Will Star Wars hold up in the next 20 years?

The first Star Wars movie came out in 1977 and today in 2024, many things about the movie seem old and clunky and the franchise has been critiqued for its retrofuturistic analog computer tech and data storage devices. Yet this is only now. In 20 years, 2044; things may get much worse and the suspension of disbelief will need some major tweaking so younger generations won’t turn their nose up at the masterpiece. I am NOT saying that we touch the Originals in any way; but maybe they will explain why some things look archaic.

But I am a futurist as well as a Star Wars superfan. What things do you think we will have in 20 years that will look too “advanced” for Star Wars?

I’m sure we will NOT have FTL travel or anti-gravity or miraculous healing fluids

 

Shouldn't this be in the movie forum instead of the Lit section. Twenty years from now kids won't look at the old movies any differently than kids look at old movies today. Kids usually don't judge movies the same way adults do anyways and won't be as aware of the outdated technology as a more seasoned movie goer would be.

A few weeks ago my nieces and nephews were excited about watching the Ten Commandments and that is a movie far older than any Star Wars film.

 

er ... has it ? Like what ?

 

Well, TOS has been around since 1966, with its boxy, tabletop screens, and voice-contact-only communicators, and non-3D computer graphics. The tech is just window dressing. It's the characters and stories that people really care about.

 

Well, should that ever be a concern, Disney could simply do a reboot/sequel thing, set a couple of centuries after the current stories, and include developments in technology.

Featuring Grogu, and Rotta the Hutt.

 

I got news for you. A New Hope seemed "old and clunky" and "retrofuturistic" even in the late 80's/early 90's. Not to mention the Luke and Han's sometimes off/on trend hair styles That's not a detriment to the film.

In fact, it's a boon as these movies are set "a long time ago" and late 70's/early 80's stylings are baked into it's look and tone. Look at Andor, look at The Mandalorian. The same tech and visual aesthetics. @godisawesome nailed it on the head.

If anything, I'd worry about the PT becoming dated with it's rapidly dated CGI and green screen environments.

 

What a bunch of nonsense. The ST did nothing of that sort. It is completely ridiculous to suggest that the OT did oh so great when it had barely any women in it, and exactly one non-white character worth of note. Leia, while very much feisty and strong-willed, also easily falls for the charming rogue guy, and somehow that is perfectly fine, yet Rey struggling with her feelings towards someone she has a mental link with - while having to carry the burden of the galaxy with no one to lean onto - is supposed to be a big problem. That makes no sense at all. Neither does acting as if Lando worked perfectly or had such a great arc, while Finn was mistreated. Lando was shown hitting on Leia, and then betrayed his old friend, albeit because he had little choice, before redeeming himself. It could hardly have been more of a trope.
Finn meanwhile, had a more significant role than Lando, and actually got moved from running after Rey into an actual rebel who believed in the cause in TLJ. Yeah, he sure got treated really badly by having him walk his own path instead of just being the sidekick he was before
You really are just turning the world upside down with your claims about these movies.

 

I think Star Wars will always exist thanks to Disney but i think Star Wars will become a more niche franchise and less popular i hope Star Wars can move on to other eras like the Old Republic or the beyond future so this franchise can escape from the black sheep that was the Sequels so Star Wars can reborn with new life

 

Id say that is more to the state of pop culture and the way movies and franchises are made these days. With streaming and an all time availability movies (and music for that matter) have stopped beeing events like they have been even back in 2015 with TFA. Kids of these days dont get music or movies on CD/DvD/Bluray anymore. They stream it and forget it. There is something about actually buying music or a movie on a physical media, put it onto your shelf. Music and Movies have lost so much emotional value in the last 10 years and I find this very sad. I still get my movies on Bluray and buy music on CD when the artist is important to me. I am aware and afraid though that the day will come where I wont be able to do this because of a lack of physical media output. A shame.

So yeah, SW and many other franchises for that matter wont create the kind of follwing in the future as they have in the past. Younger generations arent that loyal and devoted to that kind of stuff due to the forms they consume the content. Will SW be relevant in the next 20 years. For sure. Will it be as big as it as been? I dont think so.

