Star wars

[Cyber]

It was my favourite thing as a kid. Born in 68 and saw the movie in the theatre so many times when it was new in 77 and then in 78. Now I watch the old films and facepalm so hard over the dialogue.

Yeah I tried re-watching "A New Hope" and found the effects and dialogue clunky and dated. You can see improvements in empire strikes back and bigger improvements in Return of the Jedi. But I don't think I could re-watch the entire trilogy again except for Youtube clips. the Prequels and Clone wars, on the other hand have enough more "modern" innovations and the dialogue is cool, so I could re-watch these.

 

[Poppy98]

2 or 2 not.
There is no 3.
(Say the numbers in French you must.

)

Oh, my...

 

[Cyber]

Visited this In Melbourne a couple of day's ago
LEGO® Star Wars: The Exhibition

 

[Cyber]

Looking forward to the Darth Maul series being release on Disney Plus on April 6. trailers are out now

Dave Filoni has taken over as president of Lucasfilm from Kathleen Kennedy so I am expecting more exciting new Star wars harking back to the Clone wars.

 

[thejuice]

Dave Filoni has taken over as president Lucasfilm from Kathleen Kennedy

Hopefully this is a sign they are moving away from their tone deaf stance and listening to fan feedback. We might be the 'wrong' audience, but money talks and Disney are still $2.8 billion short of recouping their $4 billion outlay from way back in 2012.

The question is can they win back alienated fans.

 

[Cyber]

Hopefully this is a sign they are belatedly listening to audience feedback. They might not like us, but money talks and Disney are still $2.8 billion short of recouping their $4 billion outlay made in 2012.

Yes, an expensive mistake giving Kathleen Kennedy too much artistic control over Lucasfilm. Of course a mega corp like Disney can wear such losses but not sure how they sold Kathleen Kennedy's many financial flops to Disney shareholders over a period spanning 14 years? very mysterious

 

[Cyber]

Ok perhaps I was hasty and misjudged her actual impact. According to Disney:

Under Kathleen Kennedy's leadership, Lucasfilm generated over $5.6 billion at the box office and significantly boosted Disney+. While some specific projects like The Acolyte faced high costs and certain, individual films were criticized, the overall Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and related content produced under her stewardship has resulted in massive overall revenue.

So yes, she leaves Disney shareholders much much richer...

 

[thejuice]

That's a misleading stat because they cite revenue, not profit margin and claim massive success. I don't blame you, I came across that figure through AI. A company's revenue figure only includes sales proceeds, while profit incorporates the expenses to generate revenue.

The success of Star Wars has been mixed and below expectations.

Forbes:

Box office profits generated by Disney's Star Wars movies have fallen $2.8 billion short of covering the media giant's $4 billion purchase of the sci-fi saga’s creator, Lucasfilm, according to analysis of recently-filed financial statements.

The calculation doesn't include the results of the other Lucasfilm franchises. As we recently revealed, Disney lost $134.2 million at the box office on its latest Indiana Jones movie and Lucasfilm's streaming series based on 1988 fantasy film Willow was canceled despite the Mouse pouring more than $100 million into it.

Disney ‘Star Wars’ Box-Office Profits Fail To Cover Cost Of Buying Lucasfilm

 

[JayCee]

THANK You Cyber Loved the Lego Stars Wars vid .

 

[Cyber]

That's a deception spread online by activists. They cite revenue, not profit margin and claim massive success. I don't blame you, I came across that figure through AI. A company's revenue figure only includes sales proceeds, while profit incorporates the expenses to generate revenue.

Forbes:



Disney ‘Star Wars’ Box-Office Profits Fail To Cover Cost Of Buying Lucasfilm

I think the shareholders were given this report from Disney in March 2024
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1744489/000095015724000366/defa14a.htm

According to this report during KK's stewardship - Star Wars film franchise has made 2.9 times the revenue as what they’ve spent on it. Disney has made about $12B in revenue over about 12 years after the $4B figure that Disney paid to purchase Lucasfilm. the report suggests; these revenues include theatre revenue. shows, videos, video games, theme park attractions, and merchandise.

