My prediction is that there's no way this movie holds interest over the longterm...which is something that both Disney and lucasfilm has based their success on/covets. Look at the legs that the little mermaid, beauty and the beast and the original trilogy have shown? I would submit that it's the foundation of the whole IP empire, no pun intended.
But we'll see...I may be wrong. But I'm usually not when it comes to perception. I tend to read the tea leaves pretty close when it comes to disney and particularly wdw....you'll find.
That is a possibility. I hope you are wrong, but it is plausible.
But, when I'm not here I write for a Star wars site. Over there, with the hardest of the hardcore, the people who have seemingly been the most upset about the direction of this movie, we've seen an unscientific 80/20 split on like to dislike. Even if comments come in at 50/50, our poll responses show otherwise.
In the twenty+ people or so I have spoken to who are either casual fans or non-fans all but one have loved the movie, and that last person gave a "meh...it was alright".
My 14 and 7 year old haven't stopped talking about the movie all week. Porgs are the top of the list desire in my 7 year olds class this year for Christmas presents.
This is obviously all anecdotal. But my point is, people have gotten bogged down in one very loud issue due to a very angry subset of fans that did not like what they saw. But many new fans have been created. I've talked to lots of people who were on the fence for TFA and Rogue One, but are fully on board with TLJ.
In the end, ing off some legacy fans, most of which (much like the prequels) will talk a big talk but come back next time regardless, isn't going to have as much of an impact as the current volume of complaints would imply.
In the end, like I said above. I, and many like me, don't see the gaping plotholes, tonal issues, or egregious character flaws that those who hate it do.
Where you might see plotholes, I see reasoning or purposeful omission.
Where you might see tonal issues, I see consistency of theme..
Where you might see poor character choices, I see a welcome and dynamic change.
Neither is right or wrong as art is subjective.
But, to assume that because we see it one way, that will be its lasting legacy is presumptuous. We are, by the nature of this message board, the opinionated few. People who post their opinions on message boards (myself included) generally have strong opinions that we want to share with anyone who will read them. We want to impact the online narrative related to an event, or movie, or political issue. We are the extreme. But in the end, we make up a very small portion of the overall population. And our opinions, although strong and often well informed, are mostly meaningless in the larger equation.
