People expecting a catastrophic bomb at the box office are a bit too hyped, I guess.
Expect this movie to make a decent amount of cash, since it'll be a bland mess where all issues that we have are actually only issues when you switch on your brain - something the average movie goer doesn't do by default, he has been trained by Marvel, Fast and Furious, Michael Bay and the likes not to do that.
The movie might make less money than TLJ, continuing the steady downfall, and it will be enough of a blunder (if you factor in the cost of the franchise), that Disney will take some time to retool their plans for the franchise, but it won't be a Solo-like failure. Sadly.
Yes...and maybe no? The anti-hype does seem surreal, but man does things not look good at all for LucasFilms. Practically all the signs of a flop happening are present. Those being (to name a few)
Part 1 - Regarding Production
I) Having two release dates that aren't separated by no more than 2 days. This I think is going to hurt them the most because the movie will leak completely and/or confirm the few leaks that have circulated.
II) Re-shoots up the ass and down to the wire. Yes re-shoots are a bit of a thing these days sure, but I've never heard of a movie being re-shot up to a few months before its release date never mind edited and rendered right down to the end (hell, from what I've heard the rating of the movie wasn't made official until a few days ago). The last time this happened to any movie most of us has heard of was Solo and guess what happened to that? You guessed it, it bombed.
III) This movie has been leaking too much (way too much if you ask me). In general, you never normally see this happen for a movie or a series unless either are bad or at least the management of production was bad (movie or show could still be good). Who has ever heard of this happening to a film or show that did financially well in the end?
IV) JJ and KK have both stated there was no test screening for this movie even though both contradicted themselves by also stating that people outside LucasFilm have seen the movie. Why they would even admit to making such a statement in the first place is beyond me. This indicates to me they were probably not confident as to how well the final version would be received (although were that the case, that would technically make their statement true since the test screening audience didn't see the real version though that would still qualify as a "test"). That or they didn't want anyone leaking the final version although this doesn't explain why then they would have two release dates.
Part 2 - Regarding Marketing and Behind the scenes drama
V) The people involved not only have admitted that part of the movie's script (at least at one point) have been leaked (something I've never heard of happening before though I'd imagine there may be some precedent), but additionally threw shade at the offender. They also additionally somewhat tried burying this news (i.e. JJ saying he wouldn't name names) only to have Daisy Ridley come out forward and accuse Boyega who later admitted to doing it. I have never, ever seen anything like this before nor do I understand why Ridley would quite frankly throw her colleague under the bus like this. You would think at the very least she would have kept quiet about it unless asked, but no. She just ran out and threw Boyega under the bus for no reason.
VI) The people involved have thrown a little shade at TLJ/Rian Johnson just days before this movie. This in particular reeks of desperation, as though they think that now agreeing with fans who have hated the one movie that turned them away from the franchise will somehow win them over. Newsflash it won't not just because you've already pissed on us before and defended Rian Johnson's film and his behavior toward the fans, but also because we're simply not interested anymore in this sequel trilogy because it sucks. You would think that at least after Solo bombing they should have then been far more conciliatory to fans, but no. You pretty much chose a few days ago to diss the previous movie. Also, while you did this you managed to piss off all the POS stupid ingrate imbeciles online that have been defending you tooth and nail especially when it came to TLJ. Great job there.
VII) Bob Iger not too long ago in his autobiography, spoke about essentially sidelining (to put it nicely) Lucas story treatments and advice. Something at least diehard fans didn't appreciate when they heard about it (or will hear about if they haven't already).
VIII) Kathleen Kennedy has said the following three things during the production of this movie :
A) The title (i.e. of Episode IX) doesn't mean anything (she literally said that);
B) They had no source material to work with : a complete and outright lie which her overlord Bob Iger himself has publicly contradicted. I won't even bother elaborating how there clearly were sources for them to work with especially considering they clearly ripped off from some of them; and
C) As mentioned before, she has stated that there was no test screening. Again either a complete and outright lie, or she has tried covering up the version that will be released as much as she possibly can.
IX) Ian McDiarmid has (either recently or some time ago) gone on record saying that not only did Lucas make clear to him Palpatine was dead but that he was surprised that JJ called him to reprise his role for Episode 9. Indicating that, no it was never part of the overall sequel trilogy plan which if I'm not mistaken was further corroborated by Colin Trevorrow, who was going to do the movie before apparently KK fired him, who said it was, at least, not part of his plan to bring back the emperor. Again, it isn't necessary to explain in terms of canon how stupid this whole idea is. The point here is just to demonstrate how inconsistent, desperate, and stupid the powers that be were in this particular regard.
X) The overall marketing and fluff pieces have just been disastrous. It's as they can't say or do anything without causing a stir. Here are just a few examples of such
A) Billy D reportedly coming out as "gender fluid" even though he later said that was a load of rubbish,
B) Boyega supposedly throwing shade at Kelly Marie Tran only to walk it back,
C) Daisy Ridley supposedly throwing shade at John Boyega/saying she isn't privileged,
D) The same talentless twit bitching about Trump,
E) Articles have been coming out dialing down their projections as to how well this movie will do (again another thing that happened with Solo), and
F) A few more examples courtesy of Midnight's Edge :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFAxP5A1LiU , I particularly like the comparison of this trilogy's ending marketing to Avenger's Endgame.
I'll stop right here for now. Far more should be added which I'm sure the folks in Midnight's Edge will happily do when they do their mortuary report on this movie, but I felt like pointing out how absurd this movie's production and marketing has been regardless of the damage the sequel trilogies have done to the fanbase and cannon.
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