Matthew Ball: 'Star Wars' Fatigue Is a Myth (but Disney’s Mistakes Were Real, Costly and Avoidable): "What we’re seeing is what I’d term 'accrued disappointment', a trend obfuscated by unprecedented short-term success but that almost always surfaces later down the line.... After only two films had been released, four of the directors originally announced for the first six films had been fired or replaced. Two of the firings happened so late into filming that upwards of 80% of the two films had to be reshot, to the tune of more than 100MM each. Until Solo, this chaos didn’t seem to affect the franchise’s box office.... In The Force Awakens... J.J. Abrams set up three major antagonists: Supreme Leader Snoke, Captain Phasma and The Knights of Ren. However, Rian Johnson’s The Last Jedi (Episode VIII) quickly killed the first two and ignored the third.... With Abrams returning to close out the trilogy, more whipsaw seems likely...
#noted #2019-12-09
