RJ Trilogy The Rian Johnson Trilogy

Folks at LFL may be ecstatic about RJ's trilogy. It will probably be a fantastic trilogy with no strings attached to preconceived notions.

That said, the folks at Disney may be skeptical about what will happen. IX will have come and go and the whole ST will have to be looked at. Right now, we're a bit of a ways away before RJ will be taking a stab at whatever he is planning.

The whole decision was presumptuous in the first place.

 

I'm not expecting art-house budgets.

 

Crazy how fast the ST is coming and going. I guess that's the business with a movie released every 2 years in the ST. I didn't mind the 3 year gap growing up with the PT. That extra year helped me get more excited for it. Now it's like cool it's coming...

 

I'm beginning to wonder if their announcement wasn't just manipulation. Think about the effect it had on many fans: it gave them absolute confidence in a movie that's now considered one of the most divisive SW films. Coincidence?

 

I'm not sure it was just a marketing stunt. I think Lucasfilm and Disney were genuinely happy working with Rian.

 

What some people aren't noticing is the fact that a lot of the fan backlash to TLJ is over what Rian did with pre-existing characters. Considering that this new trilogy will focus on a completely new set of characters and a new storyline, those issues sort've go away.

 

Anyone else hoping for Unknown regions in this new trilogy ?

 

I have ZERO interest in a Rian Johnson trilogy, of any sort whatsoever. The Last Jedi is just dreadful.

I would much rather see Gareth Edwards get it.

 

If the box office bleeding continues on TLJ, Disney may want to reconsider this new RJ trilogy. Regardless, it may not be a good idea to focus on an area of the galaxy unrelated to anything we've seen before in the SW universe. If there's no traditional SW tropes like lightsabers, Force usage, or even bounty hunters, etc, then you lose the built-in SW audience and end up with a run of the mill sci-fi movie that no one is interested in.

 

We don't know it wont have those things. It is just it wont be about the existing characters and part of the galaxy we've seen before.

 

Lucasfilm will not “reconsider” working with Johnson. It’s on track to be the highest grossing movie of 2017, and in the top 5 of all time.

All throughout production KK/Horn/Iger expressed that the working relationship with Johnson was fantastic and that they wanted to continue it. It was a super smooth production with no hiccups or delays. If you are naive enough to think that these people didn’t read the script, measure impacts and crunch numbers and still give the all clear then I don’t know what will convince you.

They like working with Johnson. So much so they approached him to continue their working relationship. That coupled with TLJ being a box office smash (and it is) will only further convince them that he is the right guy to take on this new trilogy. He said he’d write and direct the first and then hand off with outlines for the rest of the trilogy. It’s funny actually as he seems to have a clear idea for a whole trilogy which is a big complaint against the ST for some.

Will happily eat feathered porg if wrong.

 

Any idiot director would have had a massive box office smash simply because it's a Star Wars film.

Every Star Wars fan was going to see it regardless.

The fact second week takings are falling off a cliff shows that many of those fans that may see it 6,7 or 8 times have stopped at one or two, and that word of mouth may put off some of the casuals with no real affinity to the series.

That could be a massive red alert siren.

Disney care only about the bottom line, if they believe Rian's name is tainted and could cost them they will drop him quicker than you can say 'Hux sux'.

There are plenty of other directors out there, he is totally expendible. If they think the public have short memories and will suck up any old garbage if it has Star Wars on the packet they may keep faith.

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By that logic they have nothing to worry about then would they? The bonus for Lucasfilm is that they have publicly stated they loved working with Rian. With box office looking like it will be the top grossing film of 2017 and one of the top films of all time I don’t think he has anything to worry about.

 

Eww. Didn't he need someone to fix rogue one?

Every time I see him I think of what someone posted about his art hour bit filming little things or cool shots with his camera burning millions of Disney dollars because he liked something that might look cool

 

I think it's also a bad sign that the Disney execs like working with Rian so much. This just means he's happy to do what they want him to. You know, like turning Star Wars into a Marvel comedy. I bet they loved that.

So yes, I think they do like working with him. He's their hatchet man. Notice the message in TLJ about Poe blindly following executive leadership?

But them liking him doesn't stop them from manipulating the fans by announcing they're giving him a trilogy right before the release of TLJ -- why not wait until afterward? That made up a lot of people's minds about the quality of the film. And that "quality" is now one of the bigger debates we've seen in SW fandom.

 

It wasn’t just Disney execs it was Lucasfilm that got behind him. You can call him their hatchet man but from all accounts he had autonomy to tell the story he wanted. As for the “manipulation” it is what it is. If that’s what convinced you to see TLJ and of its quality before seeing the film then that’s on you.

As for on topic conversation I think he is going to delve into the unknown regions. I’d like to think Chiss with a new outer galaxy threat encroaching on boundaries of the known galaxy similar to the Yuuzhan Vong element. I think the force itself will play a significant role as well.

 

Actually, I'd say that Lucasfilm got behind Rian Johnson. Disney trusted Kathleen Kennedy to know what she was doing with this, but after the backlash Disney may begin to question that decision.

