Star Wars Griefing Thread (SPOILERS) - Safety off

[Duncan Hills Coffee]

Apparently Screen Rant is reporting a rumor that Kathleen Kennedy will step down on September.

I’m pretty sure that this rumor will occur. Also, the writer sounds pissy in this report.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/screenrant.com/star-wars-kathleen-kennedy-lucasfilm-exit/amp/

I'm not gonna hold my breath for this. I'll believe it when I see it, which should be in a couple months if the article is to be believed.

 

[neverendingmidi]

Apparently Screen Rant is reporting a rumor that Kathleen Kennedy will step down on September.

I’m pretty sure that this rumor will occur. Also, the writer sounds pissy in this report.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/screenrant.com/star-wars-kathleen-kennedy-lucasfilm-exit/amp/

They’ll probably just fire any and all directors they’ve hired.

 

[Godzilla@1989]

I'm not gonna hold my breath for this. I'll believe it when I see it, which should be in a couple months if the article is to be believed.

While that's true, I feel that she'll step down.

They’ll probably just fire any and all directors they’ve hired.

If Kennedy steps down, I legitimately can see this happening because Disney would feel the next CEO of Lucasfilm won't be as good as Kennedy.

 

[Flexo]

I have no idea how they're planning to do another trilogy after this one. They're either going to have to set it all the way back in the Old Republic era or skip a few hundred to a thousand years in the future to get away from the dumpster fire that is the sequel trilogy. It'll destroy any supplementary material of the Old Republic if that's what they go for so I hope they pull a Bioware and set it in the distant future in wild space.

For the love of God can we not have Rian Johnson or Kathleen Kennedy turned loose on the Old Republic? I'd rather not see Darth Nihilus tripping over his robes and smashing his mask into a frowny face, Carth Onasi flirting with T3-M4, Kreia telling Bastila Shan she don't need no man cuz she's a Stronk Womynn, or Jolee Bindo telling Sion that if he doesn't stop picking at that it ain't never gonna heal.

Maybe that last one would be ok, but fuck the rest of it!

It's time for both of you to convert to the church of Robotology because Robogod has heard your prayers: http://www.slashfilm.com/no-old-republic-star-wars-trilogy-rian-johnson/

Except they released a movie ostensibly about a straight white man, and that one is doing worse than the ones with the empowered wymyn protagonist.

But it's a character played both times by Jewish guys.

I mean, all you meatbags look alike to me, I'm lucky if I can tell a cat apart from a toddler on a good day, but I do know I've heard it's important not to mix Jews in with your whites. (which made laundry day so confusing for me for the longest time)

Now hear me out, every fanbase has their toxic subsets, from Star Trek to Doctor Who, and Star Wars isn't an exception. However I hesitate to call those fans, especially the older ones who grew up in the 70s and 80s off the original trilogy, manbabies. I know more than a few lifelong Star Wars fanatics who are married and actually have kids of their own, and these people are pretty well off socially. They're about as far away from "manbabies" as can be.

That's true. I remember the old days and Wars has always been the one with the "normie" fanbase. Even jocks and dudebros and prom queens would admit to liking the movies even if they didn't own a tshirt. Trekkies were always the nerdiest, most exceptional ones that the Warsies would look down on.

Won't somebody please think of the stockholders?

Fun fact but stockholders are often pension systems and old folks using stocks to maintain their retirement. So if you think of your grandma, you've probably thought of a stockholder.

 

[Doctor of Autism]

Apparently Screen Rant is reporting a rumor that Kathleen Kennedy will step down on September.

I’m pretty sure that this rumor will occur. Also, the writer sounds pissy in this report.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/screenrant.com/star-wars-kathleen-kennedy-lucasfilm-exit/amp/

I don't know if this will be true because rumors like this are spread all the time, but I hope she steps down and is replaced with a more competent person.

 

[Godzilla@1989]

I don't know if this will be true because rumors like this are spread all the time, but I hope she steps down and is replaced with a more competent person.

I want her to step down as well for all the shit she's done to the franchise and fans.

 

[XYZpdq]

For a while Cody Rhodes was talking up the prequels online at any chance he could, but more recently he's been sticking up for the sequels.
It's a unique sort of cheap heat but it's very, very effective.

 

[StarkRavingMad]

If the older Star Wars fans were truly sexist against women, then why is a character like Princess Leia so heralded? Sure, she wore that sexy outfit in Return of the Jedi, but people loved her character long before that. Why? Because she's a strong character rather than a "strong FEMALE character." She is the first cinematic princess I remember watching where she actually exercised political and militaristic prowess (and that's something she had EARNED). That's awesome!