 

1000000% agree.

Just this week I had to go to three Wal-Mart locations to find Obi-Wan and Andor on 4K Disc they day they came out. Two locations didn't even get them in stock period. And as far as I'm aware Wal-Mart was the only physical retailer that was carrying them. Even Amazon was distributing through a 3rd party and said shipping may take a couple weeks.

I learned something interesting about why each Wal-Mart near me did or didn't carry it after talking to one of the employees at the final location I made it to who seemed to know a decent bit about the local distribution. The one in my town often gets new releases of movies, but 4K is hit or miss - basically they don't carry anything over $30 in new releases because the economy in this town doesn't support anything above that price point, even though there is some market for physical media. The other two locations are in a nearby town that's got a medium sized college on one end and has a lot of industry/factories on the other. The one near the college campus apparently almost never carries new releases, especially 4K, because the college kids who shop there don't buy physical media anymore; they stream everything. The one on the other end of town, with lots of blue-collar jobs - the one that had it - carries a lot of new release (which is good to know for future reference) because "we still have a lot of customers who are Gen X or the older millennials who want to actually own stuff."

Wild how much variation there was within a ~20 mile radius.

I've still not been able to get the entire saga on 4K disc. I could buy them individually on eBay but haven't put up the money to do so. I have Rogue One, Solo, Last Jedi, and Rise of Skywalker in 4K. The rest are older regular Blu-Ray releases and the old DVD releases. Which are great in their own way because of various bonus content etc. But it shouldn't be so hard to find them on 4K disc.

 

Andor and Obi-wan have not even been released here yet! The will be released different then in the US: Kenobi will hit retailers in June, Andor in July. Plus we won’t get separate sets for BD and 4K! Like with Mando 1+2 the sets will contain 1080p bluray plus the 4K discs, which I appreciate! Due to limitation I’ve preordered my copies from several retailers to get mine 100 %! I have not bought movies and music in local stores much because they don’t have them in stock anymore. I mostly get mine through Amazon and other online retailers.

Just this past Saturday we were in a electro shop to look for a vinyl record player for our house. They had rebuild the store a few months earlier and had big bluray/dvd/music part in the store. It is gone completely! All is left is PlayStation/Xbox/Nintendo stuff. It’s so sad to see this stuff go. I loved to take movies into my hand as a kid and teen and think about a huge movie collection at home.

I now have almost 900 Blu-ray’s, not counting discs I own twice and DVDs. Movies are made to be worshipped and not just consumed like fast food. The development of how movies are viewed these days is very sad to me.

 

@Kyle Katarn man it makes me sad to hear that other places are going through the same physical media drought as where I am (near Indianapolis, IN, USA). We do have a few used media stores that have a good selection but it also means a lot of people are getting rid of their discs too, and probably aren't buying new ones.

I was in a used bookstore in Indy today to get the next couple books in a series I'm reading, but the store also sells movies, CDs, video games, even some VHS and vinyl. I always glance around at what is all available. In their locked case they had Clone Wars seasons 1 through 5 on DVD box set .... for $80. Used. No thanks.

When the hell are they going to get it together and release proper box sets of Clone Wars and Rebels? Surely there are enough of us out there to make it worth their time to basically copy paste some stuff onto new media and add some bonus stuff.

The live action releases so far have been great, and I hope they keep it up. The artwork on the cases is phenomenal. I do wish that it was 4K and BR both in the box sets (like you say they're doing for your releases) but not the end of the world.

Here's what they look like over here - don't know if International releases will be the same.

