They dont even need to reboot anything. Decanonize 7/8/9 and start again with a New Sequal Trilogy. This time Set hundreds of years later to completly disconnect it from anything in the past. The Old Republic becomes ancient. the New Republic becomes History. you have a new universe with new problems. A New set of Jedi have come into their own with newer tradition set by Luke. And a New Dark Presence arrives to shake things up again.
@BlueBD Can we just stop doing the Jedi thing for a while please This is like GW slobbering all over Space Marines constantly and ignoring everything else.
@@BlueBD That is literally what I thought would've worked for 7,8,9 back in 2014. Just because they HAD to use Harrison Ford doesn't mean they couldn't have had Han Solo be 'Star Trek' old(ie Bones in TNG) or maybe have him appear as a historical hologram.
@BlueBD The movies don't NEED to be a Jedi story. Rogue One easily proves this. Just a shame that Gareth had his director's vision tampered with by Disney.
To me, Star Wars is dead. It has been for years. I'm done with it. I don't care about it anymore. I can't even summon enough interest to get angry about it anymore. Only a miracle would make me care about it again. And modern Hollywood isn't capable of making miracles happen.
Specicifically for me, episode 9 really killed it. While I enjoyed 7 at the time and 8 had moments I wanted to like, 9 just rang hollow. Knowing that after all the struggle: *that* is where all the fighting and all the bloodshed ends up just didn't feel worth it. I struggled to feel excited to jump into my favorite eras knowing that Rey would be the one dropping the pieces decades down the line. I can't put my finger on *exactly* what happened that left such a bad taste in my mouth about but it was definitely an issue with the writing. The actors did phenomenal with such bad scripting but otherwise it had more holes than swiss cheese.
@@racingraptor4758 Might take longer to dissipate the stink Disney and Kathleen have put on the franchise. At least 10 years. But I agree the only way the ressurrect Star Wars (since it's too far gone to save as it is) is to do a soft reboot. Either with the Old Republic era, thousands of years in the past, or by jumping hundreds of years into the future. All new cast of characters, all new villains and a completely different status quo with no baggage from any of the movies.
I am a classic fan and I have 100% given up. At this point, I just want Star Wars to die. I want Star Trek to die. I never thought I would say that but what it is come out in the last 10 years has been terrible.
Hey bro...I remember from the time I was like 14, to whenever I heard Disney bought Star Wars, I was like "damn, I wish they would make more Star Wars...." And I'd imagine my own stories of what might happen...never read any books, cause fuck that, but I'd heard about some of them, and would imagine what I heard....and when episode 7 came out, I thought I liked it...but I couldn't help but feel disappointed. Now I keep thinking "they might make something bad ass" but they won't bro....they won't. I mean Andor was pretty bad ass, and I'm looking forward to season 2, but other than that...nah fam...they won't. It's over. I started listening to all the audiobooks though. That's my canon now. I just listen to them when I want more Star Wars.
Not a chance at this point, let it sit 6 years means no movie PERIOD for 9 years, no game's for nearly 20, and the IP itself will still cost at least 1-4 billion to buy, even if you went full cut down DVD home video that first movie is costing at least $250K if not $1-$4 million due to inflation... And you need a winner at that point, the real problem is not volume but DIRECTION, the road dead ended 5 movies ago and Disney keeps trying to drive back to where the incest mutant camp is to get out of their IP's "Horror"ble marketing plan. They need a road going somewhere good.
Palpatine's return was so bad that they could've revived him with the dragon balls and it wouldn't have been any more ridiculous than what was actually put out. Another great video as well, Mr.Wizard.
I am a normie when it comes to star wars, but I imagine it must be HELL to the workers since they're forced to release movies, shows, games and books constantly. You are right, the leadership needs to be replaced with people who won't release a low quality product or force dozens of releases in less than a decade.
I've heard the people trying to make movies have an absolute nightmare due to seemingly having daily script changes... like how the --- are you supposed to make a movie when you can't even decide what the movie will BE.
Hi Wizard, as a bachelor in Business engineering it sounds like a decent plan! You forgot one minor aspect: introducing to hold management accountable to previous set GOALS. Lower management with goals with product related ones and overall senior with business growth. And strike two means you’re out.
It's legitimately crazy to me that Leslye Headland continues to get hired by Disney, despite every single thing she's created being a massive dumpster fire flop. Everything she touches turns to shit, yet Disney is like: "BRILLIANT! HERE'S SOME MORE WORK FOR YOU!!!"
I genuinely think the original plan was to have Rey explore her family legacy and try to make it a good thing..... then Disney kicked over their own applecart, twice, and ruined what might have been a good odea.
I'm a big fan of the Gundam franchise and, while it is far from perfect, it gets a lot of things right where Star Wars gets it wrong. Bandai, the company that owns Gundam, does a lot of things that I don't like, but they definitely respect Gundam and understand it is one of their pillars. So they don't chip away at it. They are very careful about how the franchise is presented, especially when it comes to the og characters. Gundam is a merchandising powerhouse with model kits being the flagship. Bandai sells hundreds of millions of dollars of model kits every year. They have super expensive kits that cost hundreds of dollars, but they specifically have a line designed to get people into the hobby. These kits cost about $7 each. I think they are a loss leader, but the goal is to get people in so they might buy more expensive kits. Bandai is trying to expand the brand into the mainstream. Gundam series and films are found on multiple streaming services just to try to get people to give it a chance. Though the franchise has a problem where people think it's isn't newcomer friendly, there are non-canon timelines are are made to be a jumping on point for new viewers. I don't know if Gundam will ever be mainstream outside of Japan. But I do know that Bandai is trying, and not just resting on their laurels like Lucasfilm.
"People who drilled holes in our ship to snorkel in the ocean" is the most adept metaphor for how things are going. My god that killed me. But can't wait for the next flop either way, will be ready to pirate it, if even watch it all.
here is how you FIX the existing sequels in about one minute: SCENE OPENS with Luke Skywalker, ~10 years older than we last saw him at end of RotJ, deep in meditation communing with the Force... some sounds and twitching indicate his vision has become intense... camera dives into his vision, which is a flash highspeed super cut of the sequel trilogy, as we witness the destruction of the hosnean system... CUT back to Skywalkers face as his eyes suddenly open. He mutters, "no. never again..." he gets up and marches off to ensure none of this comes to pass... ( virtually NONE of the background meta-story about what happened between 6 and 7 (according to ep7) has had time to happen. Han and Leia finally have a child at the end of the 3rd movie. A very young Rey is rescued from that crappy desert planet in the 3rd movie. Finn is never kidnapped from his parents. Everything works out reasonably. I think _maybe_ no clone-palpy is needed, but he could be in or out, not that big a deal. ) Total clean slate. the "old sequels" become just a "Star Wars Vision" not exactly retcon'd, but effectively nearly totally so. They become irrelevant. Yes all roles will need to be recast, but that's ok, it really is. Just find some actors that look right and can act, problem solved. ) this builds-in the promise of a good fun trilogy with great payoff at the end. One other thing, I think the writing needs to take into consideration the character that never gets mentioned, scene or heard: The Force - how does Luke tumble the Imperial Order's secret plans? He uses the Force ffs! It guides him to wherever he needs to be, makes it possible for him to find whatever clue is needed, etc. That's the whole idea, it's not just a magic way to jump high + telekinesis. Star Wars: Shadow in the Force = ep 7a
Star Wars cannot be fixed. It is dead and it’s never coming back. The original and best of Star Wars was created by a man with a vision who was backed up by literally hundreds of highly talented and experienced professionals who were all working at the absolute top of their game. These people were in it primarily due to their love of movie making. They innovated things that changed the entire industry for decades afterwards. This was a different time and place when the ONLY consideration that mattered was producing the BEST possible product in an aggressively competitive business. All other considerations were secondary. The people that participated in this legendary achievement are mostly either retired or passed on. Even if you could somehow get some of those people back they would never be willing to work under the conditions that modern Hollywood/Disney would impose on them. Even if you were somehow able to fire everyone associated with Star Wars and hire all new writers, actors, directors, technicians, etc. and started “trying” to produce quality Star Wars again you couldn’t do it. The talent pool in Hollywood doesn’t exist anymore. Even if you could somehow produce a better product, the customer base doesn’t care anymore. Customers have moved on and they’re not coming back either. Imagine you’re divorced and remarried. You’ve got a decent,prosperous life and you’ve had a couple of kids that you love with your new wife who you also love and who treats you well. Suddenly, your psycho ex calls and says she wants you back. Do you care? No. Does it matter if your ex has lost weight and looks like she did when you first married her? No. Does it matter if she’s been through therapy and is no longer psychotic? No. Is there anything that would make you take her back now that you know what she’s capable of? No. Star Wars fans have been betrayed and had their hearts broken and it doesn’t matter what kind of changes are made there will never be that kind of devotion in the fan base ever again. I sincerely wish this wasn’t true but it is. Get used to it.
