Why is backstory so important?

Muddled production. Rumors of the lead needing an "acting coach" reported out of context. Firing directors mid shoot. Poorly placed in early summer....all bigger factors.

 

MARKETING! zero product for purchase. if toys sales are "down" it's because there aren't any to buy! XD

 

Yep. Waiting until the last minute to drop a trailer....

 

let’s not beat around the bush.. they picked a movie that hardly got anyone excited, had mahoosive production problems, released it too close to another SW movie, did almost no marketing, released the trailer only 2 months before release, placed the movie right after an absolute giant (IW), ended up being a week after deadpool2 as well, and to be a complete list.. had a few disgruntled fans that ‘may’ have decided against seeing it.

a total car crash from beginning to end.

how it ended up being a good movie.. I’ll never know.


In my opinion there is no single reason for the low box office numbers.. there is a lorry load of reasons.

I also believe that LF may have wanted a December release, but that Disney wanted no movies anywhere near their own flagship production this year.. Mary poppins.

it’s all pie in the sky.. but the lack of marketing may have been LF cutting their losses.


this thread used to be about backstory didn’t it? lol. apologies.. I got tricked into talking about this

 

Solo is all backstory so it's on point

 

If all of this was so obvious, then how come NOBODY in the indusry, fandom, critics, etc, predicted this to bomb? Or even predicted this to underperform, as even a few weeks before there were articles saying the pre-sales tickets were through the roof? And people forget the first teaser premiered in the first 5 minutes of.......The Superbowl! The single most watched event in the US every year as it is almost a national holiday. No SW film has ever had it's Teaser or Trailer premiere during a Superbowl, so lets not say there was 'no' marketing.

And for the record, Solo is great and alot of diehard and casual fans (that I know personally who became indifferent towards the franchise after TLJ.) really missed out.

 

Can we steer this back on topic and not this tired debate about Solo's many issues?

 

I think Solo's issues, especially financially, play a big role in the importance of backstory in the Star Wars universe. Mostly in such that, the GA doesn't give a blast about the backstories of side characters like we do and trying to make movies on them is not the wisest investment.

 

Yeah I'm waiting for solid evidence rather than empty claims.
Without decent evidence pointing to this one factor above all the others that put a damper on Solo it just smacks of confirmation bias.

Not to mention few even wanted this story let alone one with an actor who didn't look much like the one they loved!

Obligatory...

 

Was it important to show Vito Corleone's backstory in Godfather Part 2?

 

In Godfather II, the movie was trying to illustrate how far the Corleone family has fallen, from Vito being a victim of the gangster in Sicily and then a hero who protected the New York Italian community from the local gangster, to Michael ordering the execution of his own brother.

As for Snoke, the impression left at the end of ROTJ was that the Siths had all been wiped out. So people are naturally curious as to where did this powerful dark-side force user come from.

 

I don't think there's terribly much left that the GA cares about anymore, and this is going to be a huge problem going forward. They certainly cared about Han, Luke and Leia - but those ships have sailed. I don't think the general public is all that terribly wrapped up in the adventures of Finn, Rey and Poe.

So if the main characters' backstories don't matter to the general public, and the current characters don't matter to the general public, then Star Wars is in a lot of trouble.

 

One of my biggest problems with the ST is the fact that we don't get enough friendship built up between the three main characters. TFA did this well but I feel it was a mistake to separate all three of them in TLJ for most of the movie. Poe doesn't even meet Rey until the end of that film. One of my favorite things about the OT was the friendship between Han, Luke, and Leia. I wish we had more with Rey, Finn, and Poe.

 

not sure how I missed that last month.. great article Pomo!

I highly recommend it to those that haven’t read it.

 

Ok. I’m not sure how many posts I just read to get caught up but I think my head might be spinning but I do have a few thoughts.

1. The 3 SW trilogies are unique in that they can be watched as a 1-9 story but they can be watched individually (PT,OT,ST) without seeing any of the other trilogies first just as @DailyPlunge has pointed out. This is why when introducing my kids to SW I could show them the OT first and the and then backtrack to the PT. It is why a young boy I know can go with his friend to see TFA and see SW for the first time and absolutely love it without a lot of knowledge of what came before. If you want it to look at it as just one big story, there are enough story threads to keep the story cohesive.

2. Snoke technically is a minor/supporting character. His amount of screen time in both movies supports this. His main purpose of the movies is to be a supporting character to the character of Kylo Ren by aiding in the growth and development of Kylo.

3. As far as Snoke’s backstory I can understand wanting to know more. I would like to know more. I respect the opinions of those who feel it is important to get this in the ST, I just don’t agree with it. If we were to get it that would be ok. I just don’t think it is vital. Considering we are only 2/3 through the trilogy, I’m not quite sure what the big fuss is about. There is still one more opportunity in the ST to get some more info on Snoke’s backstory. JJ created the character. If his background is so important then he can easily find a way to write it into IX without it feeling forced. I guess when IX comes out we will see how much JJ values the need to tell Snoke’s backstory.

4. I for one think we will get Snoke’s story in either novel or comic. We won’t see this until the ST has completely finished next year

 

most of the fans that dont like it are as i am older and dont really go on line to talk about how much we despised it. and then disney and such say we dont want a woman in the role, WRONG we wanted Leia in that role at the end of 6 she was told of her powers but she still in the war room and not using them. and no i didnt watch all the cartoons and such, movies need to stand on their own.

 

I will say this as succinctly as I can...

For the individual stories told in the individual trilogies - back story is not important
For the overall saga and how the trilogies tie together - back story is massively important when you introduce a major character late in the game

1-3 - An individual part of a greater tale
4-6 - An individual part of a greater tale
1-6 - one story
7-8 - it's own thing (mimicking the OT)

And if you leave the ST as it's own thing, separate from the SAGA, then the backstory is not important at all.

Imagine introducing someone to SW with the ST... They watch it and love it and are intrigued by this Snoke character... They discover there are 6 (YES SIX!!!) previous entries, so they decide to watch them thinking they will learn a bit more about Snoke, this major player who is steeped in the darkside, leads the First Order and turned Ben Solo...
How's that gonna work out for them? LMAO

 

i honestly don't know a single person who isn't a die-hard Star Wars fan who has ever asked about or cared about Snoke.
the only character anyone has ever asked me about has been Lor San Tekka, and only to know whether he was someone from the before movies and we were supposed to know who he was. and when i said "no", the person asking said: okay! and kept watching, completely okay with that.

if you're intrigued by Snoke's character, that's great and maybe the eu will eventually fill in all the gaps.
but no amount of insisting that he matters to the story is going to make him actually matter to the story beyond being a creepy predator who seduced Ben Solo.