Star Wars Flops For The First Time. So What Now?

"It's just a film, dude. Chill out." - No one

It's not a question out of bewilderment or urgency when we break down why exactly "Solo" completely flopped in the box office. In fact, there are myriads of obvious reasons why the world popular franchise has failed to draw attention even from the most avid fans this summer. Better yet, some may have even predicted this. Box office bombs happen every now and then, to some of the greatest actors and directors. They could flounder in the early parts, at the peak or near the end of their careers because in Hollywood, success always depends on the market. And for 40 years straight, Star Wars has been arguably the greatest entertainment franchise in the history of films. TV shows, toys, comic books, costumes, and most importantly, a loyal fan-base are testaments of authority that Star Wars has in our pop culture today. Yet still, Disney lost a grand total of $80 million in a single summer and is now left helpless with handling their ongoing trilogy and this new so-called Star Wars Anthology. The market has deemed Star Wars to be unworthy.

To say the least, the two latest Star Wars films were not impressive at all. "The Last Jedi" and "Solo" were good enough to fulfill the normal standards of the sci-fi genre, but as far as recapturing the original mystique of lightsabers clashing and spaceships firing laser cannons, they both buried themselves and seemingly forgot what it means to be Star Wars. Part of the reason is that the creator of the franchise itself is no longer overseeing the productions. There is no doubt that George Lucas still possesses the entire interconnected web of the Star Wars universe in his head as we speak, most possibly including the stand-alone story of Han Solo in the way he imagined. However, now that his visions for his ultimate masterpiece are defunct, there is nothing but Disney's -or basically Kathleen Kennedy's, the president of Lucasfilm- cheap attempts to lure out the fandom with recycled materials. Ever since Marvel heralded this effective method of producing over 15 films in such a way that they are all contained in a single "shared universe", other corporations dead set on the cash have been following a similar path. Examples include DC Comics, Star Wars, X-Men and with speculations that even Transformers may put itself into the race. In the wake of this brand-new strategy, we are witnessing two essential things being juggled: quantity and quality.

Once upon a time, the industry and the consumers valued both features equally. Fans have wanted better and more for their entertainment, while the industry had both the passion and ambition for success behind the art of filmmaking. As far as how the market operates today compared to 1970's when the first Star Wars film was released, the major difference is the escalation of star power and massive advertising. This globalization of North American entertainment can be mainly attributed to the ever-increasing predominance of media. But strategy-wise in general, the market model behind the advertisement and production value has been more or less consistent. Most of the time, the market does not lie. Good products succeed due to a good reception from the consumers, while bad products fail because consumers reject them. Interestingly enough, however, the supposedly merit-based market does seem to lie these days. Take "The Last Jedi" for example. It was a good film, no doubt, but did it deserve to top a billion dollars in revenue and rank as the 9th highest grossing film of all time? When evaluating "The Last Jedi" as a film alone, I could certainly name a dozen other titles that exceed the so-called billion dollar masterpiece in almost all categories of production standards, yet don't even come close to hitting $500 million in revenue. But the truth is, quality does not exist for even the most casual Star Wars fans; only quantity does. With a sheep mentality, we watch Star Wars because it simply is Star Wars, while the only real winners here are the corporations. Like a feedback loop, when fans worldwide maintain their blind passion and give themselves up to consumerism, the corporations start to gradually ignore quality and rely fully on the franchise's identity alone to generate money, simply because it is easy.

Now, "Solo" contains all sorts of business errors and production oversights, which is the best formula for a box office bomb. While mistakes happen all the time, there is no excuse for a blunder as serious as this situation. When Disney holds the leash to all the licenses for Star Wars, they have the platform, the money, the personnel and the power in order to usher in a brand new era for George Lucas's franchise. Unfortunately, even with all these resources, the fact remains that the way Disney has been handling Star Wars so poorly and treating like a bait for cash is utterly appalling, to say the least. Make no mistake, there is virtually nothing to criticize about Star Wars heading towards a new direction, but it cannot be direction-less. For instance, when Rian Johnson introduced the idea that Rey comes from nothing, it displayed an intriguing contrast from Lucas's traditional concept of a bloodline within the Force, even though many fans have vehemently expressed antipathy for the former premise. The problem that I see here is the complete destruction of a literary continuum between "The Force Awakens" and "The Last Jedi". If Rey's background was made such an enigma in the former, it does not make sense to instantly deteriorate the tension by offering the most uninteresting explanation for a lead character. This is only one of many stupidities behind the story of "The Last Jedi", which leads me to believe that the current Star Wars trilogy is now in a haphazard state as far as the story is concerned. For me at least, the two most recent films, "The Last Jedi" and "Solo", ended on a painfully underwhelming note, which is truly uncharacteristic of the franchise. And the sadder part is that this loss of identity has occurred during crucial phases in the trilogy and the anthology series. So what now?

"Solo" did not have to fail. After all, it is still Star Wars. But certainly, by the looks of it, most people have clearly chosen to watch "Deadpool 2" and "Avengers: Infinity War" over a solo film (no pun intended) about one of the most popular characters in the Star Wars universe. Can Disney pull Star Wars out from the quandary and somewhat revive the spirit of the franchise? We will see what miraculous tricks J.J. Abrams has up his sleeve that will "fix" the trilogy and how the next untitled anthology film (most likely about Boba Fett) will fare, although the difficulties behind these challenges should not be understated. Perhaps "The Last Jedi" did not faze Disney one bit, as long as the controversial film produced numbers. However, a financial disaster such as "Solo" is sure to grasp the conglomerate's attention, because it should now be clear as day that not all films with the words "Star Wars" slapped onto them will attract fans in hordes. Obviously, quality does matter. And to clarify, I am not accusing Disney of adulteration, because we know that a ton of money is invested into producing these films that resonate with nearly the entire Western culture. However, not all qualities are equal. For Star Wars, it could have the most cutting-edge visuals to date and fail to garner favorable reviews nevertheless. The exotic space battles and lightsaber battles are captivating in their own rights, but they cannot hold the audience's attention for long. As a result, the world recognizes Star Wars for the characters, the twists, and the hero's journey; without them, it would just be an ordinary sci-fi show, no different from Star Trek.

On May 25, 1977, on the opening night of "A New Hope", cinema was changed forever. Children of today may never comprehend the sheer awe on their parents/grandparents faces when that massive, gargantuan Star Destroyer loomed over half of the screen in a matter of seconds into the opening sequence. It must have been life-altering for many people in 1977, to be part of such a significant paradigm shift. Thus, Star Wars is not a film series. Star Wars is an experience. And those who are growing up with the Star Wars films of this century are undeniably robbed of something unspeakable in value, simply because the modern industry couldn't treat the franchise like so. While George Lucas has ushered in a new era of filmmaking and with many others attempting to emulate his flair, Star Wars' presence does not have to diminish among other excellent sci-fi titles, as long as the process is executed "correctly". Nevertheless, the landscape of this boundless franchise has barely faltered even after massively unfavorable reviews from both "The Phantom Menace" and "Attack of the Clones". In other words, it's not the first time that Star Wars has hit a cul-de-sac. Perhaps children today have grown a fondness towards the modern installments, and maybe everything said so far is simply nonsensical rambling from a casual fan who is still stuck in the 70's. "Impossible to see, the future is." as Master Yoda would remind us, which means we will have to sit tight until the day when Star Wars becomes truly Star Wars again. Some may have faith, while others, not so much. And those with no faith at all, Darth Vader might find it rather disturbing.

In case if anybody needed a reminder.