Insanely insightful comment, sums up my feelings exactly. This unfortunately applies to many works of fiction I once enjoyed, Halo being the most depressing of all for me
It’s quite ironic that one of the central themes of Star Wars, hope, is lost for the franchise… Wonderful breakdown, I’m glad I stumbled across your Acolyte reviews
Hope has been lost across the entire west due to woke domination and mass migration collapsing Europe and damaging US. It's a time when hope on the screen is most needed. Time for a biopic about the first ten years of the Austrian being head of his party.
BUGGER... You're giving me corporate PTSD. The only thing you missed was going over the KPI benchmarks and a lot of yapping about shareholder value, and maybe a couple of corporate phrases I.E... Moving forward and .. let's take that offline... Lol.. AND. You are absolutely fucking spot on... Well stated great vid. 👍
It's truly been flatlined since the purchase by Disney. If I show Star Wars to a kid, I'll tell them it's something that's been over for a while but ruled in the day.
You can because SW isn’t real. You can still tell good stories, and you can set those stories in the SW universe. You act like the cult has managed to kill creativity itself.
My plan is more aggressive, and more thorough. Disney forfits the IP completely. A non-profit organization made of loyal ACTUAL fans takes charge and a "Council of Canon" is made to determine whether or not any particular product becomes canon. Membership is limited to extremely knowledgeable fans, and their length of stay shall be short to combat nepotism and general corruption. Also, give this non-profit control over Lucas Films. Obviously, shit-can all the leadership, and the DEI hires. Only quality is allowed to stay, and treat them well. Acknowledge that nothing made by Disney was EVER canon, and press a canon reset button. Finally, have a publicly available contract terms that all companies must abide in order license and make Star wars content. Make social media responsibilities of not disrespecting fans mandatory, and state that failure to do so is grounds to never get paid and/or be sued by the organization. Totally agree to be all-in on the KOTOR timeline. It's past time to move on from the Skywalker Saga. It's stale, and there is only so many times folks are going to like something because Vader makes an appearance.
Companies as a whole should have insulting fans grounds for suing the employee or ex employee for damaging the brand. Working for any entertainment brand should be a lifelong commitment linked to residuals to do right by the brand.
I like the theory that Disney star wars was a hallucination that Luke had while he was unconscious in the ice cave on Hoth. Or possibly while he was crammed inside that tonton's guts, because that's how much it stinks
I've said it before, but anybody who says they canned the "Legends" content because they "didn't want to pay" for the writers, I challenge them to provide the over/under on everybody who DID write this material, and see how much was truly spent. Narcissists, spot on.👍
I don't blame you for not mentioning Visions but I think the success of season 1 versus the failure of season 2 has an important lesson. Both seasons were terribly marketed, like all disney plus shows, but one season was completely anime and the other was a mix of animation styles. This illustrated what a force anime fans can have, especially when season 1 was mostly spread from word to mouth. Season 1 was unique and appealed to a new fan base within star wars. Lesson: do something new and fresh, and market to new groups as well as the main groups.
I'll never understand why they keep swapping writers with the newest Disney star wars stuff with creative differences. Just makes everything disjointed
I've been discussing the problems with Star Wars with my boyfriend for years now, and we've also been thinking that the best way forward is to do movies based on Knight of the Old Republic. It's a great story, which in the hands of a good screenwriter and a good director can be turned into something really exceptional. As for the current TV-shows, The Mandalorian was good in the first season, and it's been going at first slowly, then later very quickly, down hill. It needs to end. The other shows, have been mostly awful. Andor was good, although not AS good as some people like to claim, but it unfortunately centered around very fringe characters, so it failed to make enough of a splash. The others have been anywhere from terrible to frickin' godawful, with costumes and that looked like all the characters had just arrived at Comic-Con. They all need to go. Killing off shows that are sub par isn't losing face. Forcing those shows to continue, despite nobody liking them however, seriously hurts the brand. And while they claim that they want these shows to catch a new audience, they very strongly focus on characters that mostly only the hardcore fans care about. Few fandoms have more strongly believed that "their fans" are the hardcore, long-term fans of the comics, than the Marvel fans. When in reality, Marvel Comics is TINY in a global context. It's been close to bankrupt many times, which is why Sony came to own Spider-Man. Yet the movies have made billions. It's good that somebody points out how important the "normies" are for the commercial success for these type of franchises. Hell, the movie that started off the MCU was a character that was considered obscure, so failure wouldn't hurt the brand too much. Still, Iron Man launched the franchise like nobody could have predicted. So Star Wars needs to learn from that lesson. What they need, is a strong story line, no politics and consistency. And KOTOR would bring that.
A little off topic, but I just have to say... you have no idea just how much joy it brings me to hear you say "I am the Real Life Fake Wizard" at the start of every video. Keep on pondering!
Something that was also lost with the Disney buyout of Star Wars, is that Luke isn't the hero anymore. Not just because of Jake Skywalker in TLJ, but because of ALL those stories that were set during and after the OT in the old EU, but were tossed out to give Disney room to make new stories and TOTALLY not just copy back from it without all the supporting stuff that went into it. For a lot of those stories, Luke WAS the hero, the protagonist for decades of Galactic events even as his family stretched off centuries into the future. But now we have a ton of one off characters filling the roles that Luke used to hold, and now there's nothing left for him but to fail and die. Just another wound inflicted by the Mouse amongst dozens of others, but still one that stings like a bitch regardless.
23:17 Yessssss!! Serrrrriously, why haven't they done an Old Republic film series!? The fans have been asking for years! Assuming different people are running the company when they attempt this of course
I think that part of the business plan should include a revamp of the HR policies, particularly one that stipulates the requirement for an NDA for all actors to sign, for any future film. An NDA that includes clauses like "you will not give or participate in any interview, attend conventions, or any other types of public appearances, without the explicit consent from management." Basically, in an effort to prevent actors like Rachel Zegler torpedoing the movie before it's even released! To be honest, the less I know about an actor's personal life, the easier it is to maintain the illusion of the film in question. I think that 2024 has been particularly enlightening when it comes to finding out the political persuasions of actors, how they feel about certain demographics, etc. and how much they really despise us... So much so that I now have a list of actors that have spoiled this "illusion" so effectively that I can never ever watch anything they star in, past, present or future! And a smaller rule I would make is to NOT make trailers that give the whole frigging plot of the film away, so much so that I have not bothered to watch some films in the past as the trailer basically spoiled the anticipation that much that it wasn't worth watching the film anymore.... I realize this is not an easy task, i.e. to make a trailer that is engaging enough to entice the public to go and see the film but not divulge that much of the story that you've basically ruined most of the surprise developments. Oh yeah, and before I forget, cancel Disney Plus!