As I said, I'm confused if shareholders were given these numbers it probably does explain KKs reign over Lucasfilm for 14 years. Otherwise why risk keeping her?

 

[thejuice]

I agree it's confusing. Correct me if I'm wrong but I believe that report was widely seen as Disney spin to investors. The methodology was apparently highly questionable and featured a lot of 'lying by omission'.

From what I gather, the 2.9x return on investment (ROI) excludes the purchase price of Lucasfilm. Not only that, they included projected revenue for the next 10 years in the ROI, claiming a huge return on investment they hadnt even received yet.

I think other flaws in the report were excluding the cost of marketing (est. 100m per film), the cost of making all the Star Wars Series for their streaming platform and the cost of operating theme park rides. They only included the 5 Star Wars films and excluded the big losses of other LucasFilm franchises like -130m for Indiana Jones 5 and -100m invested in the cancelled Willow.

Furthermore it's hard to calculate the revenue for the streaming of all the Star Wars Series as it's a subscription for all of Disney+ content. Star Wars themed rides at Disneyland don't have a direct revenue stream either, it's a price of a ticket on the door for access to all rides. Who knows what impact Star Wars had on the profits of these two entertainment divisions, and how it affected ROI for the purchase of Lucasfilm.

As to why they kept Kathleen Kennedy for so long, I expect it's a lot to do with the alleged inflated financial reporting by Disney to deceive investors, her extensive industry connections, she was hand-picked by George Lucas, sunk cost fallacy, a hope they eventually succeed in attracting their coveted younger, modern audience, and an unrealistic expection that legacy Star Wars fans would eventually get hip to the modern social messaging.

However, the downward trend in fortunes didn't match their wishful thinking and blaming the core fanbase wasn't fixing their bottom line, so it looks like they belatedly pulled the trigger on the person ultimately accountable.

 

[velociraptor]

Noticed nobody setup a Star wars discussion thread? thought I would start one...post anything star wars here...

My problem is that the older I get, the worse Lucas' dialogue gets.

Rogue One is my fave.

 

[Cyber]

My problem is that the older I get, the worse Lucas' dialogue gets.

Rogue One is my fave.

Rogue one is probably the only cinematic masterpiece Disney produced. Andor was really hard work, it just seemed to me a sci-fi film that coincidentally took place in the Star wars galaxy during the empire. More academic > entertaining

 

[Cyber]

I think other flaws in the report were excluding the cost of marketing (est. 100m per film), the cost of making all the Star Wars Series for their streaming platform and the cost of operating theme park rides. They only included the 5 Star Wars films and excluded the big losses of other LucasFilm franchises like -130m for Indiana Jones 5 and -100m invested in the cancelled Willow.

Yes I do remember now Disney were alleged to have not including marketing costs in their published numbers. But here's the thing, if we can investigate this so can investors. Shareholders are not blindly putting faith in CEOs Bob Eiger and Bob Chapek. Basically from what I gather Disney Star wars has been making profit > budget but over time but that margin has been less favourable to shareholders over time so I imagine there has been mounting pressure to change freshen up the Lucasfilm leadership.

 

[Cyber]

As to why they kept Kathleen Kennedy for so long, I expect it's a lot to do with the alleged inflated financial reporting by Disney to deceive investors, her extensive industry connections, she was hand-picked by George Lucas, sunk cost fallacy, a hope they eventually succeed in attracting their coveted younger, modern audience, and an unrealistic expection that legacy Star Wars fans would eventually get hip to the modern social messaging.

However, the downward trend in fortunes didn't match their wishful thinking and blaming the core fanbase wasn't fixing their bottom line, so it looks like they belatedly pulled the trigger on the person ultimately accountable.

I think there's two aspects to Kathleen Kennedy. She was the heir apparent from George Lucas himself. She had been working with the biggest names in Hollywood and produced almost all the biggest Hollywood sci-fi and fantasy blockbusters in the 1980s and 90s. Despite her current detractors her resume and financial success was actually unmatched by anyone except Spielberg (whom she worked closely with) and Lucas. So putting her in charge of Lucasfilm was a no-brainer. George Lucas thought so.

