ST How in anyway can ep7 live up to the hype?

Seeing a movie 20+ times in theater? What kind of money are you people making? One time in theaters is good enough for me. The only movies I've seen more than once (twice) include ROTS, HPOTP, HBP and maybe one of the DH movies. Where do you find the time to do that?

 

I would have done the same if it weren't for budget constraints. although I saw Episode 3, 8 times and in 2004 I went to the theater to see the episode 3 trailer attached to the Incredibles I ended up staying for the movie and I loved it, it was my first theater outing to see a Pixar movie although I had already seen all the other Pixar movies on DVD. I love Pixar I don't know why I waited so long to see a Pixar movie in the theater?

Force Smuggler, I work at home on my computer and set my own schedules. another cool thing I drag my dad with me to the theater and get an AARP Discount !!!

 

Jedi Merkurian is also a mod, and he also "liked" that post. He's just reminding everyone to move along.

 

You picked the right movie to see ROTS trailer for. The Incredibles is awesome!

 

That's fine. People are free to enjoy what they want.

I saw each prequel at least once in theaters. I was a casual fan back then. I initially enjoyed Episodes I and II because they were brand new Star Wars films and I wanted to see Vader before he had turned to the dark side. Over time their flaws became more apparent to me and many others, but a lot of people still enjoy them.

Don't forget that a lot of excited fans saw those movies over and over again because they didn't iinitially like them too much but wanted to give them a chance to grow on them. For some this did not happen. There were people who watched them repeatedly because they had waited 16 years or so and wanted to make the most of the opportunity. There are those, like myself, who saw Episode III not expecting too much but were nevertheless excited and curious to see how it was all going to end. No one can deny the PT's hype and "big event" scene surrounding them. There are also others closer to myself who had liked or loved them at first and saw them repeatedly, only to like them less as the hype died down. This is why I'm much more concerned about VII's long-term reception (10 years+) than it meeting or even beating the hype.

You know, despite the PT's ridiculous success, A LOT of people now dislike or even hate them, including, it appears, many people currently working on Episode VII. Ignore the fact that the PT took place 20 years before the OT on the timeline, and, therefore, should likely have much less overall relevance to VII's story. Disney and Lucasfilm are going out of their way to distance themselves from THE WAY the PT films were made. They're going back to what made the OT great in the first place.

You say the box numbers speak for themselves. I say the way Disney and Lucasfilm are handling VII speaks louder.

 

For me Star Wars movies is an event. Some people travel the world, or go on family vacations, etc. Since the movies come out every three years (well before Disney/Marvel started pumping them out every year), it isn't that hard to save up $100 in three years.

I also take vacation time off to see the films. For the SE releases I believe they were still released on a Friday (but back then not at midnight showings) So I took Friday off and saw it a couple times that day and over the weekend. This also includes "camping out" hours before (again pre-Fandango era) For TPM I took both Thursday and Friday off to camp 10 hours at the theater before. For ATOC I found out when the theater was going to sell tickets and I went and bought 30 tickets for all different shows for that week and I took the week off of work. Something similar for ROTS.

I know this reply belongs in a different thread, but oh well. The point is, "times are different now". With assigned seating, buying online, etc., people just don't have the same "dedication" to "wait in line". At best there are a few Marvel or LOTR fans that come a few hours early to line up, but that's about it.

We made an EVENT out of camping out for a Star Wars movie. We would come early in the morning with ice chests, lawn chairs, sun screen. We would play football out front of the theater. Play games. Take a nap. As midnight came closer we would pack up our stuff and start getting ready! The best part is meeting other fans and the communal experience. THat stuff just doesn't happen anymore. Sad times...

 

@Jedi Merkurian sorry I did not notice that you liked my post until EHT, brought it up my bad. move along, move along......