You forgot one major key step, Star Wars needs to rest for a long, long time, 20 to 30 years minimum, long enough that people won't have a lot of connection. Then maybe the some will come in out of curiosity. Not just Star Wars but most franchises need to be put to bed like this knowing that most, if not all will ever wake up, but that's ok. New stories will come, and we have the old, old stories that can't be sold and so will never truly die.
As a regular Joe that never really goes to movies i never see a trailer or any piece of advertising that really makes me say. ''Woaw~! Sure wish i could go see that!''
Personally I think the best course of action is accountability regardless if you are an employee, team leader, president director or consultant, for every flop someone or a group of people must be held accountable by paying a % back to the company representing part of the project cost. (I know it's extreme but in these times I don't see alternative) The persona who came in with and idea for a movie ,and the idea failed and bombed, said person or group of people will be keped under strict watch in order to discovers why the product failed and what that said person or people did wrong. This same person/people does a second project which flops just like the first but worse, conclusions are drawn and this persona/people are removed from any mainline projects and assigned less important role/s in the next project. And if they don't bring anything constructive at all they are let go from the project and/or the entire company if they get violent and start protesting meaninglessly when their actions say otherwise. This way Hollywood wouldn't have to be afraid of wokesters calling them names or whatever when the actions of said people speak louder than their identity or orientation or race. If proof exists of you fcking it up you have no say in the matter or call racism, incompetence shouldn't be encouraged based of woke ideology, talent and competence alone should be the endgame.
You have to punish only the decision makers, all the way to the top. This culture would encourage those that are not woke to stand against it to gain promotions when the woke project fails. That would be good.
You address a very serious problem at 16:23 that I hope we see a change in society for the better at some point. It's not only executives though, actors/actresses expressing their personal political opinions while on tour promoting a film they're in should be written into their contract and they should be required to pay a portion of their salary back. They're paid to entertain, not lecture the general public. I'm so sick of EVERYTHING being political.
19:23 easy fix, just add some way to signal what “era” it’s in, could be as simple as a stamp on a movie poster, or something more intricate like the font changing. Saying that, I do think they need to stop bouncing around the timeline as often, though we need to keep in mind the ages of the actors who play characters
I am not a huge Star Wars super fan. Back when The Force Awakens was announced all I had experience with was the 6 films and the games Jedi Starfighter, Battlefront 2, and KotOR, and even back then I turned to my friend, who was a huge Star Wars fan, and said they should have set the new trilogy in The Old Republic instead of making it a sequel. It simply makes sense. It has all the iconography of Star Wars: Jedi, Sith, Droids, Starfighters, but they're all juuuuuuuuust a bit different, enough to catch your attention in a trailer. More importantly, it's set far enough away from the original movies that you don't risk screwing them up and don't have to carry any of the baggage, remember at the time the prequels were not particularly well remembered, at least 1 and 2 weren't, and even as a non-fan I knew about the expanded universe content that took place post-movies and knew they'd have to start retconning all of that. For many of the same reasons it still makes sense. It's Star Wars, but it's not the confusing mess, and it's just different enough to feel fresh and mysterious.
Great video. As I watched, I kept waiting for you to bring up the most important thing (in my opinion) and you did at the very end, but you really glossed over it. Even if Disney were to take every one of your recommendations, starting with firing everyone involved with Lucasfilm and trashing everything that Disney Star Wars has made, you’re still left with a two serious problems. The first is that Bob Iger is still in charge, and anyone that he hires is going to be perceived as more of the same that we got with Kathleen Kennedy. He has to go as well before anything else can change. The second problem is that the Star Wars community has been burned, gaslighted, and disregarded too many times. No one believes that Lucasfilm can change, and that means there’s no excitement for any new Star Wars movies. Even if you do fire everyone, what good does it do if you’re just going to replace them with people with no track record? We’ll all expect things to stay exactly the same as they are now, with the expectation that Star Wars will continue to produce one failure after another. So, my suggestion would be to choose the writer and director for the KOTOR scripts very carefully, and then stay out of their way. Instead of new, hungry writers with no track record being placed in charge of writing the scripts for movies that absolutely must not fail, we need people with a proven track record who are willing to put their talents (and their reputations) to good use. Writer: J. Michael Straczynski. He has proven his ability to think in the long term not just with Babylon 5, but with several projects since then. For a series of movies that cover as much ground as KOTOR he would be the ideal choice to pen the initial scripts. The one thing I would insist on is that he should write six treatments with a clear roadmap for the three groups of two KOTOR films, so we don’t have another J.J. Abrams/Rian Johnson situation (where the first writer loosely puts down what should happen in subsequent movies and lays the groundwork in the first movie, only to have the next writer wipe his ass with the first director’s notes, burn the soiled notes, salt the ashes, and then not only systematically destroy everything that the first writer created in the name of “subverting expectations”, but to make it impossible for the third director to pick up the reins.) Have JMS write rough drafts of all six movies, and commit to remaining as close as possible to the roadmap he lays down. Director: Joss Whedon. I don’t give two shits what he’s been accused of or how he’s portrayed in the media. If people can not only watch Roman Polanski, Luc Besson, Woody Allen, and countless other scumbags’ movies, then they can watch Joss Whedon’s movies too. He’s spent enough time in Hollywood jail. Time for him to get back in the director’s chair. He knows how to work with an ensemble cast and how to create a summer tentpole film. As I see it, his biggest problem is that he doesn’t handle either pressure or success very well, and he takes failure very personally. He would need help getting these movies going, but only in the most indirect sense. Get him in the director’s seat again and let the man cook. Sweeten the deal for him by offering to greenlight either a Firefly/Serenity revival or reboot, and put him in charge of it. Finally, one thing that you mentioned should be reiterated and reinforced in the strongest possible terms: the first two movies need to remain within a strict budget of no more than $100-150M (including special effects AND marketing.) The days of Disney spending recklessly on their properties in a vain attempt to buy success have got to come to an end. Start small. Build back trust. Then, when people are finally excited to go back to the theaters for Star Wars again, pull out all the stops in the final two movies.
great video, I think I could get behind a lot of this, considering I fell off of Star Wars and there isn't much that holds my interest to it anymore I think take the series back to the Old Republic is definitely the way to go.
I agree that the best thing to do is to go to the Old Republic Era, and we can stay there for a while. I dont think tv shows would be a bad thing but maybe hold off till the movies start pulling people back in
Its such a simple fix, fire all the current upper management at Lucasfilm and put Sam Witwer in charge. That man knows the lore and has a passion and vision for the franchise that would reignite the fans and Disneys bank account.
I like it. Bit draconian but seeing as we are trying to save something this damaged, yeah fire is a good start. Also going to the Old Republic is a good starting point too, got some good stories there. I think starting with 3 movies and just movies following Raven would be a good start too; if the interest return then maybe TV shows. Books are a must and Id even do audiobooks (not someone just reading the books but more like a radio play).
I think making all-new stories is how I approach the decline of the industry. I can rewatch the true Star Wars saga any time. There is a whole ocean of classic movies I have never seen. I want to write my own stories as well.
I agree with your assessment that the management, marketing, and story groups need to go. Corporate culture is a real thing, and if you don't cut the weeds out they'll just spread again. I agree that this is very unlikely to happen. We need to pull that money plug out, and let the company whither away. Eventually someone may plant something good into that soil again. I appreciate you, wiz, and your tempered optimism.
The Normies matter when counting box office, but the vast majority of Star Wars revenue since 1977 has NOT been the films. It's merchandise. Which the classic fans consume the most of, by far. The classic fans that will spend thousands every year on merchandise are always going to be the most important
The merchandise, ie toys, and park attendance are downstream of the media, movies etc, so if the shows are trash the rest will not be successful. This is something that Disney seems to have forgotten.