 

See... that's where we deviate. Star Wars, regardless of how Lucas wants to be perceived, was never really meant to be art. It was populist storytelling for the masses. Its supposed to appeal to everyone(even if there was some hiccups with the Prequels) and has tended to for 40 years before falling on its face with TLJ.

If I want "Art"... i'll watch Oscar-bait.

Sometimes I just want a good story well told that is intended to appeal to the masses. TLJ was not it. It failed miserably at following up its predecessor and continuing The Saga in favor of trying to reinvent the wheel so that SW can 'grow'. Which, in practice, basically means that when TLJ finishes free falling at the box office to wherever it ends up in comparison to TFA, JJ's Episode 9 will have numbers it can build on.

At least until the real stories start getting out. There is a huge dichotomy between the scripts/scenes via leaks, and what we actually ended up with, along with a lot of reshoots. Nobody really knows what exactly went on, and right now the players are content to simply make Rian's Trilogy. If that changes, we might get some interesting stories about the development of 8 that they kept a lid on.

 

Im sure they’re happy with her choices as TLJ goes on to be the highest grossing film of 2017 and will be one the biggest films of all time. Both Alan Horn and Bob Iger spoke highly of TLJ. Sure the film is divisive but the bottom line is doing well.

I think we would’ve heard about that by now. Especially since every other new Star Wars production we’ve heard about the issues on set, delays, rewrites and reshoots. TLJ pretty much finished early. People wanted movies not written by a committee and Johnson delivered one for some. Others didn’t like it and that’s fine. Also Iger and Horn didn’t just read scripts they watched the finished product numerous times before release. No issues raised, no emergency reshoots no worries.

On topic - it will be interesting to see what route they go with casting - unknowns, well knowns or Right down the middle with a good mix. I don’t feel Lucasfilm has had any missteps with the last three in terms of casting.

 

and @LastJediKnight Art is not always elitist. I believe some "mainstream" movies are works of art in their own rights. Like ANH and TESB. Stuff like R1 or ROTJ are very good movies IMO but to me TLJ is the first one in a long time to aim for something more. To me it has this "popcorn mainstream goes arty" vibe that i only really felt with ANH and TESB. I enjoy that. A LOT.

 

ESB was the top grossing film of 1980, but Lucas still had to make changes to RotJ because ESB was down from ANH's box office. There were other reasons for the changes as well, but even if a sequel is a blockbuster hit (or #1 movie of the year), the downward trend is always worrying for the powers that be. Lucasfilm was a private company at the time of ESB and RotJ, so you can only imagine how a mega corporation like the Mouse House will react if TLJ is 30 or 40% down worldwide from TFA.

If that happens, Ep9 will have a smaller budget for one thing; a budget more along the lines of the spinoffs.

 

What changes did Lucas implement for ROTJ because of box office? TESB had budget of about $20mil from memory and ROTJ actually increased to about $30mil. Anyone expecting TLJ to be even close to TFA levels of money making are kidding themselves. I don’t think Disney or Lucasfilm will have anything other than positivity to react to box office wise as their own estimates are probably far more realistic and reasonable.

As for future budgets who knows? It’s possible but Rogue One did exceptional with its $200mil. I suppose it depends on how they want to market Rian’s new trilogy. Is this a anthology trilogy or is this taking place as a marquee series? We’ll probably get a better idea closer to when production begins.

 

This whole dramatisation of "TLJ is a flop!" is so fascinating to me.
Like, sure, it's making less money than TFA, but is it making profit for Disney/Lucasfilm? Yes.

This is the company that owns the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
The MCU churns out at least two films per year (three this year) with a similar budget to Star Wars and with less revenue (the only films that have passed the 1 billion mark are Avengers, Iron Man 3 and Civil War) and you see them pulling the plug? No, they actually have 8 films planned up to 2020.

Fantastic Beasts has a similar budget to Star Wars, earned less and still have four sequels planned.

I don't get how SW seems to have a different scale to measure its success when it's obviously doing fine (and with critical acclaim), no matter what a fraction of the fandom says.

The Last Jedi will get to a billion with no problem (they still have to go live in China) and Star Wars will be just fine.

As for more on topic discussion, I agree with whoever said that the Jedi need to appear somewhere.
Or at least, there must be some Force-sensitive people around.
It won't be SW-related if there is no force (lightsabers or not) and space battles somewhere. It would just be a scifi film, and we got plenty of those.

I really don't care where in time it happens.
I wouldn't be surprised if there was no information about that anyway and have us guessing if we're in the past or the future of the episodic saga.
I'm counting on future though.

 

I wasn't aware I was in the "TLJ Box Office" discussion thread. Or the "TLJ Sucks" thread for that matter.

 

I've stopped caring about current Star Wars canon. TLJ ruined it all. Star Wars was never and never will be 'Prometheus'; it will not cause me to think about the plot, weeks after leaving the theater. It was never meant to be 'edgy or 'artsy' its a trope story about the farm boy being the 'one to save us all'. Segway to 2018 now its about the farm girl, totally fine still normal fare. Not feeling where RJ took Star Wars. I will stop purchasing merchandise, comics, novels -I already preordered TLJ novel-to be released in March!? --<< WTF? while its not much in the over all merchandise giant that is Di$ney, my 1,000+ per year will go to other things.