Star Wars VIII: The Last Jedi (2017) (spoilers free to be seen)

[The Lurker]

https://twitter.com/rianjohnson/status/954398041598918656

[RVR II]

[Cyrusso]

When I saw The Phantom Menace 18 years ago, I somehow bamboozled myself into believing it was actually a good movie. I was only 21 at the time so critical thought was not a big factor on my mind. It wasn't until weeks or months later that I realized that the critics and fans were right, the Phantom Menace was a piece of garbage(just my opinion though).

So there I was, 18 years later watching The Last Jedi for the very first time. After that initial screening I wasn't so sure what to make of the movie. I knew it was good but I wasn't sure if I was just bamboozling myself again or if I was being too critical of some of what bothered me about the film. Having seen it a second time I was able to form some more coherent thoughts and have a more solid opinion of what I saw. You guys already know what I thought of the film overall so I don't feel the need to reiterate. The Last Jedi has some very poignant themes, the most prominent being that of self sacrifice and failure. Whether it's the failure of Luke to keep Ben Solo from turning to the Dark side, the failure of the Jedi or the failure of Finn, Poe and Rose's plan. The hard part is finding hope within failure, within loss, because things for the Resistance are much worse for them in this movie than they were for the Rebellion in ROTJ. These themes should be meaningful for us all. As someone before me said "Meaningful work endures". If that's true, than The Last Jedi will endure all the unmitigated hatred.

[Charles Castle]

I played keyboard for the new young rebels years ago.... 

Did you guys start out as just The Young Rebels, and find out there was already another band with that name?

[MartyS (Gromit)]

I played keyboard for the new young rebels years ago.... 

Did you guys start out as just The Young Rebels, and find out there was already another band with that name?

You know how it is, rebels don't stick around, pretty high turnover in the rebel arts.   

[kunedog]

Ouch . . . somebody outta spring that one on Disney's accountants.

[Edward J Grug III]

Ouch . . . somebody outta spring that one on Disney's accountants.

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/franchises/chart/?id=starwars.htm

I'm sure they are in tears.

[kunedog]

Hey look, it'll crack $600M this weekend, bringing it a mere $200M short of the target.

I've read that, only four months from the next film, the reason we haven't seen a trailer (or even a teaser) is to avoid stepping on Last Jedi's toes.  A silver lining to TLJ's swift exit from box office relevance could be to give Disney a head start on the Solo marketing blitz.

[Edward J Grug III]

What was their target?

I wish my problems were I only directed the second highest grossing Star Wars film.

[Pak-Man]

1.2 billion worldwide. Nothing to sneeze at.

[kunedog]

What was their target?

The projection I read was $800M, which is ~16% less than Force Awakens.  Might sound steep, but Last Jedi's opening weekend was only 11% less, so TFA had clearly guaranteed TLJ an huge initial audience and ensured that it started from an advantageous position.

The target was more than attainable.  TLJ just had to be worth audiences' time.

Instead, it's shed viewers at a record pace and ended up down ~37% (even with the benefit of that inflated opening), unlikely to climb more than a few points higher.  And I will again point out that the real damage has yet to manifest: that of souring audience expectations, squandering the existing story, and setting up nothing for the next film . . . as opposed to the ample enthusiam and intrigue that TFA had so demonstrably served up to TLJ on a silver platter.

[MartyS (Gromit)]

and setting up nothing for the next film

I don't think the lack of a cliffhanger matters in this case, the fact that Carrie is dead is enough to fuel curiosity in the next film.  Everyone is wondering what the hell they are going to do.

You could say the setup for this one hurt it, the expectation that Luke would become Yoda was rampant, when that didn't happen it turned off the people that spent 2 years wanting it.  What they did with Luke was far more interesting dramatically, but that doesn't matter if you are going in with very different expectations.

[Pak-Man]

Yeah, if the story ended here, it would be a huge disappointment. How do the rebels rebuild from what little they have left? What about the force-using kid? What's to be done about Kylo Ren and the new order? There's lots for the next movie to do.

[RVR II]

Yeah, if the story ended here, it would be a huge disappointment. How do the rebels rebuild from what little they have left?

Cloud city, recycled robot parts.

What about the force-using kid?

Ghost-Yoda training on Dagobah

What's to be done about Kylo Ren and the new order?

Frozen in Carbonite
Empire Strikes Back comparisons

[Edward J Grug III]

The projection I read was $800M, which is ~16% less than Force Awakens.  Might sound steep, but Last Jedi's opening weekend was only 11% less, so TFA had clearly guaranteed TLJ an huge initial audience and ensured that it started from an advantageous position.

The target was more than attainable.  TLJ just had to be worth audiences' time.

Instead, it's shed viewers at a record pace and ended up down ~37% (even with the benefit of that inflated opening), unlikely to climb more than a few points higher.  And I will again point out that the real damage has yet to manifest: that of souring audience expectations, squandering the existing story, and setting up nothing for the next film . . . as opposed to the ample enthusiam and intrigue that TFA had so demonstrably served up to TLJ on a silver platter.

Well, I can't find that number googling. I'm not sure why you think that number was 'more than attainable' when it is the second highest grossing Star Wars film of all time. It has exceeded the take of all but one Star Wars film, which had the advantage of being the first new one in a long time as well as zero competition in the box office. Here's Forbes saying it was going to be a tough fight before the film released.

Traditionally December releases don't do as well as these Star Wars movies have done - even what are considered the biggest December releases before these were about half as successful.

And it's the 10th highest grossing film of all time.

Haters can continue to try to paint this as a failure, but again, if those are troubles, I wish they were mine.