STAR WARS is dying.

Star Wars is dead or even dying? Head over to the Fan Fiction Forum and see how wrong you are.

 

Even more general, look at this forum and the internet. And the fact that the real fans dont really care what everyone else thinks. I mean, someone was actually questioning if Star Wars was popular anymore from what Michael Jackson's kid pillow or slipper or whatever stupid name he gave him thought of Episode II. Come on.

 

Just so everybody knows, movie tickets were like $2 or something 23 years ago. Now they're almost ten dollars a pop. That explains why Gone With the Wind didn't gross a cool billion back in '39.

The problem with a straight adjustment for inflation is it doesn't take into account the countless other factors that affect box office performance. Sure, theoretically Gone With The Wind could have made a "cool billion" if tickets were $10 a head back then, but that's ignoring the very real competition provided by video games, the internet, network and cable television, home video rentals, and dozens of other factors that today's movies face.

Star Wars is dying? Tell that to the hundreds of thousands of Star Wars fan that visit sites like TheForce.net every day!

 

>>Riddle me this riddle me that. If TESB is the best SW flim why is it not in the top ten movies of all time? Why is it not in the top five? <<

I don't know if you are talking from a financial standpoint or an artistic one. If it is financial, then your argument is useless because the amount of money made is not strictly related to the quality of the film.

If you are arguing on artistic grounds, then your argument is equally easy to defeat. Why do you assume the best SW film automatically should be one of the best films of all time? The SW series, as a whole, sometimes approaches greatness. But NO film in the series approaches the depth or power of films like The Godfather, Schindler's List, Citizen Kane, The Seven Samurai, and A Clockwork Orange. You overestimate the artistic value of these movies if you think there is a formula that reads "best star wars film = one of the top 10 films all time." I suggest you expand your horizons.

An argument could be made that some of the SW movies advanced the technical aspects of filmaking (VFX) to such a degree that it deserves recognition as one of the most important films in history. That I can agree with. But that isn't what I interpreted from your post.

 

Star Wars is not dying, even if some don't like the Special eds. or the PT. You can still enjoy the OT. The people I've talked to who don't like the PT are all OT fans who had too much time to imagine what they think happened before the OT, thus they were dissipointed that it didn't turn out like it they wanted it to. One girl is dissipointed only because Han Solo is not in the PT. Plus, there is tons of the EU, which many people enjoy. Star Wars gets new fans every day. And if you call 300 million dollars dead, no offence but, you're stupid.

 

If it is financial, then your argument is useless because the amount of money made is not strictly related to the quality of the film.

Do you know how much money Titanic made? Do you know how much money TPM made? Do you know how much LOTR made. World total I mean. When you read thing such as Russell Ash's Top Ten of everthing 2002 and 2003. If you read things such as the Almanac well. You will see that TPM is in the top ten highest grossing movies of all time. The total world gross 925,500,000. You will see LOTR made 816,800,000. Both made more then SW and ESB world wide. How odd that they made more. Oh did I don't want to hear the old well you adjust such and such. Because for along time SW was the highest grossing movie of all time. On tell Titanic came along. So are you going to tell me that on tell 1997 or 98 there was not movie that would have made more then ANH? TPM made 431,100,00 in the USa and 925,500,00 world wide. Yes there are people that did not like it. But a lot more people seemed to have liked it for it to make that kind of money. If you really want to get down it it the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding was a very good movie. It was made with very little money but sure made a lot. The Loin King made 312,900,000 in the USA 771,900,000 world wide. Yes there are people who do not like this movie. But a lot more people seem to like it. Why? Because it made 312,900,000. So yes the amount of money made does=quality gooe quality. Bad movies don't make 1,835,400,000 world wide like TITANIC. Bad movies don't make 925,500,000 world wide. Like TPM. Bad movies don't make 816,800,000 world wide like LOTR.

Same with the US market. All really good movies make that kind of money. I find it very hard to believe that a bad movie would make that much money.

Books that have to deal with facts such as the Almanac the Russell Ash books and so on print the fact's and the fact is I don't see the Bliar Witch on there. Why because it was av ery bad movie. I won't ever see Plota Nash on there. It was not a good movie. They will only print the moives that have made a lot of money. But if you want to say that thing's such as the Almanac are wrong then go ahead.

 

But NO film in the series approaches the depth or power of films like The Godfather, Schindler's List, Citizen Kane, The Seven Samurai, and A Clockwork Orange.

