Discussion How many new SW films should there be PER YEAR?

I think we'll get an off year in 2020 then we'll alternate the B&W saga and RJ's trilogy. So something like this;

2021 - B&W Saga 1
2022 - RJ Trilogy 1
2023 - B&W Saga 2
2024 - RJ Trilogy 2
2025 - B&W Saga 3
2026 - RJ Trilogy 3
2027 - B&W Saga 4

Remember B&W probably won't be directing (or may direct the first one and then possibly others down the line) and RJ has also said he's, currently, only planning to direct the first one and produce the next two of his trilogy. So burn out for the director isn't as big a risk so the 2 year turn around between instalments is possible.

Once they have this running smoothly they might add in a stand alone/story movie as a second movie some years. Though I can see this being more on if they have an idea they really want to explore or a director or writer pitches them a story they like rather than an "every year" or "every other year" set thing.

B&W's saga runs as long as they want it to (4, 5, 6? Who knows). Maybe after Rian's trilogy they alternate the B&W saga with some stand alones, or maybe a writer/director from one of B&W or RJ's movies impresses them and they get given a trilogy or saga of their own.

Avatar I could see going either way. Disney/Lucasfilm may use the 2020 break to move Star Wars back to May in 2021, or they may move Avatar so Star Wars can keep Christmas. Star Wars is, I believe, more important to them than Avatar. Avatar is currently a one hit wonder and a big part of the draw was that it was the first proper 3D movie. Now all big releases are 3D and many people are saying 3D is coming to an end. Avatar will have to prove itself again before Disney give it preference over Star Wars for release date. Unless IX bombs, then all bets are off. But if that happens Star Wars has bigger problems than just whether or not it gets to keep Christmas release dates.

 

I really do expect an episode X equivalent in 2027. That'd be their way of celebrating the 50th anniversary.

 

For the 50th, I'd love George Lucas and Dave Filoni to work together on an animated movie about Luke (voiced by Mark Hamill of course). Maybe it takes place before the ST, maybe after with Luke in the world beyond, but basically exploring some of Lucas' ideas for the ST that weren't used. We got the broad strokes - female hero, Solo son turns to the dark, Luke in hiding, etc. - but this could be the more philosophical stuff and the relationship with midichlorians that he spoke about. A character piece about Luke and the nature of the Force. Probably along the lines of the Clone Wars' Yoda arc from season six. Ok, live action would be amazing, but I think this might actually work better in animation otherwise the environments would likely be very CGI/green screen heavy. Plus animation frees them up to change Luke's age/appearance to whatever they feel is appropriate.

 

Great idea pal. Unless they are willing to recast Luke, animation is better since Mark Hamill will be 75 by 2027 (!!) and may all of are lovely Star Wars heroes from all generations have blessed health and happiness to live on.

 

Just recast Luke and make it live action, IMO. Fans are way too afraid of recasts.

 

Two, though some years we could do three. Solo had nothing to do with Star Wars fatigue. It had to do with a story that just wasn't that interesting. How many people were legitimately excited about the announcement when it was made - even among the superfans? I mean, I don't hate the movie - it was fine - but much of his backstory was far cooler in my head than on screen. But with the new filmmakers and new stories, there is no fatigue. Yeah - we have mined the era between Episodes III and IV TO DEATH. In comics. In movies. In cartoons. In books. We don't need to hear any more from THAT set of stories. But far in the past? In the future? Somewhere completely else? Tons of great stories. Marvel understands - tell the good story with interesting characters, and people will go to see it. You have your Spider-Man, sure. But then you have your Black Panther and your Guardians of the Galaxy and your Captain Marvel and people want to see it all. As much as I want to see a Kenobi movie with Ewan, it probably shouldn't happen. But when you look at how hyped people are for The Mandalorian - it has nothing to do with fatigue. It has to do with - "we know this story, tell us a new one." If they have new filmmakers telling new stories all the time, then yeah - pump those bad boys out. And sure, in 10 years, come back to Rey and company.

 

Solo losing money had nothing to do with that, as people don’t know the story before watching the film. It had almost solely to do with a very truncated marketing period (3 months), generally poor awareness, and the fact that the film was almost 100% over budget. And if people are tired of the Dark Times stories, how do you explain Rogue One’s massive success?

 

Oh, wow! Not many of us voted for 8 films a year.
Solo was a very entertaining movie, for example ...

 

Twelve.

 

I disagree. We all "knew" the story, just not the details. I didn't see it in theaters, not because I was boycotting it or because of a poor marketing campaign, but because I just didn't care. Han meets Chewie, wins the Falcon in a game versus Lando, and does the Kessel Run to save the day. If you knew Star Wars, you knew that was going to be the bones of the story the second they announced it. And for those who did see it, the most praise I heard was that it was "okay" or "competent." Sure, I've since come across people who really enjoyed it, but that word of mouth just wasn't happening in my neck of the woods. I'm sure that happened in many other places as well.

