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Is Star Wars Dead?
by James Waikle Palpy is Sidious, Vader kills everyone but Yoda and Obi-Wan, and Amidala has a couple of kids. The rest is just details. |
Is Star Wars still the icon that it was not so long ago? I don't think so and here's why. 1) Lately on the Echo Station Board there have been very few posts. 2) The movie did do well but it was beaten rather soundly by Spider Man, and with the Lord Of The Rings coming out the Star Wars trilogy may be in danger of not being the most successful trilogy of all time. 3) The merchandise has not moved as well as it has in the past (at least in my area). 4) Let's face it, we all know what is going to happen in the next installment.
So lets address these things in order shall we?
Not as many posts on the boards as usual. Well it could be that school starting and/or work has caused this, but I have never in my almost two years here seen this much time go by with NO posts at all. Maybe after the rush and crush of Episode II's release everyone is just sitting back and trying to catch up. Or it could be indifference. When the last issue of the Star Wars Insider came out I flipped through it, but I didn't sit with it and devour each page like I used to. Maybe the SWI had nothing new, or maybe I just didn't care. Judging from the lack of response on the board towards the last issue, I wasn't the only one who felt this way. Also, the regular columns that had been appearing on Echo haven't lately. Why? Could it be that there just isn't much to talk about anymore? With every movie Lucas takes away some of what we have always speculated about, and it's not always as good as what we envisioned. Take Jar Jar ... please.
The movie did not crush all other contenders. When TPM came out three years ago, the buzz was so huge that all other movies backed off on their openings because no one wanted to get creamed by the Star Wars juggernaut. The exception was The Mummy which opened a couple of weeks before TPM and cleaned up because there was no competition at all.
The Phantom Menace opened, and the lines that had been there for months snaked into the theaters, and were treated to the spectacle that was and remains Jar Jar Binks. Now, TPM did clean up at the box office, and the video and DVD sales were huge, but watch the movie again and again and again and Jar Jar really starts to piss you off with his antics. None of it should have made the final cut because it just wasn't Star Wars. Fast forward to 2002, and the next installment is due in theaters, but unlike before no one is backing off around Star Wars. In fact, the most anticipated movie isn't even Star Wars, it's some tale about a nerd and his pet spider (or something like that). So at the box office for the first time a Star Wars movie gets trounced. And not only that, but the quality of movies coming out is so much higher than it has been in the past that AOTC doesn't stick around the top ten for as long.
Don't get me wrong, AOTC was an awesome addition to the Star Wars universe, with great effects, good one liners, and a half decent story line. I am, however, very much biased in my opinion and can't be trusted in this case.
Now we are in the midst of another trilogy coming to the big screen (something about a short guy and a ring) that people have been waiting years for. The first movie does very well and is stunning in its presentation and adaptation of the story. This virtually guarantees that the next one will be bigger at the box office. (Word of mouth is very powerful ... right, Pluto Nash?) So this new trilogy has the potential to overcome the original Star Wars trilogy as the highest grossing trilogy of all time. In fact, I would be surpassed if it didn't.
The merchandise has moved well but not as well as it has before. I think part of this is that for TPM the market was flooded, and also that there is some awesome stuff out there. In 25 years a Star Wars figure has stayed more or less the same. Other figures, however, have become so detailed and so articulate that Star Wars figures are starting to look their age. Could you imagine what McFarlane could do with Star Wars? He would love to try. Of course the bonus is that all of the figures -- be they 25 years old or 25 minutes old -- can be used together in the same sets, but kids are always looking for something new, and unfortunately Star Wars figures just aren't anymore.
Now for the third movie. It comes out in three years, but know what? Palpy is Sidious, Vader kills everyone but Yoda and Obi-Wan, and Amidala has a couple of kids. The rest is just details. (Okay, fun details for you and me, but for the average guy?) Maybe Episode III will kick butt at the box office (AOTC was much better than TPM), but at this point I don't know. What could challenge it? Spiderman should be between movies, same with X-men. Harry Potter tends to come out at Christmas and Star Wars in spring. Lord Of The Rings will be done by then. So it could be that Episode III has no competition and takes home all of the money. Only time will tell.
I think the six Star Wars movies will stand the test of time, unlike some other blockbusters that you never hear about any more. (Like you know the one about the boat and a bit of ice?) But I don't know if the movies will be always held in the same regard as they were between 1983 and 1999. And that's too bad.
Read a rebuttal by Gregory Ellis
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(James Waikle - "Impmeat" to message board regulars - really believes in right and wrong. When he was growing up his mother used Star Wars to illustrate good and evil. When he was in Sunday School he had to draw a picture of someone doing somthing good, so he drew Han Solo shooting a stormtrooper. He had to explain that it was okay because stormtroopers were bad. They didn't get it.)