Disney and the Prequels

Well it was cannon to a degree or they wouldn't have had to have a press conference and make a big deal out of getting rid of it.

 

The PT failed to so many other fans IMO for a few reasons.

1) We all already knew the story.
2) The story started with Anakin as a little kid, not already as a Jedi Knight.
3) There is no mystery as to who becomes Darth Vader.
4) There was only 5 mins of Darth Vader.
5) No Empire.

Ok so that's actually more than a few reasons lol. But this is how I look at the PT.

1) For what they are, they are ok films I do enjoy watching them. There are far worst films out.
2) What.... was everyone really expecting 3 films of Darth Vader? That would give us no insight as to who Anakin really was.*
3) For every fan that feels the PT isn't what they were hoping it to be. You can't please everyone. And lets face it. Growing up all of us imagined what the PT would be like.
4) People complain about to much CGI, yet we all imagined hundreds of Jedi, broader space battles. You may not like what was done. But that's what we got.
5) We all already knew the story.

* 3 films of Darth Vader would kick butt tho \m/

I do agree that there are things in the PT that I would have done differently. Like showing the birth of both twins. We should've only seen Luke being born, not both. Many things about the story don't add up. But the film maker had his reasons for making them the way he did. And I may stand alone when I say this but, I enjoy the PT and I for one will miss George Lucas not being involved as much as before.

 

I firmly believe after they make the ST, there will essentially be 2 SW sagas: 1-6 and 4-9. I honestly think Disney is staying away from any major PT references in fear of backlash from the fans. For instance, they could have had Force Ghost Anakin (Hayden Christenson) be apart of this trilogy, guiding Luke/Leia and the next generation. But then people like me would be furious because I couldn't stand him in the PT. So the safe thing to do if you are going to have any force ghosts in the ST, is just have Yoda guiding the protagonists through as Yoda is universally beloved.

Which leads me to my original point. When it is all said and done, I think many fans will look at the movies as 4-9, where the story starts with Luke as the protagonists and ends with one of the Skywalker siblings in Episode 9. Then you will have many fans who will enjoy the 1-6 story of The Tragedy of Anakin Skywalker. I just don't see a majority of fans looking at it as 3 trilogies, because there is too much disconnect between them.

 

You forget that it's the majority of fans that have made the Star Wars saga the multi media monster that it has been in the last 20 years. Yes there are those who dislike the PT. But Star Wars has survived twice over due to the "majority" of fans who don't mind the PT.

If the majority of Star Wars fans didn't somewhat tolerate the PT, then it never would have become the merch machine it has. There is a OT fan base, a PT fan base and also a TCW fan base. The OT fan base is torn between the PT. And with the PT and TCW the fan base has done nothing but grow. There are a lot of SW fans on the web that complain about the PT, but there are even more who don't complain. To me the majority of SW fans embrace all Star Wars.

Disney is worried about fan backlash, but they love what GL has done with Star Wars all the way around. If Disney was going to distance themselves from the PT then why do they sell merch of Donald Duck as Darth Maul? Why do they have PT characters at "their" Star Wars weekends? Disney knows there are just as many, if not more PT and TCW fans as there are OT fans. If you thought GL was bad with making Star Wars a merch machine, then the world will be taken by storm when Disney shows what they can do with it....

So I feel the majority of Star Wars fans will embrace all 3 trilogies. And that is the 3rd group you forgot to mention \m/

 

No doubt there are fans of all SW material. I didnt' mention it because I thought that was the obvious first group of fandom, as I was talking more about the split that each trilogy has done to the other section of fanbases. In the end, there is enough SW to go around for everyone, but I have noticed that they have really marketed the Episode 7 stuff to the OT fanbase.

 

I noticed that to, and that does make me feel really great about Ep.7

 

Last week I watched again the prequel trilogy and I maintain my thought: I love it. Of course, it has its problems but the OT has too and I don't see anybody bashing about it.

Episode I: Really, it's a pretty good movie, has one of the best lightsaber battle of the saga. But the problem is Jar Jar. George insisted to make Jar Jar a comic relief and turned to be a bad idea. Jake Lloyd did a good job in the movie.

Episode II: Well, it's a good movie. There are two or three dumb lines of dialog but in general it's a good movie.

Episode III: My favorite movie with Empire Strikes Back. The movie is fantastic and every single time I watch it, almost makes me cry ;-;. The problem? Well, it should be longer to develop better the Anakin's story.

 

It's funny you mentioned casual viewers, because I sort of have a different take on that fanbase. I actually think they are going to try to go after the first casual fanbase of SW which was the ones from 1977. I'm talking about people who haven't cared about the movies since 1977, and kinda of bolted somewhere between ESB and ROTJ.

