A Spirited 15 Rounds ...

[bclane]

Easy way to start a Star Wars bar fight.

Spoiler

Say Greedo shot first.

I'd like to take this moment to simply say how much I love how Bethesda has caught Electronic Arts with their pants down. I am, of course, talking about the Nintendo Switch and the decision to not bring Star Wars to it which leaves the market for First Person Shooters on the system wide open for Bethesda to have a monopoly with ports of both last year's DOOM (can't wait for that) and the brand new Wolfenstein. If I was Disney I would step in and force them to make it for the Switch as there's obvious dollar signs being missed by not bringing a big Star Wars game to the console that has been selling like crazy and sold out almost everywhere since it came out in March.

I mean, it's Star Wars. It's going to sell.

HAN SHOT FIRST!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[yeti]

*UK

I give up!

 

[lazyboy97o]

Born there.The books were all originally published in England.

Even then, its still an odd justification and is part of the problem of including recent works of specific authorship.

*UK

London, where Travers lives and her books were published, is in England.

 

[yeti]

Even then, its still an odd justification and is part of the problem of including recent works of specific authorship.

They're not really recent. I'd say all three properties are old enough to have historic and cultural significance in a British...I mean English....I mean UK-ish context. They're obviously not ideal because they don't deal directly with UK customs or folklore (as say, a Sword in the Stone attraction would), but they make a hell of a lot more sense than Frozen in Norway.

 

[Ag11gani]

However they were released in all of the UK or at least GB, saying England isn't painting the full picture. People who think the UK is just England just annoys me, living in Scotland.

 

[lazyboy97o]

They're not really recent. I'd say all three properties are old enough to have historic and cultural significance in a British...I mean English....I mean UK-ish context. They're obviously not ideal because they don't deal directly with UK customs or folklore (as say, a Sword in the Stone attraction would), but they make a hell of a lot more sense than Frozen in Norway.

The last Mary Poppins book was published in 1988. That’s definitely recent. The Peter Pan and Wonderland stories are older but would still be recent in cultures that span back many centuries.

 

[TheGhostWithTheMost]

The last Mary Poppins book was published in 1988. That’s definitely recent. The Peter Pan and Wonderland stories are older but would still be recent in cultures that span back many centuries.

Almost thirty years ago isn't recent.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Almost thirty years ago isn't recent.

It is on a timescale that can be measured in centuries.

 

[yeti]

The last Mary Poppins book was published in 1988. That’s definitely recent. The Peter Pan and Wonderland stories are older but would still be recent in cultures that span back many centuries.

So let me get this straight...you think Frozen is as relevant to Norwegian culture as Mary Poppins is to the UK....because they're both too recent to have sufficient historic/cultural significance?

 

[lazyboy97o]

So let me get this straight...you think Frozen is as relevant to Norwegian culture as Mary Poppins is to the UK....because they're both too recent to have sufficient historic/cultural significance?

I’ve said nothing about Frozen nor does everything have to align to one reason.

 

[RoysCabin]

I so want to agree with you in terms of logic - because your statements are absolutely sound and accurate.

Except...Star Wars.

Leaving aside my personal feelings about it (and even though I'm a huge fan, I couldn't care less how successful or not it is now or in the future - my Star Wars will always be my Star Wars, this is all icing to me) - Star Wars is the exception to just about every rule, across industries.

Star Wars tried to die. After 1986/87, the toys were clearanced out, the last gasp of the franchise was put to rest with the brief Saturday morning run of the Droids/Ewoks cartoons. Lucasfilm attempted to move on.

Even without new media (and countless other film series trying to be "Star Wars" to take over interest), public desire for Star Wars didn't go away - it only died because they stopped making stuff.

In 1991, the Zahn novels were released and were bestsellers. It's been 26 years since then - and every year has had bestselling Star Wars books.

In 1993, the Rebel Assault video game was released on PC, and was a revolutionary best selling game that spawned an entire series of best sellers. It's been 24 years since then, and although reviews have not always been as stellar every time, Star Wars games have remained best sellers on virtually every game platform they have appeared on. This looks to continue with the Battlefront game coming in November, which is already trending to be the best selling game of the year.