I'm a female myself, and I can easily tell everyone that I relate to Luke Skywalker from the Original Trilogy FAR more than I could ever relate to a blank slate like Rey. I could say more about this, but everyone has said everything they can already.

The fact of the matter is that The Last Jedi is not only the worst Star Wars film I've ever seen, but it's one of the worst big blockbusters I have seen in a VERY long time. Star Wars is currently losing the general public, and I can tell you that it isn't because of "sexism" or a "rise in white supremacy," for god's sake. It's because these new movies have taken every chance it has had to completely SHIT on the classic characters that everyone loves, it's because the new characters are boring garbage, and it's because the story is just plain BAD.

I would also attribute it to the fact that the Marvel Cinematic Universe has become the new Star Wars. The MCU is the new "sci-fi/fantasy movie serial," and it pulls off the "serial" concept far better than Star Wars can right now. Star Wars has shown us nothing new since 1983, and with Disney ramming it to the ground, the biggest film property in existence has lost its magic. Even when the Prequels were coming out, I still felt that faint sense of "magic" when the title crawl with the iconic music would start. I feel absolutely nothing when I see it now.

 

[RockVolnutt]

If the older Star Wars fans were truly sexist against women, then why is a character like Princess Leia so heralded? Sure, she wore that sexy outfit in Return of the Jedi, but people loved her character long before that. Why? Because she's a strong character rather than a "strong FEMALE character." She is the first cinematic princess I remember watching where she actually exercised political and militaristic prowess (and that's something she had EARNED). That's awesome!

I'm a female myself, and I can easily tell everyone that I relate to Luke Skywalker from the Original Trilogy FAR more than I could ever relate to a blank slate like Rey. I could say more about this, but everyone has said everything they can already.

The fact of the matter is that The Last Jedi is not only the worst Star Wars film I've ever seen, but it's one of the worst big blockbusters I have seen in a VERY long time. Star Wars is currently losing the general public, and I can tell you that it isn't because of "sexism" or a "rise in white supremacy," for god's sake. It's because these new movies have taken every chance it has had to completely SHIT on the classic characters that everyone loves, it's because the new characters are boring garbage, and it's because the story is just plain BAD.

I would also attribute it to the fact that the Marvel Cinematic Universe has become the new Star Wars. The MCU is the new "sci-fi/fantasy movie serial," and it pulls off the "serial" concept far better than Star Wars can right now. Star Wars has shown us nothing new since 1983, and with Disney ramming it to the ground, the biggest film property in existence has lost its magic. Even when the Prequels were coming out, I still felt that faint sense of "magic" when the title crawl with the iconic music would start. I feel absolutely nothing when I see it now.

But what about the droid attack on the Wookies?

 

[Maggots on a Train]

When there's a popular backlash to a major Hollywood product, the managers at the top (and their hack in-house directors) come to a fork in the road. Will we rethink our approach to the material, or will we double down and attempt to manipulate the cultural environment to view our product more favorably? You'll notice that despite the latter approach ending horribly in nearly every case (*cough* Ghostbusters 2016 *cough*), it's the go-to move for our corporate overlords.

"Message discipline" has been the name of the game in the wake of Solo's disastrous opening. First, Lucasfilm called its pet film commentors, people like Breznican at Entertainment Weekly and the usual neckbeard geekbloggers and planted quotes suggesting that, really, Solo was an excellent movie hamstrung by a TOXIC ONLINE CULTURE OF CYNICISM and THE INEPTITUDE OF LORD AND MILLER who TRIED TO MAKE IT FUNNY.

And now, hack director Rian Johnson, creator of a forthcoming trilogy of his own, has begun snarkily posting passive-aggressive attacks on the TOXIC FANBASE:

I haven't seen "manbaby" trotted out since this much since the wake of the lady Ghostbusters film.

All of this bodes well. As Paul Feig and the GB2016 disaster showed us, once the audience becomes the enemy many hilarious meltdowns surely follow. When Johnson's shitty new trilogy inevitably disappoints, I expect the gloves to finally come off. Johnson, the schlub, will show his fangs, and he'll go right for the jugular and saying anyone who didn't care for his films are "alt-right manbabies" and possibly "incels".

After all, this is exactly how they reacted when their last bold and subversive deconstructionist triumph The Last Jedi tanked at the box office and now you have people seriously saying that Solo did poorly because men who live in their parents' basements complained about female protagonists.

I would be amused by these multi-millionaire hacks REEEing at the audience that pays their bills, but it's honestly just disgusting that these people who are the very embodiment of privilege can fail so hard at their one job, and just keep failing upwards.

At what point does this shit end? Hollywood, TV, the whole music industry need to be rebooted from scratch. Just keep the tech guys and throw everybody else out on their asses.