I say this because I know many of my older brothers friends who didn't share the same love of the OT that I did growing up. They were in highschool when SW came out in 1977, and they loved it. But many of them to this day still complain to me about Darth Vader being Luke's dad, as they checked out after ESB. I actually was arguing with one of my older brothers friends a few years back at a family party about the SW movies. He HATES the Vader revelation and DESPISES Luke and Leia being siblings, as he said it goes against everything that made the original great and instead made it one small universe. People like him never saw the PT, nor has even thought about SW for a long time, but he did go to ANH Special Edition in 1997, but didn't bother with the sequels.

Now if you look at the Box Office Gross of the Special Editions in 1997, there maybe a huge market of fans to market to who aren't necessarily SW diehards, but a huge fan of the original movie:

ANH: 136 million
ESB: 67 million
ROTJ: 45 million

So as much as we all tout ESB as the best SW movie, the bottom line was that the Original SW made more then both ESB & ROTJ combined when it was re-released in 1997. And many of my older brothers friends are an example of that.

 

I think that is the real difference between the OT generation and other generations. The OT generation like us LOVE SW like it is a cult, where the other generation may like the movies, but its just another blockbuster to them they saw a few summers ago.

I say this cause my nephews grew up during the PT just like I grew up during the OT. They were all into SW in 2005 when Episode 3 came out, and they enjoyed the movie (their 3 favorites are ANH, ESB, and ROTS), but that was then this is now. They are in highschool now and SW is no different then the Harry Potter blockbusters or the Avengers. Of course they will see Episode 7 when it comes out because its still SW, but they are nowhere near as much a fan of the movies as my friends were growing up.

I can name 5 of my friends I grew up with that I still talk to that still love the OT movies, and it is amazing if you think about it. Even guys in work I talk to who grew up with OT all revere those movies whenever they are brought up. Even if the ST is great, I just don't think SW will ever capture a generation like it did with the OT generation. It's just one of those things that was lightning in a bottle that caught a generation of kids at the right time. Maybe if I was born a few years earlier like my older brother's friends, I wouldn't be here.

 

I was thinking about this alot last night, and I think there are 2 type of blockbusters: The summer blockbusters that make huge money that cater to exactly who are talking about. And then there are films like Jaws, Star Wars 1977, ET, Titanic, The Dark Knight, and Avatar, that made obscene amounts of money because they catered to EVERYONE.

The reason these movies make billions instead of millions is because you aren't limited to fanboys, kids and casual fans, and that is what essentially what everything thinks Episode 7 is marketing too. Now this is not a bad strategy because it will make hundreds of millions domestically, and probably a billion after it is all said and done with foreign gross.

But why can't Episode 7 appeal to male adults over the age of 45 and females like Titanic did? Avatar did? The Dark Knight did? All of those movies were the must see movie for EVERY movie-goer in the past 15 years and outgrossed any summer blockbuster that appeals to fanboys. Lets just take The Dark Knight for example. That movie is the 4th highest grossing film of all time (now I am not adjusting for inflation), but EVERYONE I know went and saw it, because the buzz was, "You have to see this movie!" I usually go with friends to see movies like this, but I actually went with my friend and his mother and father and law. They kept asking me, "I heard this Dark Knight movie with Heath Ledger as the Joker is great, would you guys want to go?" I never thought I would see a comic book movie with 2 people in the late 50's! But I remember thats what it was like for Star Wars in 1977, as my parents went, my neighbors parents went, my cousins, uncle and aunt, ALONG with kids like me who saw it a zillion times.

That is why when I was talking about casual audience from the 1977 Star Wars movie, THOSE are the people that rarely see 'fanboy' movies. Maybe Episode 7 gets a great reviews, and the critics proclaim, "Star Wars is back after all of these years, and it doesn't hurt that Ford, Fisher and Hamill are back too." Right now, all of my SW friends are seeing Episode 7, but will people like my friends mother and father in law see it? That would truly make it a blockbuster.

 

I agree with you about Titanic, Avatar, Star Wars, Jaws, and ET, as they were cultural phenomenons that just took off and never stopped, as they were all original. But The Dark Knight is the one that has me alittle confused at its mass appeal, as I questioned it back in 2008. One, Batman was nothing new to the public like the other movies we named, heck the franchise was dead in 1997 after the Clooney debacle. The reboot had a successful original in Batman Begins, but that was purely a fanboy movie. The Dark Knight's movie gross puzzled me in 2008 and still puzzles me now, and I guess that is why I equate Episode 7 to it in my analogy.

I do agree with you that the death of Heath Ledger gave the movie a mysterious quality about it, but there had to be more then that? Don't get me wrong, I think The Dark Knight is a great movie, but its no Star Wars, Jaws, or ET, IMO. I am still in shock that my friends in laws wanted to see a comic book movie? They are probably seeing movies like Interstellar right now, yet The Dark Knight was THE movie of 2008 and shattered records before Avatar.