Horner

Sure, the prequels created a new generation of fans. That's why there was a bitter, loud divide in the fanbase (just as there is now, and just as loud). For the new fans they created the PT was their Star Wars and many were angry with the old guard for diminishing their enjoyment of them with the unending criticisms. ROTS was the least disliked for many of those older fans but the criticisms of it didn't change or drop off all that much. Certainly not enough to make Lucas feel any differently about making more movies (that answer from him about making more came just a couple of years before he sold to Disney). The Sequel Trilogy has created a new generation of fans to. It might be hard to gauge just how many at this point. I don't think toy sales can be used as an accurate measuring stick because kids today have so much more to choose from to spend their free time on. Certainly more than we did during the OT period and even when the PT was coming out. I had a ton of SW toys growing up but I have no doubt that if I had access to today's gaming systems or tablets I wouldn't have owned many basic action figures or vehicles, even with the modest upgrades they've had since then.

You realize the PT gave rise to the "George Lucas raped my childhood!!" reactions right? The heated opinions on the PT have softened since the Disney revival because, at the time, most people thought that the prequels were going to be the franchise's send off and there would be no more movies to follow. That and the fires have had over a decade to die down. But make no mistake, a large swath of the fans weren't very accepting of them back when they came out just because they were Lucas' creation. Just ask Jake Lloyd, Hayden Christensen, or Ahmed Best how accepting they were. When asked about making more Star Wars movies (before he decided to sell the company) Lucas himself responded why would he make more when people just end up telling you how much of a terrible person you are for having made them. No offense to your uncle but on this, the dude is just wrong.

They have Mulan slated for 2020 and it's already in production. They don't seem to be in any hurry with TLM, yet.

If you missed him in the international trailer you may need to have your eyes and ears checked.

It probably does but as soon as you add a viewer participation component you're creating what some will view as a platform. What you'd end up with is the prestige normally associated with an Academy Award crossed with the shenanigans of the RT audience score.

Not that they could ever lure him back, but giving GotG 3 to Edgar Wright and watching the Gunn fans and Wright stans go at it would be at least an amusing post-A4 distraction.

MoviePass: See a movie a day for only $9.95 per month /attend 2 movies in a month MoviePass: You're abusing the system !!!

It supposedly still works for buying MI tickets for Landmark theaters.

I've always thought that George was willing to take a bit of a bath on TCW in the interest of getting his animation team up to the point he wanted them to be at in the event that he was able to put Strange Magic into production. Didn't end up helping the later none too much either way.

Truly horrible news. After seeing Kevin Smith, who is not much younger than Schnepp, cheat death not too long ago, I hope some of the same good fortune can find it's way to Jon. The guy is way too young for this.

People always seemed to like all of those Deathpool gags on the Twitter. We should give that a shot.

Looks like Starscream won't be alone.

The problem with such a stand is that a good chunk of that toxic fandom is actively wanting the franchise to collapse. A large percentage of established name directors opting out of ever directing one of the movies is an incremental step towards that goal. But there would be a sweet tinge of irony to Rian Johnson ending up directing the majority of them for the foreseeable future due to a lack of takers.

Daredevil and Elektra ... with Affleck and Garner tying the knot for reals a couple of years afterwards.

Of course you can like McGregor as Obi-Wan and still have an otherwise low regard for the prequels. The Disney era movies have leaned pretty heavily on OT era nostalgia though. TFA did it to such an extent that there were some people who looked at that as a not so subtle repudiation of the particular part of the franchise they happen to like the most. And I didn't say anything about having to have a jedi as the main character in a SW movie. I just think that maybe (spitballing here) that the GA sees Star Wars in very narrow terms. It scratches a particular itch with them. And once you take away enough of the elements that indicate that's what a movie will be doing (flashing around a lightsaber is one of those) then you better be replacing all of that with something compelling. Solo didn't, at least not in it's marketing (so yeah it was half of the problem). Rogue One still had enough of that old secret sauce showing up in the marketing; conflict between good guys and bad guys playing out on an epic scale, WW2 styled combat in space, Vader, and all of it bound together in sweeping orchestral pieces. I think the core fans see the franchise as a bit more than that particular mix but I don't think LFL has succeeded in cultivating that same regard with the general audience yet.

Yeah of all the various spin-off ideas that have been floated out there, Obi-Wan is the one that has probably garnered the most fan support outside of Rogue One. I'm not wanting to see them go that way myself but of the ones that are known to be in development it's probably the smartest play. When the disaffected camp of fans was starting to take shape a few years ago some of the earliest adopters were the prequelists who believe that the new blood at Lucasfilm harbors a certain disdain for those movies. Bringing McGregor back would reach out to that group. And the character is a jedi so they can use lightsaber combat in the marketing. I think that part of the problem they had with marketing Solo to the general audience was that it was stripped of too many of the franchise's traditional hallmarks that the GA identifies with it, undercutting it's surface appeal.

Probably. Disney will want to float a reminder out there for Fox shareholders voting on their offer in about a month that they have one of the most prolifically successful franchises in their stable and not just a Star Wars property in the midst of a stumble.

It was a web show. Well show might be a little generous. Most of the vids were like 5ish minutes long.

And BP tickets went on sale further away from the opening date than Solo's did. More than 2 weeks further away from it as I remember. Solo outselling it in the first 24 hours isn't outlandish, even with the poor performance opening weekend.

I wouldn't go that far. He said he initially thought it might open to about $100M but he started buying into the tracking and the Fandago presales stories after they made the rounds. He's trying to say now he never thought it would do that well but he certainly didn't call bullocks on those tracking numbers at the time. Just listen to his Star Wars Talk vid from May 6 (which is still up for now).