 

[Kamen Rider Black RX]

I kinda get the feeling Ms. Tran deleting her instagram is just a smokescreen. Solo is flopping, flopping hard, and there's real questions being asked about the direction of the franchise. Articles are being written about how Kathleen Kennedy needs to go or the brand will die. Then all of a sudden it's back to "look at these racists/sexists/bigots harassing one of our stars because she's a woman/Asian/unattractive." The timing just seems too perfect.

 

[mrdk_04]

You know, there was a time I would say that's complete and utter bullshit, spawned from the sewers of the internet.
Sadly, after everything that's gone down since 2016, I've started to question far more than I think is healthy for me.

There does seem to be evidence that she was harassed but aside from some mean comments on instagram it would appear nothing else can be proven. (Polygon, Star Wars’ toxic fanbase may have driven The Last Jedi actress off Instagram)

What I will never understand is why Disney hired a smalltime, relatively unknown director like Johnson to craft the most important movie in their current trilogy.

 

[Duncan Hills Coffee]

What I will never understand is why Disney hired a smalltime, relatively unknown director like Johnson to craft the most important movie in their current trilogy.

Marvel's been doing that for the majority of their latter-day MCU movies. Spider-Man: Homecoming was directed by Jon Watts, whose most recognized credits prior to that movie was the 2014 horror film, Clown, and various Onion News Network episodes. Thor: Ragnarok was made by Taika Watiti, who is more well-known in New Zealand and made What We Do in the Shadows. Doctor Strange was directed by Scott Derrickson who did Sinister. None of these guys are exactly well-known outside of niche circles, but they still managed to make some of the more highly-regarded MCU movies.

The difference here however is in how they're handled; the MCU allowed their directors to get creative, which is why Thor: Ragnarok was more comedic and why Doctor Strange could get away with the surreal visuals. Not to mention, the MCU has a much clearer goal in mind, and each movie tries to get closer to the endgame that's been built up for years. Compare that with TLJ, which spend the entirety of its runtime undermining all the plot threads set up by the previous movie and leaving Episode IX with almost nothing to work with. It's clear Star Wars doesn't have that end goal like the MCU does, and to be fair Lucas didn't either, but Lucas also knew how to hide that from the audience.

 

[Godzilla@1989]

years. Compare that with TLJ, which spend the entirety of its runtime undermining all the plot threads set up by the previous movie and leaving Episode IX with almost nothing to work with. It's clear Star Wars doesn't have that end goal like the MCU does, and to be fair Lucas didn't either, but Lucas also knew how to hide that from the audience.

Even the spinoffs that were supposed to take bigger, more ambitious risks don't show a lot of creativity and originality from the directors since Disney is running it. Again, not a big MCU fan, but at least the MCU directors all have the decency to not fuck up the legacy and accomplishments the MCU films did and they never ever smear the fans that called them out for their BS. What's happening to Disney era Star Wars can be applied to the DCEU, where the producers in charge have no idea what they are doing and tie the hands of the directors behind their backs. Though at least Warner Bros. is smart enough to not bash the fans.

I doubt Disney will let James Mangold show the same creativity he did with Logan on the new Boba Fett movie.

 

[Commander X]

I don't know if this will be true because rumors like this are spread all the time, but I hope she steps down and is replaced with a more competent person.

https://movieweb.com/kathleen-kennedy-leaving-lucasfilm-star-wars/

This article is typical in its defensiveness of the massive incompetence Kennedy has displayed. The JJ Abrams-launched trilogy (uninspired but dramatically coherent) is a complete mess thanks to Kennedy and Johnson, Kennedy has shown disastrous ineptitude managing directors (her only real job), and, most damning of all in Disney's eyes, merch sales have tanked.

Kennedy is obviously far out of her depth, which appears to be at the shallow end of the pool. She's failed so hugely that even George Lucas' prequels look like glittering success stories now. Worse, she doesn't know she's failed, not that it matters because this level of blunder is too great to leave her in charge.

Meanwhile the article inanely asks if Rian Johnson's sequel trilogy is doomed. DURRR HUURRRRR!

Of course it's doomed--Kennedy is out and I would be surprised if it takes until September for the axe to fall. This news leaking is a good sign that Disney wants to pressure her to leave well before then, and the first rule of studio politics is that when a studio exec leaves, all the movies in development under him or her get thrown out. The incoming exec won't want to share credit with Kennedy for anything, and in any case her judgement has been so consistently bad that it's the safest bet to scrap everything. Whoever succeeds her will have his own development deals and favorite directors in mind anyway.

