Star Wars Discussion Thread v. Rogue One

[Kotowboy]

My 12 yr old brother said it too.

[Lepprador]

Just saw it. Wow. The last 30 minutes were a blast. I prefer dark Star Wars to muppet show Star Wars (Ep. VI). Episode VII was a cover version. Empire: Just quit building Death Stars, k ?

   

[Logain Ablar]

Had you mentioned that earlier, or did I also read somewhere else about someone's kid saying the same thing?

Yeah, it felt familiar typing it, so I may have been repeating myself in my old age.. 

[Zantera]

I feel like RLM did a good job of pointing out some issues that have bothered me as well. On one hand it's like people want something new and fresh, but on the other hand certain things HAVE to be in every Star Wars movie. And in the case of Rogue One you can make a point that Tarkin and Leia had to be there and had to be CGI because story reasons, even though I feel like you should have cut down Tarkin considerably, maybe just see his reflection and have Krennic report to him via hologram or something, and Leia did not need to be shown at all. A simple line like "you have to get this to her" at the end when they had the plans would have been enough. With the Episodes, we're moving ahead and it sort of makes sense to have Luke, Leia (not for so much anymore), C3PO, R2D2, Chewbacca and all these faces, until their characters die.

But then when they are going outside the box with the anthology movies, we're getting a Han Solo movie without Harrison Ford. This new kid might be a good fit, but is this something we really needed? To quote Jay from RLM: "These are things I know". You make a movie about a young Han Solo with a new actor, you get to shove in Chewie, Lando, the falcon, and you get to address some of those lines in the OT about what Han Solo did before A New Hope. Then there's talks about a Boba Fett movie, one of the most useless characters in the OT, but his look is iconic and a lot of people think he's sort of cool because of the design and the fact that we learn nothing, there's talks about a young Yoda movie, a movie about what Obi-Wan did between RotS and ANH (which I would be interested in, despite it being fan service). The movies might turn out solid but it's still slightly disappointing to me that they can't come up with new ideas for moving forward that doesn't involve going backwards to revisit <character we know and love that will sell toys>. Maybe 10 years down the line when they are done milking the legacy of the old movies, we might get something fresh like an Old Republic movie, because that could be neat. Seriously, just make a set of Star Wars movies set either 1000 years before the OT or 1000 years after. Something that stands on its own without having to include death stars or tie fighters.

[lordxizor]

Hopefully they'll slowly move away from the core characters and story lines. They understandably can't do that right away, they're still trying to earn back the cost of buying Lucasfilm in the first place. from the  sounds of it from official and rumor sources, they're really not planning any stand-alone Star Wars movies yet. When you're including main characters or main story lines from other movies, it's not really stand-alone. I think it will be  a very long time before we see a Star Wars movie that includes only new or very tangential characters from other movies and plot lines that don't directly feed into the main Star Wars saga. Hopefully they'll get there eventually and hopefully they can do it well. The nostalgia factor was a good part of what made Force Awakens and Rogue One so good. It would be interesting to see a Star Wars film that didn't have the same nostalgia going for it.

[Kotowboy]

Well just in Box Office alone - they've made $3bn back from the $4bn they paid for Lucasfilm and that doesn't even include advertising and merchandise.


https://www.forbes.com/sites/natalierobehmed/2015/12/16/how-disneys-star-wars-merchandise-is-set-to-make-billions/#3572261741a4

They probably made it back already so from here on they're in profit.

[lordxizor]

Yeah, add it merchandise and they're probably close if not past the break even point. I hadn't thought about that.

But they're still in the business of making money, so it's unlikely they're going to take any big risks with the Star Wars franchise anytime soon.

[Kotowboy]

Yeah, add it merchandise and they're probably close if not past the break even point. I hadn't thought about that.

But they're still in the business of making money, so it's unlikely they're going to take any big risks with the Star Wars franchise anytime soon.

Not for the first 6 at least. After that - assuming each movie makes at least $500m - then they can risk it as they'll only be making money after that.

[Kotowboy]

Total Lifetime Grosses
Domestic:    $477,273,354      52.2%
+ Foreign:    $437,100,000      47.8%
= Worldwide:    $914,373,354   


Not bad at all.

After the $290m opening - I thought it would plateau and taper off but no. No China numbers on Box Office Mojo yet but it'll be $1bn when they come in.

[Adami]

Total Lifetime Grosses
Domestic:    $477,273,354      52.2%
+ Foreign:    $437,100,000      47.8%
= Worldwide:    $914,373,354   


Not bad at all.

After the $290m opening - I thought it would plateau and taper off but no. No China numbers on Box Office Mojo yet but it'll be $1bn when they come in.

I read it didn't do so well in China opening day.

[Kotowboy]

Cant imagine why. I mean...It had Chinese actors in and everything.


Of that international haul this weekend, Rogue One opened in its last international territory this weekend, China, where it brought in an estimated $31 million for the three-day, only 61% of Star Wars: The Force Awakens' two-day opening weekend. Nevertheless it was the #1 film in China this weekend, pulling in an estimated 56% market share.

[BlobVanDam]

I didn't expect it to do that well in China for the same reason that TFA didn't do amazingly. As hard as Disney tried in marketing TFA, Star Wars just isn't ingrained in pop culture in China like it is in many other places. And while it's a great standalone movie, it does rely on an interest in the Star Wars history and films. Maybe adding a Chinese actor helped, but probably not by much.

[YtseJam]

So how did R1 do compared to TFA?

[Kotowboy]

TFA opening weekend around $520m

R1 opening weekend around $290m


TFA finished on around $2.1 bn

R1 after nearly 4 weeks is on $914m


So it's about half - give or take.