The KOTOR angle is something I've been thinking for a long time mainly due how missmanaged current SW story has been. Good pitch overall, if I had 50% of disney shares instead of just 50 I would hire you for recruitment and overall vision😂
FORCE Disney to invest in legitimate time travel, then go back to when they rejected George's story treatment's & ameliorate everything from that point...then I'm in!
I agree, there is so much awesome stuff in the KOTOR games/era...but yeah, it would need a whole new team...I can't see anyone less than an expert writing a character like Kreia...but you've got built in twist reveals in the 2nd and 4th movies that could be amazing...SPOILERS . . . . . personally, the whole angle Kreia took where The Force both negates freewill and makes people blind and reliant on it blew me away the first time...and both Darths, Nihilus and Scion had really cool concepts, amazing work given the dev hell and crunch #2 went through...
I don't think they should touch the KoTOR games at all. The games hold up, and if people can't deal with the old graphics, well then, let them be filtered. I think remake culture need to come to an end, especially for games that are still very much accessible.
Really looking forward to starwars outlaws being 20 bucks soon, hate star wars but actually really love open world ubisoft games like watchdogs 2 and immortals fenyx rising 😅
11:50 the vaccine came out in December 2020 and they were only giving it to people considered high risk for the first few months. Spider-man: No Way Home came out at the very end of 2021, after everyone had the year to get it. How could you think the pandemic didn’t affect ticket sales in 2021? For the first half of the year didn’t most of the country still have restrictions on 100 people sitting in an enclosed space for 3 hours? 😂 Besides that, yea, Star Wars and Disney are a mess. The whole executive suite needs to be cleaned out. For the life of me I don’t know why they didn’t capitalize on KOTOR and make movies or a show based on it. All the hard work was already done, they only had to translate it into a movie.
you're always insightful and that's why I subscribed to you! However, i have to point out that the original problem with Star Wars began way back in the 80's when it became more of a business and less of an enchanting movie that was for EVERYONE. I mean everyone loved it. Almost any kid could afford a toy, etc. The prequels were terrible movies but still had the Star Wars vibe in the theater, and for the kids of the time who knew no better. A business plan to bring back the magic of Empire Strikes Back and Star Wars on VHS tape is like that attempt to deage Harrison Ford. It's not going to bring the past glory back.
I am curious if it is possible for Star wars fans to buy the film rights to Star Wars to take creative control of the films and let disney have the merchandise and park attractions. What would it take for a buy out??? 4 to 5 billion dollars. You need like 2 to 3 million fans to purchase a share for a few thousand bucks.
I just don't know it it's possible. With Star Wars, it was genuinely revolutionary. A decent number of films were technical jumps forward. If you think about LOTR, avatar, or the matrix, I think it's easier to generate excitement when you've pioneered new special effects or audio technology. If you don't have a new technological leap, then you can't blow things out of the water. You have to compete in existing technical terms. Star Wars doesn't have to be good, it has to be special. If a new film was superlatively good, then maybe it does the job. However, there's an argument that Star Wars is fantasy. Fantasy has Game of thrones stuff. But it has LOTR. Star Wars is probably more LOTR. It's mythic. Normal storytelling is maybe dotting is and crossing ts and making sure 2+2 = 4 (or if you worked on Rings of power, then ensuring 2+2 = fish). But if a character is an archetype, then maybe normal rules don't apply. If you need inspired jumps of imagination or poetry, then you need something else. A comparison would be LOTR. Gandalf experiencing a rebirth makes sense. Another might be David Lynch films, where you can accept details that make no sense because they make sense within the world. They don't necessarily come out of nowhere. Now think of Obi Wan letting Darth Vader strike him down. That's not normal storytelling and the mystical rules established come into play later. It's not keeping things realistic and then expecting a jump of imagination to come out of nowhere. The cave on Dagobar is another example of a world operating on poetry rather than sense. Unless you can nail the sense of crackling electricity and possibility, then any follow up HAS TO BE a massive step down. If you can't create magic, then there's no reason to think you can milk that cash cow indefinitely.
Maybe, just maybe, they should consider making a good show. Which means they have to know what a good show looks like. Which means employing someone who doesn't regard Star Wars as a silly story about space wizards.
Thank you for making another great video Wizard! I needed this, the political season nonsense has been driving me a little crazy! BTW I did cancel my Disney plus subscription!
If I were making the next star wars. I would set it 2000 years in the future. All the events in the first 3 trillogies are considered folklore. The Jedi and sith are a thing of the distant past and the vast majority of people in the galaxy think the force is just fairy tale magic. The protagonist is part of a secret government organization that hunts force users. He's done some messed up things in the past because from his perspective, force users have been responsible for killing billions. He is the father of a young boy that exhibits force talents. He goes into hiding because his love for his son trumps his ideology. The movie will be about his journey to smuggle his son to the secret order of the Jedi that rumored to be some Illuminati like organization responsible for everything bad that happens in the galaxy. Turns out the Jedi do exist and they have been fighting the galactic government headed in secret by none other than the preserved corpse of Rey Palpatine that has been hooked up to an AI program and corrupted over 2000 years.
Scrap everything. Film the Bane trilogy. Make it based. Do NOT cast Dave Bautists like so many people want. Release them over a 5 year span. Retire the franchise. Golden.
I was planning to hang on to Disney+ in anticipation of the second season of Andor -- but The Acolyte changed my mind. Unless something changes significantly, I am done with Disney Star Wars.
Fire not just the men but the women and children too?
And their pets and livestock.
Yes!!! And THEIR children. And their children's children....for the three months. 😂😂
Salt the earth!
They're like animals, and I fired them like animals.
What are you talking about? They’re all children.
Reboot everything, fire everyone, and get together the 10 best EU authors
They dont even need to reboot anything. Decanonize 7/8/9 and start again with a New Sequal Trilogy. This time Set hundreds of years later to completly disconnect it from anything in the past.
The Old Republic becomes ancient. the New Republic becomes History. you have a new universe with new problems.
A New set of Jedi have come into their own with newer tradition set by Luke. And a New Dark Presence arrives to shake things up again.
@BlueBD
Can we just stop doing the Jedi thing for a while please
This is like GW slobbering all over Space Marines constantly and ignoring everything else.
@@BlueBD That is literally what I thought would've worked for 7,8,9 back in 2014.
Just because they HAD to use Harrison Ford doesn't mean they couldn't have had Han Solo be 'Star Trek' old(ie Bones in TNG) or maybe have him appear as a historical hologram.
@@thekraken1909 The Movies are Primarily a Jedi Story.
You can do other-stuff outside of that as supplementary material as they have already done
@BlueBD
The movies don't NEED to be a Jedi story. Rogue One easily proves this.
Just a shame that Gareth had his director's vision tampered with by Disney.
I rather stick to my dishwashing job over working at Disney for a bigger paycheck, I prefer keeping my sanity
Doubt it would be a much bigger paycheck given how many of their staff are homeless
This is sad
To me, Star Wars is dead. It has been for years. I'm done with it. I don't care about it anymore. I can't even summon enough interest to get angry about it anymore.
Only a miracle would make me care about it again. And modern Hollywood isn't capable of making miracles happen.
Specicifically for me, episode 9 really killed it.
While I enjoyed 7 at the time and 8 had moments I wanted to like, 9 just rang hollow.
Knowing that after all the struggle: *that* is where all the fighting and all the bloodshed ends up just didn't feel worth it.
I struggled to feel excited to jump into my favorite eras knowing that Rey would be the one dropping the pieces decades down the line.
I can't put my finger on *exactly* what happened that left such a bad taste in my mouth about but it was definitely an issue with the writing. The actors did phenomenal with such bad scripting but otherwise it had more holes than swiss cheese.
I've given up as well. F..... Disney.....and their "star wars".
You can revive it. But in like 5-7 years and as a reboot or follow up that ignores everything Di$ney made. Now it's to early for it.