 

I see. Didn't you hit a burnout point at any time? Seeing a movie 20+ times in a month possibly two months would be a bit much imo. Seeing it a couple of times I can understand. Once to see it. Twice to see how it holds up. Third time to see if still holds up and look for minor details etc. More than that is overkill imo. And you can rediscover it when it comes out on DVD. Yeah it is a big event but it would feel like it might lose some of its magic if seen too many times at least imo. Can you remember who you were with for each viewing? That would seem like that would all blur together.

 

I think my viewings counts for the PT were four times for TPM, three times for AOTC, and four times for ROTS.

 

For me almost every time I saw it, I noticed a new detail of the film. You have to remember Lucas was notorious for not releasing the films for a very long time after they showed in the theaters. For me it was a chance for me to completely memorize the film because who knows when I would see it next. Also this was when online piracy of "just released films" was getting started, so there really was no way to see it again until it was released. And just for the record, I don't agree with the online piracy. I remember this guy I knew downloaded the ROTS screener and I was so disappointed in him. I mean of ALL movies you should see in the theater, it's a Star Wars movie. To watch a crappy version on a laptop is sacrilegious.

Going further off topic, I'm the type of person that can listen to a song on repeat the entire day and it doesn't bother me. Just something in my brain. Seeing AOTC that many times is still not my record. I believe it was the summer of 94/95 that I worked a night time job (like 2pm to 10pm). Everynight when I got home I would watch ESB on VHS. If I started getting tired I'd hit stop and go to bed. The next day I would hit play and finish it, then I would rewind it and start it again. Rinse and repeat. I did that for the whole summer. Just that summer alone I must have watched ESB 100 times.

 

When I decided to reply on this thread, I wanted to make exactly the same post.

Oh, I remember the period between 2001. and 2005. The prequels were in the making, Star Wars meant something, something iconic, something respected, something bigger than life. There was hype, a hype about - the story. What's gonna happen next to Anakin, how will the Clone Wars start, how's Palpatine gonna become the emperor... Watching all those years back, that was truly romantic period for Star Wars... For me.

Today... It's, in a way, heartbreaking. It's not because George Lucas left, it's because some fans are happy because of it. It's because the director of Episode 7 continues the interview in which the first question contains the phrase that the last three movies George Lucas made were terrible and that he ruined the franchise. It's because the Lucasfilm president states that they'll balance between practical and CGI obviously insinuating that was not the case before. It's because the cast talks more about practical (materialistic) than the story. Episode 7 article can not pass without some negative reference to the last three SW movies.

Episode 7 hype is being built on a very shaky legs. It's not about the story, it's not about new SW movies, it's not about continuing the myth, it's mostly about very superficial things that come with very low expectations, usually based on surpassing the PT. The hype consisted mostly on expectations that the movie will be better than an entire SW trilogy is not what I hoped for. That may change until Ep 7 hits the cinemas, but until the internet convinces me differently, that's my impression.

 

Same for me. I saw ROTS 7 times. The funny thing is we camped out in Las Vegas until midnight, saw ROTS, then went to the airport, when to L.A. and saw it there the next day. LOL

 

I think I was TPM 9 times (plus one in 3d) AOTC 3 times and ROTS 2.

 

Excellent post.

I urge everyone to listen to this snip-it of audio from director Kyle Newman (he made Fan Boys). Please fast forward to exactly 31minutes &13seconds (31:13) in this MP3:
RebelForceRadio_091914_WeeklyRFR.mp3

What he's basically getting at is the people working on (or involved in) EP7s main motivation shouldn't be to be a 180 from the PT. I agree that it doesn't "seem" to be about the "the story" as you say, it's about "no blue-screens, lots of big props, less CGI, it's shot on film" etc...The PT & the OT should be CELEBRATED in EP7. It should bring everyone together, not further separate the fans.

 

I definitely agree with this. My hope is that so far, they've been focusing more on the "how" when talking about the film, as opposed to the "what". Meaning they've told us almost nothing about the story itself, and while they do seem to be talking up more of an OT approach in the way that it's being made (even though we all know that the PT had just as many practical effects, etc.), there could be clearer links to the whole Saga (the PT and the OT) in the ST story itself.

 

I saw TPM 835 times on the same day.