In your opinion. Also you will never see Seven Samurai editClockwork Orange is on the list of 100 Best American Movies of All Time it's at number 46 do you want to know where The Wizard Of Oz is at? It's at number 6. You can even go back one page to see that.) in the best American Movies of all time. You might see it in the worlds best. But not the USA's best of all time. Which is odd because you say ESB is a really good movie. Well the only Star Wars movie that is in the 100 Best American Moveis of All time is ANH it's not number 15. ESB never even made the list.

So like most people in here have said. No SW is dying. If it ws dying it would never be able to take in the money it does. It would not get new fans all the time which it does. TF.net is a small part of this fandom. There are many other forums there is also many clubs where people don't use the Internet. So again NO Star Wars is not dying. If any thing the thing we shoudl be asking is how do we keep it form ever dying? How do we keep new fans form thinking that people who like the OT:SE and PT are dumb etc? Easy instead of fighting about if Star Wars is daed let's welcome as many new fans as we can NO matter what part of the SW saga they like. OT, OT:SE, PT, EU, and even AU.

 

But NO film in the series approaches the depth or power of films like The Godfather, Schindler's List, Citizen Kane, The Seven Samurai, and A Clockwork Orange.

In your opinion. Also you will never see Seven Samurai or Clockwork Orange in the best American Movies of all time. You might see it in the worlds best. But not the USA's best of all time.

Maybe so, but I think that's because these movies mentioned have appeal to different niche audiences. The film with the widest appeal here is probably The Godfather. Schindler's List depicts a piece of the Holocaust, an event which is still close in some people's memories, and it's a painful movie to watch. I tend not to watch movies that make me uncomfortable. Foreign films like The Seven Samurai don't do that well here unless they catch fire with the public like Life is Beautiful and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon did. Stanley Kubrick had a reputation for making odd, offbeat films, and people think of 2001: A Space Odyssey before A Clockwork Orange or Dr. Strangelove or Full Metal Jacket or Eyes Wide Shut.

Through repeated viewings these movies are held up as some of the best of the best by critics, serious filmgoers, filmmakers and historians. With your average filmgoer who goes to the theater on Friday nights, great film quality won't always translate into big box office. For me, I place more value on quality than on how much money a film makes.

 

For me, I place more value on quality than on how much money a film makes.

Then by this that would mean tht Titantic was not very good at all. And that 900+ mil and 1,000,000,000+ bil mean nothing I guess. I don't like Titantic but form a the people I talk to they say it was very well made. even though there are people who do not like Leo. But still it sure made a lot.

Stanley Kubrick had a reputation for making odd, offbeat films, and people think of 2001: A Space Odyssey before A Clockwork Orange

I have never been able to get into 2001: A Space Odyssey. But you are right about waht you say here.

 

I think anyone who claims Star Wars to be dying is only trying to justify their own dislike of the PT.

Good to see most people in this forum don't believe the franchise is dying If it were dying, none of these posts would exist!

 

Someone actually posted that SW is dying? What blasphemy is this? As a person who frequently posts in the EU, I can tell you that it's far from the truth. Plus how can SW be dying if FH1 is #11 on Publisher's Weekly?

 

Sure, theoretically Gone With The Wind could have made a "cool billion" if tickets were $10 a head back then, but that's ignoring the very real competition provided by video games, the internet, network and cable television, home video rentals, and dozens of other factors that today's movies face.

As evidenced by Titanic, TPM, and LOTR, if people really want to see a film at the theater, they will -- in spite of entertainment competition. There was competition for entertainment back in 1939 and 1980 too. I don't really see why such competition should factor into arguments of "how much money did X movie really make?"

 

I don't really see why such competition should factor into arguments of "how much money did X movie really make?"

Of course you don't, because it completely invalidates your argument. But you can pretend the facts don't exist if it'll make you feel better.

 

>>Of course you don't, because it completely invalidates your argument. But you can pretend the facts don't exist if it'll make you feel better.<<

I don't think anyone is pretending these facts "don't exist," rather just questioning what kind of bearing they actually have on the argument at hand.

The PT has made a fortune at the Box Office. That's a fact. However, whether or not this fact has any real effect on questions of the films' artistic merit or the cultural state of the franchise is highly dubious. "The sky is blue" is also a fact, but likewise it's not really here nor there in this case

 

Well the only facts we have are the financially based ones on what the movies made. Those are the only facts you can go on.

