Ep. 1784 - This Is How Disney Destroyed Star Wars
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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Nearly a decade and a half after Disney purchased the rights to the franchise, it's now without any doubt time to write the obituary of Star Wars. And yes, plenty of critics have declared that Star Wars already died at one point or another, and many of them were probably right, but now there's no denying it. And whether you're a big Star Wars fan or not, which admittedly I'm not, It matters because the culture matters. When multibillion-dollar conglomerates ransack and murder parts of the culture, it's worth talking about. And we know that the murderous plot is now complete. Time of death can officially be recorded on the coroner's report. And we know that because the new Star Wars film, The Mandalorian and Grogu, is out in theaters this weekend, and absolutely no one cares.
No one is even pretending to care. The executives at Disney and Lucasfilm managed to completely annihilate perhaps the most beloved entertainment franchise in American history, which would have been totally unthinkable back in the 1990s. And anyone who grew up in the 90s, you well remember this. When people were lining up at midnight to get into the premiere of The Phantom Menace, this now, looking at this, it's like lost footage from another civilization. Watch.
It's one of the biggest premieres of all time. The level of sustained interest in this franchise over time was unlike anything else in the history of filmmaking. It was, at the time, by far and away, the most wildly popular and iconic movie series ever. It was basically the Michael Jackson of film franchises. And like Michael Jackson, it is now dead under nefarious circumstances. Now, you can see some photos from the 1983 premiere of The Return of the Jedi on the screen right there. 16 years later, The Phantom Menace drew similar crowds. In fact, even before its release, episode one was packing theaters. A lot of people don't remember this, but in 1999, almost nobody had high-speed internet.
What led to the decline of the Star Wars franchise under Disney?
So if you wanted to see a movie trailer, you had two options. You could wait approximately 17.5 thousand hours to download it. And if somebody calls you in the meantime on your phone line, then you'd have to start all over again. Or you could buy a ticket to a movie. And in the case of The Phantom Menace, in November of 1998, The teaser trailer was apparently attached to Meet Joe Black, The Siege, and The Waterboy. According to Variety, around 500 people in Los Angeles bought tickets to The Siege at a theater, and a third of them walked out when the Phantom Menace trailer was over, because that's the only reason they went to the movie. It became so common that theaters began promising audiences that they would re-air the trailer after the movie so they could get a second look.
Although no such bribe should have been needed to convince people to sit through The Waterboy, perhaps the dumbest comedy ever made, which makes it a cinematic masterpiece in a certain kind of way. In any case, again, nothing like this had ever happened before. People were so pumped for Star Wars that they bought tickets to other movies just to see a commercial for Star Wars. Now compare that enthusiasm for the original trilogy and the prequels to this audience reaction to the finale of Rise of Skywalker. This is going to be one of the better audience reaction videos we've seen, if only because the comedic timing couldn't be any better. Watch.
Who are you? I'm right.
Not you.
Not you. Oh, God.
No.
No! Please go. Please go. Where the f*** is Ben? Where the f*** is Ben?
Where the f*** is Ben?
Where the f*** is Ben?
We have to go.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–2:57
2
What led to the decline of the Star Wars franchise under Disney?
2:57–6:14
3
How did the release of The Mandalorian and Grogu signify the death of Star Wars?
6:14–9:53
4
What mistakes did Disney executives make with the Star Wars films?
9:53–19:56
5
How did audience reactions to Star Wars films change over time?
19:56–30:02
6
What role did nostalgia play in the marketing of new Star Wars content?
30:02–39:53
7
How did the production methods impact the quality of Star Wars shows?
39:53–49:54
8
What criticisms have been directed at the new characters introduced in Star Wars?
49:54–56:45
Speakers
3 identifiedMore from The Matt Walsh Show
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