@@racingraptor4758 Might take longer to dissipate the stink Disney and Kathleen have put on the franchise. At least 10 years.
But I agree the only way the ressurrect Star Wars (since it's too far gone to save as it is) is to do a soft reboot. Either with the Old Republic era, thousands of years in the past, or by jumping hundreds of years into the future. All new cast of characters, all new villains and a completely different status quo with no baggage from any of the movies.
Fire everyone.
What do you mean everyone?
Gary oldman: EVVVVVERRRYOOONNEEE
I am a classic fan and I have 100% given up. At this point, I just want Star Wars to die. I want Star Trek to die. I never thought I would say that but what it is come out in the last 10 years has been terrible.
Hey bro...I remember from the time I was like 14, to whenever I heard Disney bought Star Wars, I was like "damn, I wish they would make more Star Wars...." And I'd imagine my own stories of what might happen...never read any books, cause fuck that, but I'd heard about some of them, and would imagine what I heard....and when episode 7 came out, I thought I liked it...but I couldn't help but feel disappointed. Now I keep thinking "they might make something bad ass" but they won't bro....they won't. I mean Andor was pretty bad ass, and I'm looking forward to season 2, but other than that...nah fam...they won't. It's over. I started listening to all the audiobooks though. That's my canon now. I just listen to them when I want more Star Wars.
Andor?
I've given up as well. F..... Disney.....
The best business plan to save Star Wars is to simply not do anything with the franchise for at least 6 years.
Let's not be that drastic. I really need a remake of the X-wing and TIE Fighter games.
Since you're so informed where'd you get your business degree? You got some industry insight?
Not a chance at this point, let it sit 6 years means no movie PERIOD for 9 years, no game's for nearly 20, and the IP itself will still cost at least 1-4 billion to buy, even if you went full cut down DVD home video that first movie is costing at least $250K if not $1-$4 million due to inflation... And you need a winner at that point, the real problem is not volume but DIRECTION, the road dead ended 5 movies ago and Disney keeps trying to drive back to where the incest mutant camp is to get out of their IP's "Horror"ble marketing plan.
They need a road going somewhere good.
And then after six years they just go back to repeating the same mistakes. How does this fix anything?
@@BusterDarcy exactly, they really need to spend a decade COOKING, not idle.
Your average Star Wars fan could tell Disney how to fix Star Wars. The problem is Disney doesn't ask us
Palpatine's return was so bad that they could've revived him with the dragon balls and it wouldn't have been any more ridiculous than what was actually put out.
Another great video as well, Mr.Wizard.
So basically Disney all you have to do is admit you were wrong and the fans are right.... I won't be holding my breath!
I am a normie when it comes to star wars, but I imagine it must be HELL to the workers since they're forced to release movies, shows, games and books constantly. You are right, the leadership needs to be replaced with people who won't release a low quality product or force dozens of releases in less than a decade.
I've heard the people trying to make movies have an absolute nightmare due to seemingly having daily script changes... like how the --- are you supposed to make a movie when you can't even decide what the movie will BE.
Hi Wizard, as a bachelor in Business engineering it sounds like a decent plan! You forgot one minor aspect: introducing to hold management accountable to previous set
GOALS. Lower management with goals with product related ones and overall senior with business growth. And strike two means you’re out.
Leave it. It can’t be fixed now.
It's legitimately crazy to me that Leslye Headland continues to get hired by Disney, despite every single thing she's created being a massive dumpster fire flop. Everything she touches turns to shit, yet Disney is like: "BRILLIANT! HERE'S SOME MORE WORK FOR YOU!!!"
"Somehow, Palpatine's returned..." XD
Go got papa palpatine
I genuinely think the original plan was to have Rey explore her family legacy and try to make it a good thing..... then Disney kicked over their own applecart, twice, and ruined what might have been a good odea.
I'm a big fan of the Gundam franchise and, while it is far from perfect, it gets a lot of things right where Star Wars gets it wrong.
Bandai, the company that owns Gundam, does a lot of things that I don't like, but they definitely respect Gundam and understand it is one of their pillars. So they don't chip away at it. They are very careful about how the franchise is presented, especially when it comes to the og characters.
Gundam is a merchandising powerhouse with model kits being the flagship. Bandai sells hundreds of millions of dollars of model kits every year. They have super expensive kits that cost hundreds of dollars, but they specifically have a line designed to get people into the hobby. These kits cost about $7 each. I think they are a loss leader, but the goal is to get people in so they might buy more expensive kits.
Bandai is trying to expand the brand into the mainstream. Gundam series and films are found on multiple streaming services just to try to get people to give it a chance. Though the franchise has a problem where people think it's isn't newcomer friendly, there are non-canon timelines are are made to be a jumping on point for new viewers.
I don't know if Gundam will ever be mainstream outside of Japan. But I do know that Bandai is trying, and not just resting on their laurels like Lucasfilm.
"People who drilled holes in our ship to snorkel in the ocean" is the most adept metaphor for how things are going. My god that killed me.
But can't wait for the next flop either way, will be ready to pirate it, if even watch it all.
here is how you FIX the existing sequels in about one minute:
SCENE OPENS with Luke Skywalker, ~10 years older than we last saw him at end of RotJ, deep in meditation communing with the Force...
some sounds and twitching indicate his vision has become intense...
camera dives into his vision, which is a flash highspeed super cut of the sequel trilogy, as we witness the destruction of the hosnean system... CUT back to Skywalkers face as his eyes suddenly open. He mutters, "no. never again..." he gets up and marches off to ensure none of this comes to pass...
( virtually NONE of the background meta-story about what happened between 6 and 7 (according to ep7) has had time to happen. Han and Leia finally have a child at the end of the 3rd movie. A very young Rey is rescued from that crappy desert planet in the 3rd movie. Finn is never kidnapped from his parents. Everything works out reasonably. I think _maybe_ no clone-palpy is needed, but he could be in or out, not that big a deal. ) Total clean slate. the "old sequels" become just a "Star Wars Vision" not exactly retcon'd, but effectively nearly totally so. They become irrelevant. Yes all roles will need to be recast, but that's ok, it really is. Just find some actors that look right and can act, problem solved. )
this builds-in the promise of a good fun trilogy with great payoff at the end. One other thing, I think the writing needs to take into consideration the character that never gets mentioned, scene or heard: The Force - how does Luke tumble the Imperial Order's secret plans? He uses the Force ffs! It guides him to wherever he needs to be, makes it possible for him to find whatever clue is needed, etc. That's the whole idea, it's not just a magic way to jump high + telekinesis. Star Wars: Shadow in the Force = ep 7a
Star Wars cannot be fixed. It is dead and it’s never coming back.
The original and best of Star Wars was created by a man with a vision who was backed up by literally hundreds of highly talented and experienced professionals who were all working at the absolute top of their game. These people were in it primarily due to their love of movie making. They innovated things that changed the entire industry for decades afterwards.
This was a different time and place when the ONLY consideration that mattered was producing the BEST possible product in an aggressively competitive business. All other considerations were secondary.
The people that participated in this legendary achievement are mostly either retired or passed on. Even if you could somehow get some of those people back they would never be willing to work under the conditions that modern Hollywood/Disney would impose on them.
Even if you were somehow able to fire everyone associated with Star Wars and hire all new writers, actors, directors, technicians, etc. and started “trying” to produce quality Star Wars again you couldn’t do it. The talent pool in Hollywood doesn’t exist anymore.
Even if you could somehow produce a better product, the customer base doesn’t care anymore. Customers have moved on and they’re not coming back either.