Edit - looks like imgbb reduced resolution and it takes too long to do this from mobile so this is the best quality photo yall are getting

 

Yes mate. The design of the sets will be same here in Europe and Germany. Just that it will include 4K and 1080p discs

yeah local retailers don’t carry much or any physical media anymore. Funny enough it’s not the case with books though. We still have many book stores with huge amounts of books in store.

it’s funny how people stopped to get physical media of movies. I remember when the DVD OT set of 2004 was released. That was a huge event! People were so excited and hyped. Same with the first bluray box in 2011. it was truly exciting to get your copy and the shops were decorated for the event. People were way more involved. These days they stream the movie and it’s done. It’s more about consuming huge amounts of content then experience and really get into the content you’re watching. That’s how movies and franchises loose value and importance.

rumor has it that ahsoka will be the next release. I’d love to get TCW Season 7 too, then Tales and Bad Batch. I own all TCW and Rebels seasons. I hope all D+ shows will get a release! I really love a complete collection on my shelf.

 

I remember that event as well! I was one of like 20 other dorky guys waiting outside my local Best Buy the morning the OT DVD collection was released, standing there talking about the new stuff we thought we'd see while we waited for the doors to open!

I also remember getting AOTC on DVD from that same place the morning it was released-and they were handing out free AOTC calendars with the purchase!

*sigh* ... Man, those were the days. Eventually I went from buying in the store to just pre-ordering on Amazon...and now? I only get hard copies of movies I REALLY REALLY like-otherwise it's just streaming...

You're right-people just don't get excited about stuff like that anymore...kinda sad really.

 

My collection of Blurays is up to ober 900 now. Not counting the DvDs.

The event character of movies and music is gone mostly. New movies and LPs dont get much attention these days. Streaming takes away so much of the actual emotional weight of a movie or music release. Remember the anticipation for the Prequels or even Sequels. Remember when a big game was released back in the day like Jedi Knight 2. Think about how you felt buying the new LP of your favorite musician. Its all so blant and uneventfull these days.

I really appreciate the possibilty to stream I really do. But in some ways its a bane for movies, games, books, music.

 

Yeah....Plus COVID really put the last nail in the coffin for that kind of excitement too, really. Basically it took that declining interest, which was going to happen anyways and more or less accelerated it to about 10 years earlier!

 

I’m skeptical Star Wars will “hold up” in terms of being a major, active media property 20 years from now, but it won’t be because of the way technology is depicted in the movies vs. real life.

 

20 years later, and Star Wars will still hold up all of my decorations because I have Star Wars themed hangers

BADUMP TSH

 

Unlike every other sci-fi in the 70's George avoided the one thing that would date it :
Flared trousers.

 

These kind of concerns only have any validity if we assume the audience is made up of idiots. Films age, and when you acknowledge that, chimps with latex faces are still surprisingly watchable. Moreso than Heston some would argue.

 

Retrofuturism will continue to be a thing for as long as humanity remembers it. People like it, that's why it exists.
Furthermore, Star Wars is space fantasy. It's set a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, so if it seems oddly modern yet old-fashioned in a way that doesn't quite align with our own reality, that's completely appropriate. We've made technological advancements that they haven't and vice versa. Different galaxies, different conditions, different people etc.

Most importantly, what we're talking about here is an essential part of the identity of Star Wars. It has a very specific approach to the high-tech side of things that sets it apart from everything else. We expect and want that from Star Wars because it's part of the concept. Future generations will understand that, too.

 

Think of the things that date a movie which is set in the present day, phones, computers, modes of transport, clothes, dancing, hairstyles. When you view these films in the future these things jump out at you as looking dated. So I don't think SW will ever seem dated in terms of its tech because of what its portraying, a fantastical world that doesn't really represent technology here in the real world.

 

I've always felt that the way the GFFA is portrayed is put together in a timeless enough way that (as mentioned before) it more or less transcends feelings of being dated since it's so far set apart from our own timeline.

As for whether or not SW will have the same mainstream presence in 20 years...I think eventually it'll be regarded as a "classic" movie series and honored in that way, similar to films like Citizen Kane, Gone with the Wind, or one of the more notable Hitchcock films. But IMO by that time the technology will have developed to the point that the effects in these SW productions will look dated, despite the universal design aesthetic. I do think it's possible however, that Disney/LFL may still be making SW material (whether films or series). Considering the fact that the productions they are currently planning to release (like the NJO film) are still not coming out for several years-and that's just the beginning of those new efforts that may warrant more productions-suddenly 20 years doesn't seem all that long really.