[YtseJam]

Dayum

[Kotowboy]

R1 will take a billion dollars all told but i don't think Episode 8 will take $2bn like The Force Awakens did.

But I don't think Disney care too much since they're already in profit just from merch - and there's at least 4 more films after R1.

[bosk1]

I wouldn't assume they are in "profit" yet.  You are looking at gross numbers, not net.  I mean, they may very well be on that side of the ledger with merch.  But they have huge expenditures in a lot of SW-related areas as well, such as Star Wars Land at Disney, for example.  I'm sure the company is making money.  There's no way they aren't.  But as to whether they have already recouped the purchase cost, I'm not so sure it won't still be awhile.

[Kotowboy]

Lucasfilm : " We will not digitally re-create Carrie Fisher for Episode 9. All her shots in Episode 8 were already completed. "

That is a relief. A digital re-creation would seem a bit cold.

*SPOILER*

They've confirmed also that Luke and Leia reunite in Episode 8. And have considered cutting some of her scenes from 8 to put in 9 instead.

[Logain Ablar]

I can't see her having a major part in Ep 8 anyway.

You think they could write her out of it for 9 in some way. Maybe a ship gets destroyed as part of a space battle, and she happened to have been on it, or something.. 

[Kotowboy]

Yes. Allegedly Treverrow is meeting with Lucasfilm to discuss rewrites.

It's not out for just under 3 years so they still have plenty of time.

[gmillerdrake]

You think they could write her out of it for 9 in some way. Maybe a ship gets destroyed as part of a space battle, and she happened to have been on it, or something.. 

It's going to have to be something along these lines....something this abrupt. And, IMO they are going to have to rely on the understanding of the fan base to give them a bit of slack when trying to overcome this massive issue. I don't think there is a real 'good' way to just quickly remove Leia from the narrative....it's as much on 'us' the fans as them the storytellers to find a middle ground where it's agreed that yeah...this isn't the way it was supposed to go but we all know the issue....here's our explanation.

[Kotowboy]

She doesn't have to die off camera necessarily.

She might have gone into hiding or you just don't see her again.

[jammindude]

 I think people just hate the idea of recasting because it's too soon. Take some time, let everyone grieve, then they should re-cast the role.  Lots of movies have recast characters when an actor dies. I don't think the story should be sacrificed.  I think they should continue with whatever plans they had in the story for Leia, and recast it.

[Kotowboy]

But they haven't written Episode 9 yet.

[Adami]

But they haven't written Episode 9 yet.

No, but they have most of the story planned out.

[lordxizor]

No way do they recast her. It's too iconic of a role. Just write her out somehow. Salvage unused footage from episode 7 and 8 to use her for a few scenes in 9 if necessary. Shouldn't be too hard to modify the basic plot that has been layed out for episode 9.

[Kotowboy]

No way do they recast her. It's too iconic of a role. Just write her out somehow. Salvage unused footage from episode 7 and 8 to use her for a few scenes in 9 if necessary. Shouldn't be too hard to modify the basic plot that has been layed out for episode 9.

Give her lines to another character if at all possible.

[Logain Ablar]

Give her lines to another character if at all possible.

I can't see Luke turning to Kylo Ren and saying "come to momma!" 

[Kotowboy]

Last year was Star Trek's 50th anniversary and we got the first Trek movie released since Leonard Nimoy died and it included a tribute in the movie to him.

This year is Star Wars' 40th anniversary and the first SW film released since we lost Carrie Fisher.

I wonder if they'll include a tribute in Episode 8 and if it will be as good as the one for Leonard in Star Trek Beyond.

[pogoowner]

Don't know if anyone saw this, but they released a deleted/unfinished scene from The Force Awakens.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRFrY8NFfAQ

[BlobVanDam]

Chewbacca ripping arms off is awesome, but it also would have been yet another ANH comparison with a character losing an arm at a cantina type of thing.

I'm torn on this one, no pun intended.

[faizoff]

Yeah weird that it's making the rounds now, I'm seeing it being shared everywhere on the internet like it just got leaked or something. That scene was included in the 3D Blu-ray release of The Force Awakens that came out in Nov of last year.

[Adami]

Chewbacca ripping arms off is awesome, but it also would have been yet another ANH comparison with a character losing an arm at a cantina type of thing.

I'm torn on this one, no pun intended.

Not to mention the mention of Chewie ripping off arms in ANH.

Glad it didn't make the cut.

[Lynxo]

Chewbacca ripping arms off is awesome, but it also would have been yet another ANH comparison with a character losing an arm at a cantina type of thing.

I'm torn on this one, no pun intended.

Not to mention the mention of Chewie ripping off arms in ANH.

Glad it didn't make the cut.

Same here, doesn't really fit the tone IMO. I guess you could say it was getting a bit out of hand.

[Elite]

Not only is Vader cool in the hallway scene, but they nailed absolutely everything about it. Vader of course was awesome, the score in that scene is insane, the way it was shot was perfect, and just the way it's structured with the door not working and the Death Star plans just out of Vader's reach. I liked the movie, but I'm not crazy about it and think it has some problems, but that scene is a perfect movie moment for a whole bunch of reasons.

This, the last 15 minutes were without a doubt the best of the film and had me looking at the screen with awe and joy, like I was watching Star Wars for the very first time. I loved it and the whole film made sense at that point, when you realise that it really only happens very shortly before ANH.

Also that moment when they're stuck on the plant and the Death Star appears. You just know they're so fucked and somehow that's pretty cool.