Imagine you’re divorced and remarried. You’ve got a decent,prosperous life and you’ve had a couple of kids that you love with your new wife who you also love and who treats you well. Suddenly, your psycho ex calls and says she wants you back. Do you care? No. Does it matter if your ex has lost weight and looks like she did when you first married her? No. Does it matter if she’s been through therapy and is no longer psychotic? No. Is there anything that would make you take her back now that you know what she’s capable of? No. Star Wars fans have been betrayed and had their hearts broken and it doesn’t matter what kind of changes are made there will never be that kind of devotion in the fan base ever again.
I sincerely wish this wasn’t true but it is. Get used to it.
Insanely insightful comment, sums up my feelings exactly. This unfortunately applies to many works of fiction I once enjoyed, Halo being the most depressing of all for me
Best thing Disney could do for star wars is put it in the public domain.
Amen Brother!
There are 14 movies. The 3 trilogies, the clone wars movie, rogue one, solo, and the 2 Ewok movies.
As a dude named Kyle, I would leave if it helped.
You get a pass, Kyle.
It’s quite ironic that one of the central themes of Star Wars, hope, is lost for the franchise… Wonderful breakdown, I’m glad I stumbled across your Acolyte reviews
Hope has been lost across the entire west due to woke domination and mass migration collapsing Europe and damaging US. It's a time when hope on the screen is most needed.
Time for a biopic about the first ten years of the Austrian being head of his party.
BUGGER... You're giving me corporate PTSD. The only thing you missed was going over the KPI benchmarks and a lot of yapping about shareholder value, and maybe a couple of corporate phrases I.E... Moving forward and .. let's take that offline... Lol.. AND. You are absolutely fucking spot on... Well stated great vid. 👍
It's truly been flatlined since the purchase by Disney.
If I show Star Wars to a kid, I'll tell them it's something that's been over for a while but ruled in the day.
You can't fix the death.
You can because SW isn’t real. You can still tell good stories, and you can set those stories in the SW universe. You act like the cult has managed to kill creativity itself.
Starwars isn't worth fixing anymore
I've moved my interest on to Dune and 40k
My plan is more aggressive, and more thorough.
Disney forfits the IP completely. A non-profit organization made of loyal ACTUAL fans takes charge and a "Council of Canon" is made to determine whether or not any particular product becomes canon. Membership is limited to extremely knowledgeable fans, and their length of stay shall be short to combat nepotism and general corruption.
Also, give this non-profit control over Lucas Films. Obviously, shit-can all the leadership, and the DEI hires. Only quality is allowed to stay, and treat them well.
Acknowledge that nothing made by Disney was EVER canon, and press a canon reset button.
Finally, have a publicly available contract terms that all companies must abide in order license and make Star wars content. Make social media responsibilities of not disrespecting fans mandatory, and state that failure to do so is grounds to never get paid and/or be sued by the organization.
Totally agree to be all-in on the KOTOR timeline. It's past time to move on from the Skywalker Saga. It's stale, and there is only so many times folks are going to like something because Vader makes an appearance.
Companies as a whole should have insulting fans grounds for suing the employee or ex employee for damaging the brand. Working for any entertainment brand should be a lifelong commitment linked to residuals to do right by the brand.
I like the theory that Disney star wars was a hallucination that Luke had while he was unconscious in the ice cave on Hoth.
Or possibly while he was crammed inside that tonton's guts, because that's how much it stinks
I've said it before, but anybody who says they canned the "Legends" content because they "didn't want to pay" for the writers, I challenge them to provide the over/under on everybody who DID write this material, and see how much was truly spent.
Narcissists, spot on.👍
I don't blame you for not mentioning Visions but I think the success of season 1 versus the failure of season 2 has an important lesson. Both seasons were terribly marketed, like all disney plus shows, but one season was completely anime and the other was a mix of animation styles. This illustrated what a force anime fans can have, especially when season 1 was mostly spread from word to mouth. Season 1 was unique and appealed to a new fan base within star wars.
Lesson: do something new and fresh, and market to new groups as well as the main groups.
I'll never understand why they keep swapping writers with the newest Disney star wars stuff with creative differences. Just makes everything disjointed
Fire kathleen kennedy, leslye hedland, and Dave Filoni, and Hire Sam Witwer to take her place as President of Lucas Films.
I'd settle for her husband as the new CEO.
Last part is what I’ve been preaching for years. Thank you.
I'm 30 years old and back in the 2000's I loved watching the OG trilogy and prequel trilogy
"He's dead, Jim."
Shills often have a financial interest in keeping Star Wars relevant and popular.
I've been discussing the problems with Star Wars with my boyfriend for years now, and we've also been thinking that the best way forward is to do movies based on Knight of the Old Republic. It's a great story, which in the hands of a good screenwriter and a good director can be turned into something really exceptional.
As for the current TV-shows, The Mandalorian was good in the first season, and it's been going at first slowly, then later very quickly, down hill. It needs to end. The other shows, have been mostly awful. Andor was good, although not AS good as some people like to claim, but it unfortunately centered around very fringe characters, so it failed to make enough of a splash. The others have been anywhere from terrible to frickin' godawful, with costumes and that looked like all the characters had just arrived at Comic-Con. They all need to go.
Killing off shows that are sub par isn't losing face. Forcing those shows to continue, despite nobody liking them however, seriously hurts the brand.
And while they claim that they want these shows to catch a new audience, they very strongly focus on characters that mostly only the hardcore fans care about.
Few fandoms have more strongly believed that "their fans" are the hardcore, long-term fans of the comics, than the Marvel fans. When in reality, Marvel Comics is TINY in a global context. It's been close to bankrupt many times, which is why Sony came to own Spider-Man. Yet the movies have made billions. It's good that somebody points out how important the "normies" are for the commercial success for these type of franchises. Hell, the movie that started off the MCU was a character that was considered obscure, so failure wouldn't hurt the brand too much. Still, Iron Man launched the franchise like nobody could have predicted. So Star Wars needs to learn from that lesson.
What they need, is a strong story line, no politics and consistency. And KOTOR would bring that.
A little off topic, but I just have to say... you have no idea just how much joy it brings me to hear you say "I am the Real Life Fake Wizard" at the start of every video.
Keep on pondering!
Something that was also lost with the Disney buyout of Star Wars, is that Luke isn't the hero anymore. Not just because of Jake Skywalker in TLJ, but because of ALL those stories that were set during and after the OT in the old EU, but were tossed out to give Disney room to make new stories and TOTALLY not just copy back from it without all the supporting stuff that went into it.
For a lot of those stories, Luke WAS the hero, the protagonist for decades of Galactic events even as his family stretched off centuries into the future. But now we have a ton of one off characters filling the roles that Luke used to hold, and now there's nothing left for him but to fail and die.
Just another wound inflicted by the Mouse amongst dozens of others, but still one that stings like a bitch regardless.
23:17 Yessssss!! Serrrrriously, why haven't they done an Old Republic film series!? The fans have been asking for years! Assuming different people are running the company when they attempt this of course
I think that part of the business plan should include a revamp of the HR policies, particularly one that stipulates the requirement for an NDA for all actors to sign, for any future film. An NDA that includes clauses like "you will not give or participate in any interview, attend conventions, or any other types of public appearances, without the explicit consent from management." Basically, in an effort to prevent actors like Rachel Zegler torpedoing the movie before it's even released! To be honest, the less I know about an actor's personal life, the easier it is to maintain the illusion of the film in question. I think that 2024 has been particularly enlightening when it comes to finding out the political persuasions of actors, how they feel about certain demographics, etc. and how much they really despise us... So much so that I now have a list of actors that have spoiled this "illusion" so effectively that I can never ever watch anything they star in, past, present or future! And a smaller rule I would make is to NOT make trailers that give the whole frigging plot of the film away, so much so that I have not bothered to watch some films in the past as the trailer basically spoiled the anticipation that much that it wasn't worth watching the film anymore.... I realize this is not an easy task, i.e. to make a trailer that is engaging enough to entice the public to go and see the film but not divulge that much of the story that you've basically ruined most of the surprise developments. Oh yeah, and before I forget, cancel Disney Plus!