 

I feel pretty confident that Episode7 will exceed expectations. We don't even know if Episode 9 will be the end of this story. Episode7 might be the set up for six movies instead of a trilogy! TPM was the most hyped movie I have experienced in my life time. It had no chance to live up to the hype. In my opinion the PT lacked mystery, we knew Darth Vader would rise and the Jedi will fall. I think soon as the episode 7 trailer hits people are going to loose their minds. Here are some reasons why Im so confident. 1. JJ will get good performances from the actors. I think movies he's been involved with have been consistently good. 2 the nostalgia factor 3. WE DONT KNOW THE OUTCOME/ everything is a mystery again. I also think they will tie up some of the loose ends of the PT and OT.​

 

It's no surprise that EP3 was people's favorite as it was the closest to the OT.

 

I remember hearing this episode, you forgot to include the quotes where he's starts whining about people wanting the pre-SE of the OT on Blu-ray and that they have no right to ask for them... In one hand he's angry to people that don't want PT elements in the new trilogy because that would be take omitting something that he likes, on the other he's being that same person that says that SW fans should be deprived of having and enjoying a proper release of the pre-SE of OT...

Talk about being coherent....

 

No bashing the PT at all right now. I kind of enjoyed ROTS, but the first two were not impressive to me. Some people like them, but many did not.

But this thread is about episode 7. Is there really much hype going on? Are there really tons of people salivating over the release of this film? I am not, but i am hoping it is better than i think it will be.

 

I personally think VII will be a good, solid piece of Star Wars. The one thing I hope it does is make me look forward to VIII. And subsequently the same with that to IX. The cast is definitely there, the people involved, the budget. All that remains is the story and the script.

 

I was a kid when the prequels came out, so even though I have some issues with how they were made my nostalgia and enjoyment of the films still makes them really fun to watch. So for me at least, as long as the new movie is a fun event, it will live up to my personal hype. I'd love it to be an amazing movie with wonderful characterization, awesome special effects, and incredible fight scenes. But even if some of those things are not as great as they could, as long as I have fun watching it I'll be happy.

That aside though, looking at it from an objective level, I think what people are most hyped about is the look of the film in terms of design and special effects. People are really enjoying the fact that Abrams is relying on physical effects for a lot of the special effects. I think people are also hyped to go back to the OT style and sense of design. (I definitely am, although I hope that we'll still see traces of the prequel era in older worlds or worlds that weren't as affected by the Empire.) I think it's going to be fairly easy to live up to this. In fact, I have a very small worry (extremely small, as just because Abrams is relying on physical effects doesn't mean there won't be amazing CG sequences) that CG will be underused in the film. While I love the idea of seeing a new OT-style "environment planet" (like we might be seeing in recent photos), a lot of the really interesting planets seen in the PT couldn't have been achieved without a ton of CG. So I'm hoping (and I'm betting) that Abrams isn't misunderstanding our love for as many physical effects as possible with a hate for CG and will be using both on a "what's best here" basis. When it's done right, it looks great (Prometheus was a recent example of expansive, physical sets being combined with CG to look amazing).

The thing I think will be harder to live up to the hype is the story. Everyone being interviewed has been bringing up how good the story is, and that's great, but if they keep talking about that people might go in thinking they're going to see the most incredible thing they've ever seen, and it might seem worse than it is because of the expectation. But we'll see.

 

I must admit that I've never felt the urge to go back for a second+ viewing of a film at the cinema. I was very tempted by Gladiator, extremely tempted in fact but I didn't succumb. For me once is enough. The whole experience of a cinema viewing is focused on that initial screening. It becomes diluted after that.

 

Not at all. What they are doing is distancing themselves from THE WAY they are perceived to have been made not the way they were actually made which is what they are doing. Which is the same way that JJ made his Trek films.

The bogus story that people promote with the "All CG" "Too much CG" nonsense.

They've made a distinct point of having actors and other people talk about a return to practical effects that of course never actually went away in the first place and were far more plentiful on the PT many, many times that of the OT.