The stupidest thing Disney did when they bought the IP was that they completely canned the Expanded Universe. There were hundreds of great stories (from the novels, comics, and video games) that could have been turned into movies and tv shows.
Like Shadows of the Empire, which was set in between Empire and Return of the Jedi. Star Wars’ first big multimedia push in its history. A great comic miniseries, a very well written novel, and a fantastic video game were all made to tell the story. All were set around different characters in the same story told from different points of view.
The novel was primarily told through Luke’s point of view and gave great insight into how he dealt with his loss against Vader. The comic focused on Xizor (the main antagonist and leader of the galaxy’s second largest crime syndicate; it was only outsized by the Hutt’s criminal empire) and his dealings with Vader and the Empire. And the game focused on Dash Rendarr, a friend and rival of Han’s from his early smuggling days in Coreillia who becomes a central element in the overarching story of Shadows. Boba Fett is also a major character in the story and is basically a triple spy. He works for the Empire, Xizor, and the Rebels over the course of the story.
That would have been an amazing multi season tv series if it was adapted correctly. But no Disney didn’t want to deal with the legacy stuff. And I don’t think they have the talent to do Shadows justice anyway.
But I don’t think it’s woke or anything. I think it’s because they put out the same formulaic crap.
Marvel has seen a huge downturn in recent years. Like compare Ant-Man 3 to Endgame. Or even its own predecessors. Didn’t make a fraction of what those movies made.
And I get why. I watched it (won’t say how) during its run and I was not impressed. Just another formulaic Marvel movie.
My favorite Hollywood story is SuperMan Lives. It was a Superman movie they were working on back in the late 90s. They spent 30 million dollars on the project and didn’t get a single scene of footage shot before it got canned. 30 million dollars down the hole. Warner was a joke back then.
I think the movie industry in its entirety is going through a change.
Due to Covid movie companies had to offer other ways to see the movies that were put out.
Many people found these new viewing methods much more convenient than spending $35 on two tickets, and then another $30 just for snacks for 2 people.
Streaming services, while currently struggling, are a big chunk of that… or Amazon Prime streaming where I can “rent” the movie for $4.
I think the days of the giant box office movies are done. Movies will still be big and huge hits, but due to the cheaper options out there the dollar amounts next to the titles will be smaller. It’s a lot harder to have a $900million box office smash when a family of six can watch it for $4 instead of $90
Yes and I’m going to see it real soon. Maybe tonight.
My statement isn’t tryin go to imply there won’t be movies that do well anymore.
More that “we” may have to adjust our metric of what a movie that does well is, and what it should cost to make.
With the cheaper methods of watching movies out there now, a movie that made $500 million pre-Covid will bring in a lot less now but might even have more people have seen it. So which makes it the better movie? The higher dollar figure, or more viewers?
My prediction is we’re going to see a shift in the way Hollywood spends its money as well. Salaries will come down some and production costs will come down so that movies are still profitable with the smaller dollar amounts they bring in.
OR
They will do something completely stupid like add commercials to bring in ad revenue. I can see them trying this and it backfiring spectacularly.
Look at the highest grossing movies this year… Mario and Spiderverse. Animated films typically have a lower cost to develop by a higher gross because it focused on kids.
Mario had the added advantage of nostalgia with Adults as well.
Studios will need to get a bit more unique as well. Marvel has driven the box office for years and I do think there is fatigue.
LOL too funny…I predicted that Disney didn’t have the money to increase its investments in Florida. Remember Disney tried to blame DeSantis for not investing?
You can catch that conversation here.
Disney knew they didn’t have the funds for relocating California office to Fla, so they wanted to make a political point to attack DeSantic. And I called em out for it.