More Andor, please and thank you.
You forgot one major key step, Star Wars needs to rest for a long, long time, 20 to 30 years minimum, long enough that people won't have a lot of connection. Then maybe the some will come in out of curiosity. Not just Star Wars but most franchises need to be put to bed like this knowing that most, if not all will ever wake up, but that's ok. New stories will come, and we have the old, old stories that can't be sold and so will never truly die.
Making KOTOR movies is probably better than my idea, which is de-canonize all the new movies and start over from right after Return of the jedi.
As a regular Joe that never really goes to movies i never see a trailer or any piece of advertising that really makes me say. ''Woaw~! Sure wish i could go see that!''
I love how thorough this is. You should really be a consultant! (Maybe not for current Star Wars leadership though, but)
Every time you tell us to cancel D+ I LOL. It's iconic. Never stop! The message must prevail!
Personally I think the best course of action is accountability regardless if you are an employee, team leader, president director or consultant, for every flop someone or a group of people must be held accountable by paying a % back to the company representing part of the project cost. (I know it's extreme but in these times I don't see alternative)
The persona who came in with and idea for a movie ,and the idea failed and bombed, said person or group of people will be keped under strict watch in order to discovers why the product failed and what that said person or people did wrong. This same person/people does a second project which flops just like the first but worse, conclusions are drawn and this persona/people are removed from any mainline projects and assigned less important role/s in the next project. And if they don't bring anything constructive at all they are let go from the project and/or the entire company if they get violent and start protesting meaninglessly when their actions say otherwise.
This way Hollywood wouldn't have to be afraid of wokesters calling them names or whatever when the actions of said people speak louder than their identity or orientation or race. If proof exists of you fcking it up you have no say in the matter or call racism, incompetence shouldn't be encouraged based of woke ideology, talent and competence alone should be the endgame.
You have to punish only the decision makers, all the way to the top. This culture would encourage those that are not woke to stand against it to gain promotions when the woke project fails. That would be good.
don't bother
Lucas film is committed
to their ways
I really don't care what their political leanings are, just so long as they do a good job. And lately, they haven't been.
You address a very serious problem at 16:23 that I hope we see a change in society for the better at some point. It's not only executives though, actors/actresses expressing their personal political opinions while on tour promoting a film they're in should be written into their contract and they should be required to pay a portion of their salary back. They're paid to entertain, not lecture the general public. I'm so sick of EVERYTHING being political.
I had a full 3 minutes that I ended up cutting out of this addressing just THAT. It's insane!
19:23 easy fix, just add some way to signal what “era” it’s in, could be as simple as a stamp on a movie poster, or something more intricate like the font changing.
Saying that, I do think they need to stop bouncing around the timeline as often, though we need to keep in mind the ages of the actors who play characters
I am not a huge Star Wars super fan. Back when The Force Awakens was announced all I had experience with was the 6 films and the games Jedi Starfighter, Battlefront 2, and KotOR, and even back then I turned to my friend, who was a huge Star Wars fan, and said they should have set the new trilogy in The Old Republic instead of making it a sequel.
It simply makes sense. It has all the iconography of Star Wars: Jedi, Sith, Droids, Starfighters, but they're all juuuuuuuuust a bit different, enough to catch your attention in a trailer. More importantly, it's set far enough away from the original movies that you don't risk screwing them up and don't have to carry any of the baggage, remember at the time the prequels were not particularly well remembered, at least 1 and 2 weren't, and even as a non-fan I knew about the expanded universe content that took place post-movies and knew they'd have to start retconning all of that.
For many of the same reasons it still makes sense. It's Star Wars, but it's not the confusing mess, and it's just different enough to feel fresh and mysterious.
Great video. As I watched, I kept waiting for you to bring up the most important thing (in my opinion) and you did at the very end, but you really glossed over it. Even if Disney were to take every one of your recommendations, starting with firing everyone involved with Lucasfilm and trashing everything that Disney Star Wars has made, you’re still left with a two serious problems. The first is that Bob Iger is still in charge, and anyone that he hires is going to be perceived as more of the same that we got with Kathleen Kennedy. He has to go as well before anything else can change. The second problem is that the Star Wars community has been burned, gaslighted, and disregarded too many times. No one believes that Lucasfilm can change, and that means there’s no excitement for any new Star Wars movies. Even if you do fire everyone, what good does it do if you’re just going to replace them with people with no track record? We’ll all expect things to stay exactly the same as they are now, with the expectation that Star Wars will continue to produce one failure after another.
So, my suggestion would be to choose the writer and director for the KOTOR scripts very carefully, and then stay out of their way. Instead of new, hungry writers with no track record being placed in charge of writing the scripts for movies that absolutely must not fail, we need people with a proven track record who are willing to put their talents (and their reputations) to good use.
Writer: J. Michael Straczynski. He has proven his ability to think in the long term not just with Babylon 5, but with several projects since then. For a series of movies that cover as much ground as KOTOR he would be the ideal choice to pen the initial scripts. The one thing I would insist on is that he should write six treatments with a clear roadmap for the three groups of two KOTOR films, so we don’t have another J.J. Abrams/Rian Johnson situation (where the first writer loosely puts down what should happen in subsequent movies and lays the groundwork in the first movie, only to have the next writer wipe his ass with the first director’s notes, burn the soiled notes, salt the ashes, and then not only systematically destroy everything that the first writer created in the name of “subverting expectations”, but to make it impossible for the third director to pick up the reins.) Have JMS write rough drafts of all six movies, and commit to remaining as close as possible to the roadmap he lays down.
Director: Joss Whedon. I don’t give two shits what he’s been accused of or how he’s portrayed in the media. If people can not only watch Roman Polanski, Luc Besson, Woody Allen, and countless other scumbags’ movies, then they can watch Joss Whedon’s movies too. He’s spent enough time in Hollywood jail. Time for him to get back in the director’s chair. He knows how to work with an ensemble cast and how to create a summer tentpole film. As I see it, his biggest problem is that he doesn’t handle either pressure or success very well, and he takes failure very personally. He would need help getting these movies going, but only in the most indirect sense. Get him in the director’s seat again and let the man cook. Sweeten the deal for him by offering to greenlight either a Firefly/Serenity revival or reboot, and put him in charge of it.
Finally, one thing that you mentioned should be reiterated and reinforced in the strongest possible terms: the first two movies need to remain within a strict budget of no more than $100-150M (including special effects AND marketing.) The days of Disney spending recklessly on their properties in a vain attempt to buy success have got to come to an end. Start small. Build back trust. Then, when people are finally excited to go back to the theaters for Star Wars again, pull out all the stops in the final two movies.
great video, I think I could get behind a lot of this, considering I fell off of Star Wars and there isn't much that holds my interest to it anymore I think take the series back to the Old Republic is definitely the way to go.
superb - now blueprints for fixing Marvel, Tolkien and Star Trek - and maybe Wheel of Time. Hollywood hire this man immediately.
Damn. Hire this wizard and put him in charge of Lucas Film.
Star Wars cannot be fixed unless The Bob Iger Company is removed from Disney.
I agree that the best thing to do is to go to the Old Republic Era, and we can stay there for a while.
I dont think tv shows would be a bad thing but maybe hold off till the movies start pulling people back in
Honestly, its just time for starwars to end. Its already beyond saving.
Its such a simple fix, fire all the current upper management at Lucasfilm and put Sam Witwer in charge. That man knows the lore and has a passion and vision for the franchise that would reignite the fans and Disneys bank account.
Perfect use of KOTOR background music!
I like it.
Bit draconian but seeing as we are trying to save something this damaged, yeah fire is a good start.
Also going to the Old Republic is a good starting point too, got some good stories there.
