Seeing the SW Galactic Spectacular at DHS? Yes - there are a couple of bits from TLJ - but the longest one features BB-8...and porgs. Simply put, they are ... your destiny. And you know what? I'm completely fine with those things despite my initial misgivings before the movie came out. Rather cute for a small bird-like thing with sharp teeth that likes to scream.

 

[Boski]

I finally saw it with my son. We didn't take him to Rogue one. He's had varying reactions to seeing previous star wars movies(enjoys them all, but some caused nightmares). He enjoyed it, and no bad dreams to follow. Some of it is that he's getting older I'm sure. We are visiting wdw at the end of February, and he says he wan't a porge plush.

I enjoyed the movie overall. Didn't feel nearly as long as it was. I thought the humor was good and not over the top.
I do feel like it was intentional to omit info on Snoke, Rey's parents and few other details to preserve a little mystery for episode 9. Given how long the movie was I'm not sure there was more time to explain anymore.

The casino scene is curious to me, as it does seem a bit out of place. However, I feel that there has to be a reason for that little diversion. Del Toro must be more important later on. I think the young kid in the stable with the resistance ring will become important as well. I think we'll also see Rose's "Save what you love" mantra start to resonate some more.

Overall, I enjoyed it. I'll buy my own copy when available, and would see it again in the theater if we had some spare time this winter while it's still playing.

So Pablo over on twitter retweeted (I believe) a breakdown someone did on this scene and how it was there to solidify Finn's involvement with the Rebels. The poster went on to say that Finn's main story in the TFA was escaping the First Order and his relationship with Rey. This casino side story was supposed to be him saving Rey from coming back to the fleet and then in the process he discovered what the Rebels were all about, how corrupt the galaxy had turned, etc. This completes his arc from deserter who only cares about his friends to Rebel solider.

Now if you ask me I thought this was accomplished in TFA with his trip to starkiller base with Han and Chewie. Yes he only came there for Rey but after finding Rey Han tells him that they basically should continue on with the mission of disabling the weapon. That to me is what should have completed his arc. How was he not aware that there was oppression in the galaxy? He was with the FO for crying out loud. He watched his troop open fire on a poor innocent town. This side trip dilutes Han's impact on him in TFA (for me at least) and just seemed overly silly. If they needed his character to continue to grow they could have came up with a better way.

 

[KaptKaveman]

I feel like a lot of important / interesting notes were touched on in the Casino scene and by the characters involved in general. To introduce Del Toro's character DJ and showing that the rich got rich by selling weapons to both sides and then when he says "they blow you up today, you blow them up tomorrow" and just pointing out the circle they are in - which them amplifies Kylo's desire to ency the cycle, break from the past, etc.

This segment was about as ham handed as it gets. Everything about the segment is out of place in this movie. How did they learn to go there? Why did they decide to go there? What happened while they were there? What part of it was necessary to the overall plot of this movie and the next? The selling weapons to both sides? That plot has been done since the cold war started, most recently by Tony Stark. Showing the evils of success/excess? Nothing new there. Was this part just to give Finn something to do and introduce the stable boy who uses the force at the end?

Also, serious question: Who is going to be the main antagonist for movie 9? Kylo Ren? Hux? The Casino planet people? I am not sure any of those three being the answer makes for an engaging conflict. That highlights the problem with "going a new direction" in movie 8 out of 9.