If it were down to artistic and qualitive perspectives, then they are just opinions and can never be facts (unless you conducted a poll).

Anyway my opinion here is that Star Wars is not dying its very much thriving.
As has been mentioned the last film AOTC has made 300 Million plus the 8 million in IMAX, the continued selling of AOTC DVDs and VHSs.

The Star Wars toys are still selling, the EU is creating a even more thriving business for the SW franchise and doing its job expanding (or exploiting, depending on your view ) the Star Wars galaxy.

Plus there are so many SW devoted websites out there on the net it just shows how thriving this franchise still is. TFN is pulling in thousands of punters and thanks to the FanForce areas on this messageboard even more fans are becoming aware of this place.

The only people who go on and on about the supposed death or downturn of Star Wars are the bashers, who are a very small minority, and we have a place for them its called the OT forum. ( )

I'm a fan of the whole Star Wars saga, the only reason I use the terms PT (prequel trilogy) or OT (original trilogy) is because alot of people still see them as separate trilogies. Whereas I see it as what it truly is the Star wars saga a six film series telling the story of the Skywalkers, Anakin and Luke (& Shmi, Padme & Leia).

BTW on the point about ESB being different than the rest of the series, it is different, it isn't very star-warsy IMHO. And I've sen it already in response to Durwoods posts that some do exactly what he has said and compare the other films to ESB, the films have never and could never "beat" or "better" ESB. And nor is that the point of doing the other films. Lucas s trying to complete a story making the pieces fit in the jigsaw puzzle not out do one with other.

Anyway you think SW is dead? LOL here in the UK our census results were published and nearly 400,000 sad (or very delighted) people (including myself) gave their religion as Jedi
Now you can't tell me that that means its dead.

 

I'm a fan of the whole Star Wars saga, the only reason I use the terms PT (prequel trilogy) or OT (original trilogy) is because alot of people still see them as separate trilogies. Whereas I see it as what it truly is the Star wars saga a six film series telling the story of the Skywalkers, Anakin and Luke (& Shmi, Padme & Leia).

If only we all could share this wisdom!

Good post

 

Some of us are forgetting the fact that for quite a while SW was the #1 trilogy. That is, until Speilberg toppled it. Plus it has grossed billions in action figures, video sales, cartoons, books, etc. So how can it be considered a dead market?

 

I honestly can not understand why people have to defend their point on whether or not they consider Star Wars alive. If the person thinks Star Wars will live on and they truly believe it, than it will. I don't have to use box office figures and merchandise sales to convince myself that Star Wars is one of the greatest things out there. That's what makes us distinct: enjoying it because we like it, not because it's "in style" or because it's the most popular thing out there.

 

Right on Fanboy. As a long time fan of SW, I don't care what anyone thinks. HEck I dont care if it isn't cool. I was just using the stats because if you look up, some people were writing that SW is not that good.

 

This thread certainly isn't dying.

And yeah, as you can surmise from the last few posts, it's best to like SW because YOU like SW, not because it's trendy or any of that rubbish.

Stick with what you believe in. If someone tells you they don't like SW, shrug and move on. Their loss, not yours.

 

Star Wars won't die; it'll just fade away.

The audiences that saw the original trilogy in theaters are what's keeping the memory alive. They are the ones who enthusiastically bought the Zahn books and their successors in the early-to-mid 90s. They are the ones who went ape**** over the re-release of SW in 1997. And they are the ones who went double ape**** over the release of TPM.

But the prequel trilogy is almost finished, and I don't get the sense that it made all that big an impact. Certainly not in the way the original movies did. Will anyone but a small and devoted legion of fans care after 2006? Especially in light of the fact that George Lucas will further change the OT so that it resembles less and less the movies we remember in 1977, 1980, and 1983?

 

And do you know why? It's because LFL cares more about the next Indy Jones then doing good on SW.

 

I don't know, Juan_Tufte, I've seen the PT scoop up a huge load of new SW fans.

I also don't think anything could match the impact ANH had, so I'm just happy that we've got new films and new fans. Very cool

 

Of course you don't, because it completely invalidates your argument. But you can pretend the facts don't exist if it'll make you feel better.

So tell me why it matters then, that we have now have Grand Theft Auto III and etc. What does entertainment competition have to do with box office take? These are two separate arguments really. We had Atari 2600 back in 1980.