The Force is Not Strong with Disney

Unless you have been living in a cave somewhere on the planet Dagobah, there is no way you have not felt a major disturbance in the force.

To recap: Star Wars The Last Jedi (2017) had a worldwide gross of  $1.3 billion.  According to Box Office Mojo, the film was the highest-grossing film of 2017, the second highest-grossing film in the franchise (behind The Force Awakens). 

The critical response ran the gamut from positive reviews:

BBC News, “a blockbuster movie packed with invention, wit, and action galore." 

To more subdued reviews:

Movie Nation, “Intentions and inspiration aside, “Last Jedi” doesn’t add up to an “Empire Strikes Back” for this trilogy. There’s no romance, little pathos and no real punch-in-the-gut moment.”

However, the audience review section of Rotten Tomatoes and Media Critic contained reviews that lambasted Disney and director Rian Johnson for destroying the Star Wars brand and their childhoods. 

Needless to say, the negative storm of fan criticism took Disney and Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy by surprise. Instead of a victory lap, the studio had a major PR disaster to address and it went from bad to worse very quickly. 

In a move that is eerily similar to the strategy employed by Columbia Pictures and Paul Feig to silence fan criticism of the 2016 Ghostbusters reboot, Disney and Kathleen Kennedy opted to launch a PR war aimed at quelling fan dissatisfaction by labeling all negative reviewers as misogynist racist. And thus began the Great War for the heart and soul of a beloved franchise. 

Not to be outdone, the fans co-opted the phrase “Get Woke or Go Broke” and they brought out their ultimate weapon and unleashed it at Disney in 2018 … they boycotted  Solo: A Star Wars Story. And as can be expected, the assault on the Magic Kingdom was devastating … the Ron Howard-directed sci-fi prequel became a box office bomb. According to Box Office Mojo, the film had a worldwide gross of $392 million, making it the lowest-grossing Star Wars film of all time. 

As can be expected the folks at Disney are in full panic mode, and in a desperate bid to try to appease the fans they decided to bring back director J.J Abram’s to try to auto correct the franchise, and hopefully make episode IX a commercial success. However, the fan base doesn’t appear to be ready to forgive and forget and there seems to be no great interest in seeing the next film installment.

Adding fuel to the fire some Disney supporters, and actors like John Boyega have taken to social media to address the “Star Wars Haters.” Which in turn has led to more fans calling to #BoycottStarWars and bring an end to the Kathleen Kennedy reign at Lucasfilm. Obviously, hurt feelings abound, and reconciliation, while being a laudable goal, seems highly unlikely under the current circumstances. 

At this particular moment, there is no evidence to suggest that Disney will eat crow, and issue a heart-felt apology to the fandom for trying to silence them by insisting that they are a bunch of cruel, sexist, misogynists.

IMHO, Star Wars episode IX might already be a box office failure … a victim of the ‘Get Woke or Go Broke’ Great War.