“Star Wars: The Last Jedi” became one of 2017’s few box-office success stories over the weekend by nabbing the second biggest opening of all time, trailing only behind 2015’s “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.”
“The Last Jedi” scored a staggering $220 million during its opening weekend. Its worldwide total was even more mind-boggling, at $450 million.
Taking into account that total, plus the grosses of “The Force Awakens” and last year’s “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” — $936.7 and $532.2 million domestically — and it seems Disney’s $4 billion purchase of George Lucas’ Lucasfilm is paying off quite nicely from the box-office numbers alone.
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The franchise is now positioned as such a juggernaut that many people likely head to the theaters to see it — just to be in the know on some of pop culture’s biggest discussions and debates.
Despite the continued success of “Star Wars” since the House of Mouse brought it back to life, the sci-fi saga is beginning to show some cracks.
The latest movie, directed by Rian Johnson, won hordes of critics over and has a 93 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, but audiences have been far more divided. The audience rating on RT stands at 56 percent from over 100,000 ratings.
The growing complaints from fans include the films’ over-reliance on nostalgia and a lack of originality, something “Last Jedi” star and original Luke Skywalker himself half-acknowledged during a recent interview, in which he openly wished Disney would include franchise creator George Lucas in the “Star Wars” process more.
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“What I thought was great about the prequels [directed by Lucas] was the different technology that I had never seen before. All that CGI [computer-generated imagery],” Hamill told Metro, referring to Lucas’ infamous “Star Wars” prequel trilogy, which split audiences at the time but have since earned large groups of supporters. “And the fact that [Lucas] wasn’t trying to do the same experience all over again.”
He continued, “I thought ‘The Force Awakens’ did that [the same experience] more than the early ones because it had the girl from a different planet, the Death Star, the Cantina sequence.”
Acknowledging that the franchise is “more popular than ever,” Hamill added, “What I wish is that they [Disney] had been more accepting of his [Lucas’] guidance and advice because he had an outline for [Episodes] ‘VII,’ ‘VIII’ and ‘IX.’ And it is vastly different [from] what they have done.”
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Some select critics saw the glaring flaws in “Last Jedi” that fans are now discussing.
“‘The Last Jedi’ (henceforth TLJ) is not (quite) as bad as the prequels, but it’s like hearing 1980s hits as played by a mediocre cover band. So many elements in ‘Episode VIII’ are recycled that it could have been called ‘Rerun of the Jedi,'” wrote National Review critic Kyle Smith.
Sonny Bunch, of the Washington Free Beacon, wrote, “Writer-director Rian Johnson also borrows from the prequel trilogy’s shoddier storytelling impulses and action set pieces.”
Harry Khachatrian, of The Daily Wire, lamented that the new movie is a “152-minute mess.”
Despite these gripes and the small but growing number of fans disappointed with the direction in which “Star Wars” is going, it’s still an immensely popular franchise — as evidenced by the opening weekend for “The Last Jedi.”
The saga will, however, next release its riskiest film yet — “Solo: A Star Wars Story,” a spinoff/prequel about one of the franchise’s most popular characters, Han Solo, previously played by Harrison Ford.
The film has been plagued with highly publicized production issues, which has led some to question whether Disney is allowing its filmmakers enough creative freedom.
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Original “Solo” directors Chris Miller and Phil Lord were reportedly fired months into the production because of their clashes with the studio and screenwriters, along with their love of improvisation. Ron Howard was brought in to replace the two filmmakers.
The film could be the first real disaster Disney will face “Star Wars”-wise, considering the behind-the-scenes trouble. However, plenty of films faced similar issues on their road to completion and still managed to find success.
While the shiny rebooted franchise Disney unleashed in 2015 is beginning to show some signs of wear and tear, there’s likely still a lot of miles left in the science fiction world that a young George Lucas once took the risk of introducing to the world — 40 years ago now.
PopZette editor Zachary Leeman can be reached at [email protected].
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