My guess is Abrams wasn't the biggest Kennedy fan, and was lured back in for Episode 9 to do damage control after she and Johnson screwed up everything. Yes, JJ Abrams probably loved all the "female empowerment" stuff, but he's a pedestrian director who colors inside the lines and understands that there are such things as dramatic structure and build-up and payoff. The Force Awakens was derivative and hacky, but it was recognizably a story, whereas The Last Jedi is one of the dumbest cinematic bungles I've ever seen, and definitely the most expensive one.

Rian Johnson himself broadcast all this with his pissy tweets about "manbabies" (as if he isn't one), meaning he knows Kennedy is out, his sequel trilogy is dead, and no one important is taking his phone calls. His career might as well be over too, and he knows it and you can smell the fear radiating from him.

 

[StarkRavingMad]

I can't believe how much the merch sales have tanked. It's surreal to see Star Wars toys occupying pretty much all of the space on the store shelves these days. I was at Target the other day on the hunt for some Infinity War FunkoPops. I could not find a SINGLE Pop from that brand. However, the shelves were filled with nothing but Star Wars Pops. They were all marked down, too! I had my pick of literally any Star Wars character I wanted.

Well, when you look into it, you can completely see why nobody is buying the stuff. For starters, nobody wants a toy of lame characters like Rose Tico and General Hux. Secondly, when you actually take a look at the Star Wars toys being sold these days, it all looks like dollar store JUNK. Nobody wants this crap. The Star Wars brand has been cheapened so damn much in so many ways that it's sad.

 

[Kari Kamiya]

I can't believe how much the merch sales have tanked. It's surreal to see Star Wars toys occupying pretty much all of the space on the store shelves these days. I was at Target the other day on the hunt for some Infinity War FunkoPops. I could not find a SINGLE Pop from that brand. However, the shelves were filled with nothing but Star Wars Pops. They were all marked down, too! I had my pick of literally any Star Wars character I wanted.

Well, when you look into it, you can completely see why nobody is buying the stuff. For starters, nobody wants a toy of lame characters like Rose Tico and General Hux. Secondly, when you actually take a look at the Star Wars toys being sold these days, it all looks like dollar store JUNK. Nobody wants this crap. The Star Wars brand has been cheapened so damn much in so many ways that it's sad.

And hell, Toys 'R' Us is in its casket ready to be lowered into the earth, and the stores are still filled with Star Wars shit. I think if it wasn't for the poor business decisions they made years back that landed them in debt, Star Wars could've been a potential cause for the death of Toys 'R' Us. (And maybe it was the final nail in their coffin, I dunno.) I feel the most bad for Hasbro, though, being forced to continue making these toys.

From Fortune, March of this year:

Yowch.

 

[RomanesEuntDomus]

You know what slays me to this day.

A New Hope is a completely autonomous and complete movie. There were no loose ends, so to speak. You didn't need a sequel or prequel to explain or complete any plotline, however, they continued several aspects to lead into The Empire Strikes Back. And they did it masterfully. One movie flows into the other perfectly, they expanded on everything.

Strangely enough, after A New Hope - despite being a self-contained movie! - there had been more plot-threads available to connect it to a sequel then there are plot-threads at the end of TLJ to connect it with the 3rd movie of this trilogy.
All TLJ did was going "Oh, so you expected this to be important? Well fuck that shit! It's not important at all!" but it set up nothing in return. There's a minor setup for whatever Darth Columbine and his buttmonkey Hux are up to, but that's it.

The fanboys and SJW-goons love to emphasize that this movie was great cause it "diverted expecations", which is technically correct - but the movie did so in the most asinine way. It didn't divert expectations by revealing something super surprising... it just went "Yeah, nah. This shit ain't important. Plot-thread resolved." It was literally taking anything JJ Abrams set up and just smashed it on the floor.

"The fact that we began to merchandise the film in September and the film came out in December was just too long a period of time to sustain retail interest..."
Shouldn't the movie be what sparks interest in (and thus sales of) that merchandise, even in December?

 

[Mola Ram]

The fanboys and SJW-goons love to emphasize that this movie was great cause it "diverted expecations", which is technically correct - but the movie did so in the most asinine way. It didn't divert expectations by revealing something super surprising... it just went "Yeah, nah. This shit ain't important. Plot-thread resolved." It was literally taking anything JJ Abrams set up and just smashed it on the floor.

If I bite into something that looks like one of those awesome Little Debbie Cosmic Brownies, but it turns out to be a hunk of dog shit, well, hell, my expectations have been subverted too!

The Last Jedi: The shit brownies of cinema.

 

[Godzilla@1989]

With the rumors regarding Kennedy stepping down, what does it say about Disney and it’s handling of Star Wars in reality?