I think starting with 3 movies and just movies following Raven would be a good start too; if the interest return then maybe TV shows. Books are a must and Id even do audiobooks (not someone just reading the books but more like a radio play).
As a star wars normie that really doesn't care for 90% of star wars content out there, andor s1 was amazing and I'm so happy it got a s2
I think making all-new stories is how I approach the decline of the industry. I can rewatch the true Star Wars saga any time. There is a whole ocean of classic movies I have never seen. I want to write my own stories as well.
Excellent plan. I love it. Hope Disney sees this👌
I agree with your assessment that the management, marketing, and story groups need to go. Corporate culture is a real thing, and if you don't cut the weeds out they'll just spread again.
I agree that this is very unlikely to happen. We need to pull that money plug out, and let the company whither away. Eventually someone may plant something good into that soil again.
I appreciate you, wiz, and your tempered optimism.
Always so informative , thankyou for speaking to these subjects
The amount of star wars video games in the early 2000 is astonishing compared to now
The Normies matter when counting box office, but the vast majority of Star Wars revenue since 1977 has NOT been the films. It's merchandise. Which the classic fans consume the most of, by far. The classic fans that will spend thousands every year on merchandise are always going to be the most important
The merchandise, ie toys, and park attendance are downstream of the media, movies etc, so if the shows are trash the rest will not be successful. This is something that Disney seems to have forgotten.
For me it's the 3 original films that have my love. And some of the well written animated stories that followed later.
The KOTOR angle is something I've been thinking for a long time mainly due how missmanaged current SW story has been.
Good pitch overall, if I had 50% of disney shares instead of just 50 I would hire you for recruitment and overall vision😂
I like this plan. The only thing I'd add to it is to bring back LucasArts to fully control the games side.
FORCE Disney to invest in legitimate time travel, then go back to when they rejected George's story treatment's & ameliorate everything from that point...then I'm in!
I agree, there is so much awesome stuff in the KOTOR games/era...but yeah, it would need a whole new team...I can't see anyone less than an expert writing a character like Kreia...but you've got built in twist reveals in the 2nd and 4th movies that could be amazing...SPOILERS
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personally, the whole angle Kreia took where The Force both negates freewill and makes people blind and reliant on it blew me away the first time...and both Darths, Nihilus and Scion had really cool concepts, amazing work given the dev hell and crunch #2 went through...
I’m actually excited for andor season 2. I hope it doesn’t suck.
Base Delta Zero everything related to Kathleen Kennedy Including Rogue One and Clone Wars
Thanks for taking a little of the sting out of a dreary Monday, Wizard.
This fellow New Yorker appreciates it.
I found that after I cancelled DP, no more rubbish Disney TV shows appeared on the TV. Plenty of great older TV shows to last for years :-)
The problem is that you’re not allowed to be smarter than the suits. How dare you!
Ah the 4 Ps I remember them well.
Had a teach say the 4 Ps were:
Product
Price
Place
Price
Yeah he said Price twice lol.
Felt like I was in a board room meeting
I don't think they should touch the KoTOR games at all. The games hold up, and if people can't deal with the old graphics, well then, let them be filtered. I think remake culture need to come to an end, especially for games that are still very much accessible.
Really looking forward to starwars outlaws being 20 bucks soon, hate star wars but actually really love open world ubisoft games like watchdogs 2 and immortals fenyx rising 😅
11:50 the vaccine came out in December 2020 and they were only giving it to people considered high risk for the first few months. Spider-man: No Way Home came out at the very end of 2021, after everyone had the year to get it. How could you think the pandemic didn’t affect ticket sales in 2021? For the first half of the year didn’t most of the country still have restrictions on 100 people sitting in an enclosed space for 3 hours? 😂
Besides that, yea, Star Wars and Disney are a mess. The whole executive suite needs to be cleaned out. For the life of me I don’t know why they didn’t capitalize on KOTOR and make movies or a show based on it. All the hard work was already done, they only had to translate it into a movie.
It's the business plan they need, but not the one they deserve
you're always insightful and that's why I subscribed to you! However, i have to point out that the original problem with Star Wars began way back in the 80's when it became more of a business and less of an enchanting movie that was for EVERYONE. I mean everyone loved it. Almost any kid could afford a toy, etc. The prequels were terrible movies but still had the Star Wars vibe in the theater, and for the kids of the time who knew no better. A business plan to bring back the magic of Empire Strikes Back and Star Wars on VHS tape is like that attempt to deage Harrison Ford. It's not going to bring the past glory back.
I am curious if it is possible for Star wars fans to buy the film rights to Star Wars to take creative control of the films and let disney have the merchandise and park attractions. What would it take for a buy out??? 4 to 5 billion dollars. You need like 2 to 3 million fans to purchase a share for a few thousand bucks.
im on your side
I just don't know it it's possible. With Star Wars, it was genuinely revolutionary. A decent number of films were technical jumps forward. If you think about LOTR, avatar, or the matrix, I think it's easier to generate excitement when you've pioneered new special effects or audio technology. If you don't have a new technological leap, then you can't blow things out of the water. You have to compete in existing technical terms. Star Wars doesn't have to be good, it has to be special. If a new film was superlatively good, then maybe it does the job. However, there's an argument that Star Wars is fantasy. Fantasy has Game of thrones stuff. But it has LOTR. Star Wars is probably more LOTR. It's mythic. Normal storytelling is maybe dotting is and crossing ts and making sure 2+2 = 4 (or if you worked on Rings of power, then ensuring 2+2 = fish). But if a character is an archetype, then maybe normal rules don't apply. If you need inspired jumps of imagination or poetry, then you need something else.
A comparison would be LOTR. Gandalf experiencing a rebirth makes sense. Another might be David Lynch films, where you can accept details that make no sense because they make sense within the world. They don't necessarily come out of nowhere. Now think of Obi Wan letting Darth Vader strike him down. That's not normal storytelling and the mystical rules established come into play later. It's not keeping things realistic and then expecting a jump of imagination to come out of nowhere. The cave on Dagobar is another example of a world operating on poetry rather than sense. Unless you can nail the sense of crackling electricity and possibility, then any follow up HAS TO BE a massive step down. If you can't create magic, then there's no reason to think you can milk that cash cow indefinitely.
I stopped buying from Disney, EA, and Paramount years ago.
Maybe, just maybe, they should consider making a good show. Which means they have to know what a good show looks like. Which means employing someone who doesn't regard Star Wars as a silly story about space wizards.
A good old republic trilogy is everyone’s last hope.
Sadly it will not happen.
Two likes. You nailed so many things here...
Thank you for making another great video Wizard! I needed this, the political season nonsense has been driving me a little crazy!
BTW I did cancel my Disney plus subscription!
If I were making the next star wars. I would set it 2000 years in the future. All the events in the first 3 trillogies are considered folklore. The Jedi and sith are a thing of the distant past and the vast majority of people in the galaxy think the force is just fairy tale magic. The protagonist is part of a secret government organization that hunts force users. He's done some messed up things in the past because from his perspective, force users have been responsible for killing billions. He is the father of a young boy that exhibits force talents. He goes into hiding because his love for his son trumps his ideology. The movie will be about his journey to smuggle his son to the secret order of the Jedi that rumored to be some Illuminati like organization responsible for everything bad that happens in the galaxy. Turns out the Jedi do exist and they have been fighting the galactic government headed in secret by none other than the preserved corpse of Rey Palpatine that has been hooked up to an AI program and corrupted over 2000 years.
Scrap everything. Film the Bane trilogy. Make it based. Do NOT cast Dave Bautists like so many people want. Release them over a 5 year span. Retire the franchise. Golden.
I was planning to hang on to Disney+ in anticipation of the second season of Andor -- but The Acolyte changed my mind. Unless something changes significantly, I am done with Disney Star Wars.
Cancel Walmart plus ... Wait. I mean yeah, cancel your unused subscriptions! Especially Disney+