She was also highly connected, so getting rid of her was not easy. From my own research, Disney and Disney shareholders were not listening to fans until her first confirmed box office failure "Solo, A Star wars Story" in 2018. From that point Disney marketing were concerned her name was tarnishing the brand. Her ideas were also old. She was probably drawing heavily on 80s when she came up with Grogu or BB8 or Skeleton crew or Jedi kids as a way to make kids merchandise, But this was not converting enough of a new generation of fans (if you watch comi-con 90% of Star wars fans are older white males cosplaying, no kids, POC or women). Her focus since 2018 is kids/females/POC and it shows in casting. From Dec 2023 there has been a succession plan to find a replacement, she had been openly saying she is looking to step down as the head of Lucasfilm and I think Dave Filoni and Lynwen Brennan have been being simply being trained during what is a transition phase.

 

[Hypnalis]

"The internet" thinks KK was a very good producer, but failed to make the transition to being a studio head, which requires a very different skill set.
One important skill she needed but perhaps never had is the ability to ensure the studio makes content that appeals to a large (and real) audience.

The most obvious issue in terms of Star Wars is that the strategy was to pivot to a new audience, and to do so in a way that made the content much less appealing to the majority of the established audience for the franchise. The current audience is much smaller than the original one.
This made the content selection, creative choices, and investment levels they chose inconsistent with the potential income and profit.

The medium-term effect of this will probably become clear within three to six months (Disney can hide it for a while longer, but not much more).

"The Internet" thinks they'll have to let the failed franchises rest for a while.
In the short term that would be a shame for the remaining loyal Star Wars fans, but at least there would be a possible future for the franchise.

 

[velociraptor]

Rogue one is probably the only cinematic masterpiece Disney produced. Andor was really hard work, it just seemed to me a sci-fi film that coincidentally took place in the Star wars galaxy during the empire. More academic > entertaining

Andor is top notch, props where due. I am also fond of The Mandalorian. Book of Boba Fett... [Makes sign of cross. Spits. Spits again. Digs grave for Boba Fett BluRay and then salts and burns it.]

Kenobi... Surprisingly good. Young Leia is a scene stealer and McGregor does Alec McGuiness proud.

 

[Cyber]

The most obvious issue in terms of Star Wars is that the strategy was to pivot to a new audience, and to do so in a way that made the content much less appealing to the majority of the established audience for the franchise. The current audience is much smaller than the original one.
This made the content selection, creative choices, and investment levels they chose inconsistent with the potential income and profit.

Yes agreed, I think this was ultimately KK's undoing. She lacked vision so couldn't replicate George Lucas's ability to keep capturing a new generation of fans. Also the medium Disney are working with (Disney + subscriptions Vs box office) changes what younger people want. She hasn't been keeping up with the times (Filoni has). He has clocked up enough "credits" now to lead the franchise. He also has technical oversight on special effects, animation, CGI and AI > KK

 

[Cyber]

"The internet" thinks KK was a very good producer, but failed to make the transition to being a studio head, which requires a very different skill set.

Agreed

 

[Cyber]

Andor is top notch, props where due.

I'm kind of with the young people here. Andor had a budget of $700m for 2 seasons. Such a huge budget...but where did all the money go?? the prequels has a combined budget of 300m and outdated special effects and big named A-list actors who sucked a lot of the budget.

Yet in 2026 I can still watch "the phantom Menace", "Clone wars" or "ROTS" and still be completely immersed, captivated and teleported to another universe. Same with LOTR, the Hobbit, Harry Potter or Marvel's "Endgame"

If I am being brutally honest, if I watch Andor, its like an intense drama set in a dystopian backdrop that is seriously hard work to watch. Big dollars but no memorable special effects? what's the point of setting it in the Star wars universe if its just going to be a "Days of our lives" teledrama.