Saturday Coffee: STAR WARS will never again be what it was
The saga that redefined the movies is now just another franchise.
There’s a lot of handwringing going on over Star Wars.
The Mandalorian and Grogu opened to a disappointing $98 million over the four-day Memorial Day weekend, the lowest opening ever for a live-action Star Wars movie. It couldn’t even top what Solo: A Star Wars Story did eight years ago over the same time frame. It’s a far cry from 2015, when The Force Awakens rocked the box office with more than $200 million.
Of course, it’s not that simple. Solo, largely agreed to be a financial and creative disappointment (although I enjoy it), was plagued by reshoots after Ron Howard replaced Phil Lord and Chris Miller1. It was rumored to cost as much as $300 million, nearly double the estimated cost for The Mandalorian and Grogu. The Force Awakens was not only an entry in the main saga – whereas Solo and Mandalorian are spin-offs occurring at other times and corners of the galaxy – it was the first Star Wars movie in a decade. Sure, there’s a nearly seven-year gap between The Rise of Skywalker and Baby Yoda’s Day Out, but thanks to streaming, we haven’t exactly been living in a Star Wars desert.
I understand many critics and fans were let down by The Mandalorian and Grogu, feeling that it was just an extended, low-stakes episode of the Disney+ series. I, personally, enjoyed it as a piffle; it’s a fun, inconsequential Saturday matinee of a movie. I don’t love it enough to mount a passionate defense; if it’s not your flavor of Star Wars, I get it.
But I also don’t think anyone should be expecting a return to the days where Star Wars dominated pop culture. That’s not what Star Wars is anymore.