In 1995, Hasbro (who had absorbed Kenner, the original manufacturer) released their first line of "modern" Star Wars action figures. They were ugly as hell (the initial Princess Leia is not-so-affectionately still refereed to as "Monkey Leia"), terribly proportioned, and were released at a time when action figures were still aimed at kids and in their death throes due to losing their audience to computer/video games. For the last 22 years Hasbro has offered a full line of Star Wars toys which even in years without film support still are often the best selling toys of the year - not to mention accidentally spawned the entire modern "teen/adult collector" market because it was so wildly successful - and single-handedly saved the original modern-day toy kid market it originally created.

Then in 1997 the Special Edition films, controversial as they were, each were the #1 films at the box office when re-released, which was absolutely unheard of...

..anyway, you know the rest since then.

The point is (yes, I'm getting there!) - Star Wars is as evergreen as any property that has ever existed. It is the exception to rules in every industry it touches - theatrically (see above), on home video (as much as people complain about how often the films have been re-released, they break records every...single...time - no "catalog" films even compare, they sell like brand new cinema blockbusters appearing for the first time), the books and video games - which survive independently from theatrical releases unheard of for "licensed" products...it just never ends.

Disney has been really smart with Star Wars. One film a year is not at all unreasonable in today's climate. Books, toys, and games have been coming out reliably and been respective best sellers in their areas for more than two decades straight now. Because of the tie-in to the films, it's becoming more obvious to non-fans, so it seems like overload - but this stuff has always been there, and the actual volume of product hasn't really increased that much - just even more people buying it now, on top of the already evergreen numbers Star Wars has always gotten that alone would make it the biggest IP of all time.

Any other IP, I would be agreeing with you with every intellectual bone in my body. Everything burns out, right? But not Star Wars - it's only been back theatrically for two films, and families are already making it a tradition to go see the new Star Wars film during the holidays together. It widely appeals across pretty much all demographics - not many films have five year-olds to sixty-five year olds, and all age groups in between, in the theaters together these days.

Does everyone love Star Wars? No. But I would say that when you account for everyone, from the merely mildly interested all the way to the die-hard, lifetime fans, you've captured more of the audience out there consuming media, one way or another, than any other franchise out there has - or even has potential - to do. And by several margins in many areas. Even if that "mass" effect dies down, Star Wars is still the smartest bet out there, because even at it's "low" it's still the only true gold-star brand that exists, now well into it's fifth decade.

I think this touches on what will be most interesting to watch with Star Wars going forward: yes, it's proven itself an evergreen property thus far, but I think we have to distinguish between the Star Wars EU (for those who didn't follow it back in the day, talking about the Expanded Universe of books/comics/games/etc. that really took off with the Zahn books in '91) and what the landscape will look like with more actual films and TV shows that reach a broader audience.

The EU was highly successful, no doubt, and I remember full well getting into it from the time I first picked up one of the Zahn books during the summer going into my sixth grade year, so 1996 I guess. I probably still have a stash of Star Wars novels packed away somewhere in my parents' attic, along with some magazines and whatnot that made it clear that I was all about the SWEU during my preteen years. The catch was, though, while it was successful it didn't necessarily have to appeal to a particularly wide audience in order to be. It grew and grew, becoming increasingly self-referential through all the comics, novels, games, etc., but it never became some sort of mainstream event-level; even Shadows of the Empire, while big, wasn't something that had the type of exposure that a new film would have, most "casual" fans wouldn't have known much of anything about it.

My point is: while Star Wars has always been a money maker it thrived for a number of years after the original trilogy due to its cultivating a hardcore fanbase; as the number of books and games grew, it got a bit tougher for people who weren't already fans to have a clear entry point, but the hardcore base was still more than profitable enough to keep things running strong. It didn't really run the risk of overexposure within the larger popular culture because it kept itself going due to that somewhat smaller-yet-more passionate fanbase that would be there through thick and thin.

That equation starts to change a bit once the movies and/or TV shows, which are meant for broader audiences and more casual fans, begin coming out with more and more frequency. That changes how the main products will be designed, who they'll be aimed at, pretty much simply expands the target audience and thus opens up more avenues for that "stuffed down your throat" effect that some people might fear.

