Taika Waititi's untitled Star Wars movie (2023) (1 Viewer)

[Greg.K]

Waititi's take on Thor is what it took to make me enjoy that character, it's the only movie from that series that I actually like. I also liked what he did with The Mandalorian season finale. But an entire SW feature with his brand of irreverent subject-matter-poking satirical humor? Not so sure about that.

 

[TravisR]

So they stick with the December slot?
I thought or better expected that they would want to move back to May as the opening month.

When they compare the grosses of the movies released in December to the one released in May, there's no question of which date to go with. Plus, Disney has the annual Marvel movie in May so why create competition or risk the wrong date like with Solo?

 

[Sam Favate]

As they learned in 2018, May can only support so many billion dollar movies. Why compete with themselves? Meanwhile, Marvel has been nailing the first weekend in May for 10 years now, more or less.

 

[Tino]

As they learned in 2018, May can only support so many billion dollar movies

I don’t think that’s true. If Disney released a Star Wars film that audiences actually wanted to see, that billion dollar movie would have emerged.

 

[Edwin-S]

I don’t think that’s true. If Disney released a Star Wars film that audiences actually wanted to see, that billion dollar movie would have emerged.

Right. Like as if TRoS was some major flop. Plenty of people went to see it. Some more than once.

 

[Sam Favate]

Obviously, Star Wars was released on Memorial Day weekend way back when, and that became the de facto big weekend for summer movie releases. but I find it difficult to get to the movies on Memorial Day weekend, as much as I want to. There are family obligations, friends' get-togethers and so forth. It seems like a lot of Memorial Day releases have disappointed in recent years.

In 2018, you had Marvel release Infinity War (originally scheduled for early May, then released in late April) and then Deadpool 2 in mid-May, which made some $800 million. Everyone had just been to the movies twice in the span of a few weeks, so going again, and on a busy weekend, wasn't going to happen. This is part of Bob Iger's mea culpa.

I went to see Solo that weekend (twice, in fact) but I can understand why a lot of folks didn't. Then, the disappointing box office results send the word that maybe the film isn't good, so more people stay away. It underscores why making a splash is important that first weekend.

I know many people say the film wasn't good and people didn't want to see it. I reject that. The film scored high with audiences, and people who did see it like it more than not. If it had come out in December 2018, we might be having a different conversation.

 

[Tino]

Again the issue with Solo is not that it wasn’t a good film. It was. Most audiences enjoyed it.

Its just that I and many others feel that the reason for it’s “failure” is as has been stated, ad nauseum I know, simply that most people didn’t want a Solo film.

 

[Tommy R]

Its just that I and many others feel that the reason for it’s “failure” is as has been stated, ad nauseum I know, simply that most people didn’t want a Solo film.

I won’t argue what people “wanted” or not, but I personally think this factor, wether or not it can even be measured, had nothing to do with its financial failure. I think it’s proximity to Infinity War, the Memorial Day weekend, and being the 4th SW film in as many calendar years, prevented it from giving Disney its $1 billion. Heck, I think TROS only made its $1 billion because of the fact it’s the “final” film of the trilogy. (And they were sure hammering in on it being the “final” film of a 9-film saga.)

People say if it had been released in December 2018, it would have gotten Disney its coveted $1 billion. I’m not entirely convinced on that, but I’ll go out on a limb and suggest that it could have made $1 billion if it were the first film after TFA and was released in December 2016’s spot. But moving forward I think steering clear of Memorial Day would be a good idea, and not just because of Solo. And Disney also needs to temper its B.O. expectations. They can’t expect every SW related film moving forward to gross what the sequel trilogy did.

 

[Tino]

Since all we can do is speculate, let’s just agree to disagree on our opinions.

 

[Jake Lipson]

Haven't we regurgitated the discussion about Solo enough times in various other threads by now? I say this respectively to everyone who has posted, but this debate is almost two years old now and it never changes. It just keeps getting brought up and argued in circles. The same is true of The Last Jedi, for different reasons.

Star Wars has moved on. Maybe it's time that we should too?

 

[Tommy R]

Haven't we regurgitated the discussion about Solo enough times in various other threads by now? I say this respectively to everyone who has posted, but this debate is almost two years old now and it never changes. It just keeps getting brought up and argued in circles. The same is true of The Last Jedi, for different reasons.

Star Wars has moved on. Maybe it's time that we should too?

To be fair, at least the way I see it, Solo’s financial failure is going to be a relevant topic when discussing non-episode SW films moving forward. If Disney really is coming out with films in ‘22, ‘24, and ‘26, and on top of that a Rian trilogy (the status of which is still vague), and then on top of that a Waitiki film (admittedly only “in talks” so far), I think it should be expected that the only Disney SW theatrical film to not make Disney’s $1 billion requirement will keep coming up.

 

[TravisR]

And it's official, Taika Waititi is directing a Star Wars movie and is co-writing with Krysty Wilson-Cairns.

Academy Award Winner Taika Waititi to Direct and Co-Write new Star Wars Feature Film for Theatrical Release; Oscar Nominee Krysty Wilson-Cairns to Co-Write Screenplay with Waititi | StarWars.com

Emmy Nominee Leslye Headland to write, produce, and serve as showrunner for new untitled Star Wars series for Disney+.

www.starwars.com

I'm happy about this but I think Waititi will bring the sense of fun that should generally be part of a Star Wars movie.

 

[Sam Favate]

I'm happy about this but I think Waititi will bring the sense of fun that should generally be part of a Star Wars movie.

I agree, and if his Mandalorian tenure was any indication, this will be great!

 

[Sam Favate]

Disney has delayed its next Star Wars film to Dec. 2023 (with subsequent films to follow in Dec 2015 and Dec 2027). No word on whether the next film is the Watiti one, but he did confirm that he is writing it now.

Disney delays 'Mulan' indefinitely, Star Wars and Avatar movies pushed back a year

Disney is making some major changes to its release calendar that include displacing "Mulan" from its Aug. 21 release and pushing back the debuts of future Star Wars and Avatar movies by a year.

www.cnbc.com

Star Wars: Taika Waititi Confirms He's Started Writing New Film

Lucasfilm confirmed earlier this year that Taika Waititi had been tapped to direct a new Star Wars [...]

comicbook.com

 

[Alex...]

Coming to theaters late 2023.

https://comicbook.com/movies/news/s...-taika-waititi-star-wars-movie-theaters-2023/

 

[Joe Wong]

Coming to theaters late 2023.

https://comicbook.com/movies/news/s...-taika-waititi-star-wars-movie-theaters-2023/

If late 2023 is to be met, I'm guessing Taika will have to start production almost immediately after the Thor: Love and Thunder obligations (marketing, media, etc.) are done.

 

[Sam Favate]

If late 2023 is to be met, I'm guessing Taika will have to start production almost immediately after the Thor: Love and Thunder obligations (marketing, media, etc.) are done.

Right. We have to assume the script is done and that the cast has been chosen if this movie is going to debut in 19 months. Seems iffy to me. Then again, Disney didn't buy Star Wars to go four or five years between films.

 

[Alex...]

 

[Sam Favate]

Not encouraging for a film that is supposed to be in theaters in 18 months.

 

[TravisR]

Not encouraging for a film that is supposed to be in theaters in 18 months.

I don't find it discouraging as much as I think we can just figure that "late 2023" is going to be more like late 2024 or late 2025.