Rogue One's success has a lot of things going for it. It was the first standalone. It had a nonsensical Vader fanboy wet dream in it. But more importantly, we were just entering the glut of dark times material. Now we have a full series of Rebels, literal hundreds of comics, probably over a dozen books AND Rogue One, and it's no surprise that no one cared to see how Han Solo got his last name (it was because he was alone! I appreciate the character so much more now) portrayed by an actor other than the one who made the role iconic. It was just a bad idea all around.

 

I’m sorry to say it, but anecdotal evidence like that is just generally useless. We’re talking about the broader reason for a low BO return, not what a few people in one neck of the woods thought. I ate three meals yesterday. That doesn’t mean global hunger isn’t a problem.

The market analysis of Solo’s BO return is the closest we have to findings about the broader reason for this. And the primary finding was that a very short marketing campaign (3 months) was the primary culprit, especially as audiences needed more, not less, time to get to know a new Han Solo.

 

I mean, point taken - but the "primary finding" feels like a convenient scapegoat rather than an actual study. If I could go to one of the better parallel universes where it was hyped through the roof, I'm sure the return would've still been bad, because no amount of marketing would change the fact that the premise just wasn't interesting. There's a reason why the refrain that seemed to get all of the attention on Twitter from Pablo and company was "nobody asked for this."

 

You’re free to believe that. But it’s just a belief. And not anything you should be “sure” about. It’s apparently enjoying huge sales for home viewing, after all.

 

And so is yours. There is no hard science to this - if there was, we could shut the TLJ haters up for good. You and I are just interpreting data in the way we feel makes the best sense. (Sales for home viewing of Solo are estimated at barely over half of TLJ, on that note. That might be huge for movies as a whole, but not for Star Wars or other big powerhouse franchises.) And barring any reliable polling information of why people didn't see Solo, "lack of excitement" definitely seems like the explanation most likely to pass Occam's Razor.

 

That’s a classic misuse of Occam’s Razor. The OR principle is that the explanation requiring the fewest assumptions, given available information, should be favored until otherwise disproven. Given that your scenario assumes a lot, including that the findings of the professional market analysis that exists are incorrect, Occam’s Razor points towards the direction of the following theory: Three months of marketing wasn’t enough. That’s the explanation requiring the fewest assumptions to back it up.

 

Not afraid of recasting, I just feel animation would suit that particular idea better. Plus, whilst I'm sure Filoni could do an amazing live action movie (looking forward to seeing what he does on Mandalorian), animation really plays to his strengths, would allow Hamill to return, and for them to show Luke at all ages, which I feel would likely be done on a journey like this.

 

Oh, right. If it was live action, I wouldn’t give it to Filoni.

 

Yeah, I understand that. I think LFL are using Mandalorian to see how he handles live action. They've got an amazing team set up for that show so it's the perfect environment to let him make his live action directorial debut in. If it does well, maybe he does his own series or a movie after. But this way they can see how he handles live action on a smaller scale before risking a movie.

 

Helisabers would look even worse in live action.

 

The original idea for SW when Disney bought it was a new movie every two to three years. Obviously, plans changed after the purchase and have changed again if they slow down from one a year.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/disney-buy-lucasfilm-405-billion-384448 (October 2012)

https://deadline.com/2012/10/star-wars-disney-episode-7-three-more-movies-planned-362408/ (October 2012)

News media reported it the same as my context as well.

Reuters - "In an unexpected admission that the slew of 'Star Wars' films and spinoff projects may be causing fan fatigue, Walt Disney CO. Chief Executive Bob Iger said it had been a mistake to release a new movie every year."

Vox - "According to CEO Bob Iger, one movie a year may have been 'a little too much, too fast.'"

IGN - "Today word came that Disney CEO Bob Iger believes his plan to release a new Star Wars movie every year was “a little too much, too fast” and that fans can expect 'some slowdown'"

 

Yeah, and that reporting was utter bogus. It wasn't them reporting what he actually said, it was them trying to figure out what he wanted to say instead of going with what he actually said. They mixed up the question and the answer, when the question wasn't something that Iger was saying.

All Iger has said, is that there may have been too much too quickly. Anything beyond that is just reporters guessing what that might mean for the future. You cannot make the claim that Iger said the movies will only come out every second year, because he made no such statement at all.

His actual statement can mean a whole lot of different things. He made it very clear that no specific concept had been set for how many movies there will be and how close to each other they are going to be released. This opens up a lot of possibilities. It could mean that something like the 6 month break isn't going to happen anymore, and that there will be one new movie every year at a specific date (like christmas). Or it could mean that there will be multiple years in a row with a new movie, but also the odd year here and there where none will come out (e.g. something like 2021, 2022, 2024, 2025, 2027, 2028). And yes, it could also mean that movies will only come out every second year, or even less often than that. Or anything in between really.

What one cannot say, is that Iger made any specific statement about what the new schedule will look like. Therefore one cannot use his comment as "proof" that there simply isn't any place for any specific movie.

 

Agreed. In context of Solo’s reception, it simply sounded like Iger was saying they wouldn’t repeat the two films a year thing. How that got twisted into films every other year is beyond me.

 

I think it should be every two to three so they can really take there time or every 5 it’s not like they have a book series they can use as basis!