Star Trek vs. Star Wars (and a collection of memes)

Spotted some Lego sets for Episode IX today (they’re always good teasers for what we’re going to see in new films). Was so sad to see that the Resistance will be getting Y-Wings and A-Wings as well to complete J.J. Abrams’ OT purist dream...

 

The ST sucks. I have very little interest in episode IX. In fact, most of my interest is derived from my hopes that it will fail in the box office (not saying that it will fail, but I hope it does). It still benefits from carrying the Star Wars logo, so that will help it draw in some movie goers.

The bench mark of failure for me is if it makes less than TLJ. If it makes less than TLJ I will be extremely happy... and if it makes more...

 

Ironically, I just like those sets for the weaponry. A few of the minifigure heads as well. Very useful if you play, say, Brikwars... https://brikwars.com/

 

Looking at helmets today:

 

That's because as a die hard ST defender you're ignoring the financial trend. IF Episode IX falls short of Episode VIII, then that will mean that every Disney Star Wars movie has made less than it's predecessor, namely: (TFA > TLJ > TROS) AND (Rogue One > Solo). As a business that is not what you want to see with a 4 billion dollar IP; as it would mean that they are bleeding fan support. Hence, I will take that as a victory. Conversely, if TROS trumps TLJ, then Disney has bucked that negative trend and it will be a loss for fans of real Star Wars.

I expect a little bit better from you. That is a very simplistic way of looking at things. There are some very significant factors that you have forgotten (or purposely chosen not) to consider:

• INFLATION!!!
• there are more theaters and theater seats available today than in the past
• the population of the world has increased (i.e. more potential viewers)

Ever wonder why most of the highest grossing films of all time are from the last decade (Titanic being the most notable exception)? Let's look at the top 20 worldwide box office grosses of all time...



https://www.boxofficemojo.com/alltime/world/


19 of the 20 movies on the list were released in the last decade (soon to be 18 of the 20, as Avatar will fall out of the decade range in November).

So obviously TLJ is going to have a greater un-adjusted gross than the PT that first arrived 20 years ago and the OT which first arrived more than 40 years ago. Plus TLJ benefited from the legacy of the Star Wars, it didn't create its own success.

Spoiler: You're right

 

I can only go by what I see on here. On this forum, your posts have made you the number one defender of the Sequel Trilogy. You have defended virtually every single aspect of it. Whenever I post something, you are the voice of opposition. In turn, I am likely the greatest (most vocal) adversary of Disney Star Wars.

At this point, that is objectively untrue. Recent revelations from Bob Iger's new book disprove your beliefs (search Bob Iger betrays George Lucas on YouTube for more info). In short, by Iger's own admission, they purchased the outlines for George Lucas' sequel trilogy and then decided not to use them. Suffice to say, the finished product was not in line with Lucas' vision.

So we are left with:

• George Lucas is the creator of Star Wars
• George Lucas' work is indisputably the "real Star Wars"
• George Lucas had created the stories for the Sequel Trilogy
• The Disney ST is not compatible with George Lucas' ST story
• Since Disney's and George Lucas' ST are incompatible, only one can be "real Star Wars" (they are mutually exclusive of one another)
• George Lucas, being the creator of Star Wars, trumps the validity of anything conflicting material that Disney creates

It is pretty clear cut. J.R.R. Tolkien is the ultimate source of real Lord of the Rings. J.K. Rowling is the ultimate source of real Harry Potter. By the very same measure, George Lucas is the ultimate source of real Star Wars. Anything that contradicts their work (regardless of the selling of the IP) is not "real".

That makes no sense. Inflation would actually work to help TROS to surpass TLJ. My comparison holds true. However, your comparison of the TLJ against the PT and OT is inaccurate unless you consider the very important mitigating factors that I outlined in my previous post.

Actually, if you watch the box office releases closely, you'll notice that studios are very cognizant of not releasing anything of significance near other major releases.

Unadjusted, TLJ ranks 13th.

Finding adjusted values for all the criteria I mentioned is much more difficult. Inflation is simple... but numbers of theater seats, population and global distribution are much more difficult.

I think you massively overestimate TLJ's adjusted success. (as a side note, even just considering inflation, I believe Gone with the Wind shoots up to #1)

Plus, it owes all of its success to the success of Star Wars in the past. If the Disney sequel trilogy was released today and the OT and PT had never existed, you'd find that it would have failed miserably.

I have much more than that.

• Solo lost money
• ST toys are not selling
• Galaxy's Edge is a huge failure
• there is a huge fan backlash
• Lucas and Hamill have trashed the ST
• Disney's focus on identity politics is fully apparent

You might believe Disney's excuse of Star Wars fatigue, but I can see it for what it is.