I'm not saying you're wrong, however; there's a good chance that won't happen for a good, long while, and franchises like the Marvel movies have demonstrated that the mainstream has a lot more toleration these days for what may feel like overuse of a given IP at the movies or on TV (though I'd argue Marvel benefits from being able to shift genres around more often and easily than most Star Wars stories might, thus creating perceived variety). I'm just saying that I'm not sure we can say with 100% certainty yet that Star Wars will remain "evergreen" as it moves from a limited number of movies aimed at the general audience with a whole universe of supplemental material available to the hardcore to having a film release aimed at the general audience every single year for who knows how long. Just changes the math around enough that it makes things slightly tougher to predict moving forward.

 

[No Name]

I did not see Brave nor am I interested in it.Can you all tell me what in this film might make a decent B-C ticket attraction?

Any film can make a great attraction, and any film can make a horrible attraction. But the best way to make it mediocre would be by retelling the story of the film.

Grinds my gears when people say that, since they don't think Brave was a good movie, they don't think it's a good choice for the attraction. And that Mary Poppins "deserves" a ride more. This kind of thinking is what destroys theme parks.
Scotland leaving the UK is a seperate argument, which I can understand.

 

[VJ]

This is the debate that never ends, it goes on and on my friends...

@WDW1974 you can return anytime now... Please...

 

[bclane]

Almost thirty years ago isn't recent.

That is recent! I'm not old at all (says bclane as he *kicks a can down the road wondering where all the time went and singing don't worry be happy...)

 

[AEfx]

I think this touches on what will be most interesting to watch with Star Wars going forward: yes, it's proven itself an evergreen property thus far, but I think we have to distinguish between the Star Wars EU (for those who didn't follow it back in the day, talking about the Expanded Universe of books/comics/games/etc. that really took off with the Zahn books in '91) and what the landscape will look like with more actual films and TV shows that reach a broader audience.

Oh, absolutely - that's really the point, though. Even at it's "lowest" points of broader popularity over the past 25 years, since it "returned" from it's only brief hiatus (a self-imposed one, at that) - it has consistently produced bestselling books, record breaking home video/digital sales (often it's own records), bestselling video games, top toys, etc. Basically, every product category it is in, Star Wars is either at the top or shares the top of the heap - and usually it's main "competition" in the categories that Disney already has products in (which is Reason #77 that Star Wars and Disney together is the best that could have happened, to both).

That's "evergreen" to me. I'm sure they will take a break from the theatrical films at some point strategically, but the general popularity of Star Wars even without that is still better than what pretty much every other property out there can offer, which is why the only shame about Star Wars land is that there isn't even more.

 

[FigmentJedi]

That's "evergreen" to me. I'm sure they will take a break from the theatrical films at some point strategically, but the general popularity of Star Wars even without that is still better than what pretty much every other property out there can offer, which is why the only shame about Star Wars land is that there isn't even more.

I think the most frustrating thing about Galaxy's Edge is the lack of Force mysticism and the general "Space Fantasy" side of Star Wars in a significant manner. Like it bit a little too hard into the rigid "Star Wars is a space western" viewpoint you see in the more annoying OT fans.

Like if this new planet's this ancient, well-traveled place, you could absolutely have some "Mystic Manor by way of an ancient Jedi/Sith/Whills/Whatever site" attraction to round the lineup out.

 

[ford91exploder]

I think the most frustrating thing about Galaxy's Edge is the lack of Force mysticism and the general "Space Fantasy" side of Star Wars in a significant manner. Like it bit a little too hard into the rigid "Star Wars is a space western" viewpoint you see in the more annoying OT fans.

Like if this new planet's this ancient, well-traveled place, you could absolutely have some "Mystic Manor by way of an ancient Jedi/Sith/Whills/Whatever site" attraction to round the lineup out.

Repeat after me GE is not about Star Wars its about getting Star Wars fans last dime.

 

[TheGenXer]

Repeat after me GE is not about Star Wars its about getting Star Wars fans last dime.

How absurd.

 

[Disneyhead'71]

Repeat after me GE is not about Star Wars its about getting Star Wars fans last dime.

Last dime? Really?!? Don't be ridiculous.

They want you to take out a second mortgage on your house!

 

[SweetDuffy101]

Meanwhile in HKDL you have a horrible and tacky banner.....‍ Beware on those who are going to HKDL This halloween.